VIDEO The F1 series is dramatizing: Hamilton dominated Qatar and reduced the loss to Verstappen! – Sports

LOSAIL – Brit Lewis Hamilton won the Qatar Grand Prix at the Mercedes, the 20th event of the F1 series. In second place, Hamilton’s biggest rival in the title fight and championship leader Max Verstappen from Red Bull came to the finish. The Spaniard Fernando Alonso from Alpine finished third.

Hamilton achieved the seventh victory of the season and in the overall standings he pulled the loss to Verstappen to eight points. The riders have two more events ahead of them, the next one is scheduled for Sunday, December 5 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The season will traditionally culminate at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (December 12).

The triumph in Qatar was already 102nd in his career for 7-time world champion Hamilton, thus improving his own record. Fernando Alonso, who returned to the F1 series in the 2021 season after a two-year hiatus and also had his first podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2014, has also had a successful race.

The winner of the qualification Hamilton guarded the first position at the start and Verstappen also managed to start the race. He started from 7th place for not respecting the yellow flags in the qualification. However, he quickly worked his way up to 4th place behind the Hamilton-Alonso-Gasly trio. After the 10th round, Verstappen was already in 2nd place behind Hamilton, who had a comfortable lead of more than 7 seconds. Nothing has changed in the top positions even after the first pit visits, and Hamilton easily controlled the leadership position.

In the 33rd round, Bottas got a defect and although he got into the pits and the mechanics took over his monopost, the race ended for him in the 48th round. At the end of the race, they had problems with Norris, Russell and Latifi tires, for which the race ended after a defect. Verstappen used a virtual safety car in lap 56 to move to the heaviest set of tires to try the fastest lap. He also succeeded and so he got 6 points less in the race than Hamilton.

Responses to Qatar Grand Prix:

Lewis Hamilton, winner: “We really needed these points. I think the other riders’ tires” exploded “for the curbs. Fortunately, it didn’t happen to me. I feel very well, satisfied and fit. I have a great car and I believe before the end of the season.”

Max Verstappen, 2nd place: “We were compromised 7th place at the start. But it turned out great for me and it encouraged me to continue the race. The tires were excellent, they held well. The point for the fastest lap is a nice bonus. I expect a battle until the end of the season. I feel very good. and I’m looking forward to the end of the season. “

Fernando Alonso, 3rd place: “I’ve been waiting for this for so long – since Hungary 2014. I’m extremely satisfied. Our plan was to get to 1st place after the 1st round, but it didn’t work out. Nevertheless, it was a great team performance. From the beginning we they only wanted to go to one pit stop, which turned out to be a great strategy. Pérez was close at the end, but we made it. “

Qatar Grand Prix (57 laps, 1 round: 5,380 km, total: 306.7 km): 1. Lewis Hamilton (V. Brit./Mercedes), 2. Max Verstappen (Hol./Red Bull) +25,743, 3. Fernando Alonso (Šp. / Alpine) +59,457, 4. Sergio Pérez (Mex./Red Bull) ) +1: 02.306 min., 5. Esteban Ocon (Fr./Alpine) +1: 20,570, 6. Lance Stroll (Kan./Aston Martin) +1: 21,274, 7. Carlos Sainz (Sp. / Ferrari) + 1: 21,911, 8. Charles Leclerc (Mon./Ferrari) +1: 23,126, 9. Lando Norris (V. Brit./McLaren), 10. Sebastian Vettel (Nem./Aston Martin), 11. Pierre Gasly (Fr. ./AlphaTauri), 12. Daniel Ricciardo (Aus./McLaren), 13. Júki Cunoda (Jap./AlphaTauri), 14. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN / Alfa Romeo), 15. Antonio Giovinazzi (Tal./Alfa Romeo) , 16. Mick Schumacher (Nem./Haas) all + 1 round, 17. George Russell (V. Brit./Williams), 18. Nikita Mazepin (Rus./Haas) both + 2 rounds.

did not complete: Valtteri Bottas (FIN / Mercedes), Nicolas Latifi (CAN / Williams)

Standings (after 20 of 22 races): 1. Max Verstappen 351.5 points, 2. Lewis Hamilton 343.5, 3. Valtteri Bottas 203, 4. Sergio Pérez 190, 5. Lando Norris 153, 6. Charles Leclerc 152, 7. Carlos Sainz 145.5, 8 Daniel Ricciardo 105, 9. Pierre Gasly 92, 10. Fernando Alonso 77, 11. Esteban Ocon 60, 12. Sebastian Vettel 43, 13. Lance Stroll 34, 14. Júki Cunoda 20, 15. George Russell 16, 16. Kimi Räikkönen 10, 17. Nicholas Latifi 7, 18. Antonio Giovinazzi 1, 19. Mick Schumacher 0, 20. Nikita Mazepin 0.

Constructors’ Cup: 1. Mercedes 546.5 points, 2. Red Bull 541.5, 3. Ferrari 297.5, 4. McLaren 258, 5. Alpine 137, 6. AlphaTauri 112, 7. Aston Martin 77, 8. Williams 23, 9 Alfa Romeo – 11, 10. Haas.

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• VIDEO: Twitter / Formula 1
• Source: TASR