F1 Qatar, Max Verstappen wins on Piastri and Norris. Ferrari bad. Order of arrival chronicle

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Max Verstappen’s weekend is not his announced third world title, which he won already on Saturday after the Sprint. And the victory in today’s real race, the long one of 57 laps, is not even the best way to celebrate the world championship triumph. The most incredible aspect is seeing how Max did what he wanted while all his rivals struggled on, opening their visors to let in some air, some lifting their hands from the steering wheel in a straight line for a little refreshment, others retiring due to fatigue like Logan Sargeant. He, the Dutch robot, took turns without receiving warnings for exceeding track limits and also set the fastest lap on the penultimate lap. A monster.

the mclarens are good

—

Applause for this champion who today preceded the McLarens of Oscar Piastri (very good) and Lando Norris to the finish line, who gave them their 500th podium in Woking. Fourth was George Russell, also the author of a super GP, if we consider that at the start his teammate Lewis Hamilton hit him at turn 1, ending up in the gravel and retiring. For the youngest Englishman, a forced stop in the pits and a comeback race ended in front of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. The Monegasque fought, but the Cavallino couldn’t do much today, finishing 38 seconds behind Verstappen. It’s a shame because the accident at the start of the two Mercedes would have been a good opportunity to recover points in the constructors’ standings in Stuttgart. But Ferrari lost Carlos Sainz junior’s second car even before the start, stranded by a fuel problem. Sixth was Fernando Alonso with Aston Martin, then Esteban Ocon with Alpine and a good Valtteri Bottas, eighth with Alfa Romeo who also took the point of tenth place with Zhou Guanyu.

in control

—

The race was dominated by Verstappen, who controlled the situation from pole position and never took risks, managing the alternation behind him where the best were those of McLaren. In reality the race was not unexciting due to Max’s dominance, but because the wear problem of the Pirelli tires encountered in free practice (due to the passage on the particularly sharp curbs of this track) forced the FIA ​​to establish three mandatory stops for all and a maximum of 18 lap stints for each set of tyres. And so it was one of the GPs with many visits to the mechanics for replacements, which were often forced. In short, it was a catwalk for Max Verstappen, increasingly a professor and dominator of F1 who will have to quickly find a rival for him. Meanwhile, Max still has 5 away games ahead of him to extend the celebrations.

order of arrival

—

Finishing order of the Qatar GP: 1. Verstappen (Red Bull) 2. Piastri (McLaren) at 4″8 4. Norris (McLaren) at 5″9 5. Leclerc (Ferrari) at 38″9 6. Alonso ( Aston Martin) at 49″ 7. Ocon (Alpine) at 1’02″3 8. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) at 1’06″5 9. Perez (Red Bull) at 1’15″1 10. Zhou (Alfa Romeo) ) at 1’16″1 11. Stroll (Aston Martin) at 1’21″6 12. Gasly (Alpine) at 1’22″3 13. Albon (Williams) at 1’31″0 14. Magnussen (Haas) 1 lap away 15. Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1 lap away 16. Hulkenberg (Haas) 1 lap away 17. Lawson (AlphaTauri) 1 lap away