Lewis Hamilton took a comfortable win in the Qatar Grand Prix to close the gap to Max Verstappen in their fight for the world championship. Hamilton beat Verstappen, who fought up to second after a five-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in qualifying and took the point for fastest lap.
Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz finished the qualifying session in P7 on Saturday but started today’s race from fifth place, as a result of the grid demotions of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. However, the Spanish driver lost two places at the start, being overtake by Verstappen and Ocon.
Charles Leclerc also did not have a great start, keeping his P13 and needing six laps to pass the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen, while Carlos was caught by the much faster Red Bull of Sergio Perez and could only resist for a couple of laps, before being overtaken by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.
Unfortunately it soon became clear that the SF21 car did not have a strong race pace at Losail International Circuit, especially running behind other cars, as both Carlos and Charles were stuck behind Ocon and Stroll for the entire first stint. On lap 28, Ferrari madea double pit stop for both Charles and Carlos, changing the medium tyres with hards, as the Maranello team attempted to get to the end of the race on these tyres.
Ferrari took advantage of the tyre issues of Bottas and Norris (who had to pit with just a few laps until the end) and therefore still managed to gain a few points against McLaren. A P8 for Carlos Sainz in the end, just ahead of his Ferrari teammate.
Qatar Grand Prix – Here are the complete results from today’s 2021 F1 World Championship race at the Losail International Circuit.
Results (Classification):
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes – 57 laps
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +25.743
Fernando Alonso Alpine +59.457
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +62.306
Esteban Ocon Alpine +80.570
Lance Stroll Aston Martin +81.274
Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari +81.911
Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari +83.126
Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 lap
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo +1 lap
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo +1 lap
Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
George Russell Williams Racing +2 laps
Nikita Mazepin Haas +2 laps
Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing NC
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes NC
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