Darkness falls on the Losail circuit and the engines start: everything is ready for this penultimate round of the season. Who will win the Qatar GP? Will Norris be able to secure the championship title? These are the questions we ask ourselves before turning off the traffic lights. However, The answer to this last question will remain until Abu Dhabi, as this GP ended with Max Verstappen's victory, ahead of Piastri and an extraordinary Sainz. Norris, however, finished fourth, while Ferrari is still in the dark.
The Qatar GP race starts and Max immediately takes second place
All the riders warm up their tyres and line up on the grid (except Colapinto who starts from the pits) waiting for the start of the Qatar GP race which starts with a Great start from Max Verstappen, who immediately overtakes Norris and places itself between the two Papayas. Also Piastres, poleman e sprint winner. starts very well and maintains its leadershipIf the GP ends like this, the outcome of the world championship fight would be postponed until next weekend. But the race is still long and nothing is decided. On the contrary, Russell skated a lot and lost a lot of positions just like Leclerc which, however, he lost only one position on Hulkenberg, who, like Hamilton, exploited the grip of the soft tyre in the first corners. From then on, everyone set their own pace, with the top three maintaining a pace of 1:26.000.
Everyone is using the Safety Car to change tyres except the McLarens: is this the right tactic?
The first twist comes on lap 7: Gasly and Hulkenberg crash, causing a Safety Car callThis occasion is exploited by the most of the drivers to clear the first pit stop: so they only have one more to do before the end of the race. In fact, Pirelli has established that during this GP, a maximum of 25 laps can be done per set of tires. The only drivers who didn't make this choice were the two McLarens, who decide not to pit for either team. This is to remain impartial and avoid favoring one team over the other by differentiating their strategies.
Will they be able to maintain the lead in the Qatar GP race? They'll definitely have to build a significant gap to do so, and that means the tables are still wide open, and we'll have to wait until the end of the race to see who was victorious. The two Papayas immediately made their supremacy clear and created a gap of 4 seconds between themselves and Verstappen. In parallel Max Warm up the tires slowly and then start pushing harder and harder. In fact, the Dutch lion manages to bring itself back to the times of Lando and Oscar.
Papaya pit stop in the Qatar GP race: it's time to push!
On laps 24 and 25, Piastri and then Norris pitted. Verstappen, Sainz, and Antonelli returned to the track behind them.. At this point it's time to push to go after those in front! And that's what they do with Piastri who immediately manages to overcome Antonelli.
Meanwhile, the situation behind is static, with no one able to overcome it. Among these, in particular, are the two Ferrari drivers, Charles and Lewis, 9th and 14th respectively, complained a lot because the car results undrivable and must constantly do LiCo to maintain the right temperaturesThe nightmare for the Maranello team continues during the Qatar GP...
Verstappen and Piastri: a battle that will be fought on the track
Al giro 32 of the Qatar GP race, Piastri arrives behind Sainz and Norris behind Kimi but at this point everyone is forced to stop for pit stops and so the two McLaren drivers return to being 1-2The problem? They need to do some tire management while everyone else, including Max, can push because they have hard tiresIn this regard, it is precisely the four-time world champion who is closing in on the current championship leader until he enters the DRS zone.
Al lap 43 Piastri stops and also mounts the hard tyres. After which Max is immediately warned: “Now you are the prey!” However Verstappen gets stuck for two laps behind Norris while Piastri is gaining a lot every lapIt's going to be a heart-stopping finale! On lap 50 the gap between the Dutchman and the Australian is almost 13 seconds while the Driver number 4 is in Antonelli's DRS zone but for now he can't get over it. However the overtaking comes on the penultimate lap due to a mistake by the Italian: so Norris is 4th and earns 2 more points, which could weigh heavily in the championship.
Max wins and keeps hopes alive, McLaren made the wrong strategy
And at the waving of the flag it is Super Max Verstappen first to cross the finish line of the Qatar GP race Thanks to excellent leadership and excellent strategy, the Dutch lion is back in second position iin the world rankings, 12 points behind the leader. On the other hand, it is There was a lot of disappointment for the two McLarens with Piastri finishing 2nd and finding himself 16 points behind his teammate, which maintains leadership but is much less secureResult: this World Cup is still all to be written…
Extraordinary, too, Sainz and finishes 3rd after a masterly race, which also saw him having to deal with floor damage towards the end. This is his second podium of the year with Williams! On the contrary, his former team was doing badly. which seems to be completely lost with Charles finishing 8th and Lewis 12th.
Here are the top 10 of the Qatar GP race:
