Dark. Dry. Air +32…31С, highway +36…35С
Saturday’s sprint in Qatar was awaited with special interest. In the history of motorsport, it has happened that the fate of the championship title was not decided in the race, but this time everything could be decided in the know-how of Liberty Media – the Saturday sprint. This format was criticized by many, including Max Verstappen, who only needed to finish sixth to win the title early.
During the weekend there were some unexpected problems with tires, but they could not affect the short sprint race.
The results of the qualifying for the sprint – Sprint Shootout – were influenced by other factors, namely, the strictness of the race management in respect of the racers’ compliance with the track limits. Almost everyone had one or more laps cancelled, and as a result, McLaren drivers Piastri and Norris started from the first row, Verstappen and Russell from the second, Sainz and Leclerc from the third. The drivers had to drive 19 laps.
Russell, Sainz, Leclerc, Alonso, Ocon, Gasly and Stroll started on Soft tyres, the rest started on Medium. The softer compound provided an advantage early in the race, but quickly lost effectiveness.
At the start, Piastri retained the lead, Verstappen let three cars pass, Norris rolled back, Lawson got stuck in the gravel after taking off. The safety car came out.
A lap later they announced a restart. Russell beat Piastri.
Top ten on lap 4: Russell – Piastri – Sainz – Leclerc – Verstappen – Norris – Ocon – Alonso – Hulkenberg – Gasly.
Sargent flew into the gravel and retired from the race. The safety car came out again.
On the eighth lap a restart was announced. Russell retained the lead. Sainz attacked Piastri for second place, but Oscar remained ahead.
On the 9th lap, Verstappen overtook Leclerc in the fight for fourth place, and on the 10th lap, he overtook Sainz, rising to third.
The Soft tires quickly became ineffective and on lap 11 Piastri overtook Russell for the lead. Hamilton moved ahead of Gasly into eighth place.
Perez and Ocon, after contact with Hulkenberg, who was trying to overtake them both, flew into the gravel and dropped out of the fight. The safety car came out again. After his partner retired, Max Verstappen became a three-time world champion ahead of schedule.
Top ten on lap 13: Piastri – Russell – Verstappen – Sainz – Norris – Leclerc – Alonso – Hamilton – Gasly – Bottas.
Russell asked to go to the pits – the tires were losing grip, but there were a few laps left before the finish and the engineer told him to stay on the track – Perez’s car could not be pulled out of the gravel. Hulkenberg turned into the pits and retired.
On the 15th lap a restart was announced. There were four laps left to the finish. Piastri retained the lead.
On lap 16, Verstappen overtook Russell for second place.
Hamilton was ahead of Gasly, and then Alonso and Leclerc, rising to sixth place.
On lap 18, Norris passed Russell for third place.
On lap 19, Hamilton overtook Sainz to move up to fifth place.
Oscar Piastri won the sprint in Qatar, scoring his first victory in Formula 1. Max Verstappen finished second, prematurely becoming a three-time world champion. Lando Norris finished the race third.
Tomorrow the fight will continue in the Sunday Grand Prix.
Sprint results
Driver Team Time Speed Pit 1. O.Piastri McLaren 35:01.297 175.929 0 2. M.Verstappen Red Bull +1.871 175.773 0 3. L.Norris McLaren +8.497 175.221 0 4. D.Russell Mercedes +11.036 175.010 0 5. L .Hamilton Mercedes +17.314 174.491 0 6. K.Sinz Ferrari +18.806 174.369 0 7. S.Leclerc Ferrari +19.860 174.282 0 8. A.Albon Williams +19.864 174.282 0 9. F.Alonso Aston Martin +21.180 1 74.174 0 10. P. Gasly Alpine +21.742 174.127 0 11. V. Bottas Alfa Romeo +22.208 174.089 0 12. Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri +22.863 174.036 0 13. L. Stroll Aston Martin +24.523 173.900 1 14. K. Magnussen Haas +24.970 173.863 1 15. G. Zhou Alfa Romeo +26.868 173.708 1
Best lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:25.604 (18 lap, 227.891 km/h)
Reasons for the gatherings
Driver Team Circles Cause N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 11 accident E. Ocon Alpine 10 accident S. Perez Red Bull 10 accident L. Sargent Williams 2 accident L. Lawson AlphaTauri 0 accident
Championship position: Individual competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
Команда
Мотор
Очки
=
1. Oracle Red Bull Racing
Honda RBPT
630
=
2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Mercedes
314
=
3. Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari
290
=
4. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team
Mercedes
221
=
5. McLaren F1 Team
Mercedes
186
=
6. BWT Alpine F1 Team
Renault
84
=
7. Williams Racing
Mercedes
22
=
8. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Ferrari
12
=
9. Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
Ferrari
10
=
10. Scuderia AlphaTauri
Honda RBPT
5
2023-10-07 18:34:25
#Piastri #won #sprint #Verstappen #title
