Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton triumphed at the first Qatar Grand Prix in history, run as the 20th race of this year’s Formula 1 championship.
The seven-time world champion reached his seventh victory this season on the “Losail” track, and the 102nd in his career, as he led from the start to the finish.
The second place was taken by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull car, and his lag in relation to the British was about 25 seconds. Alpina driver Fernando Alonso was on the third step of the podium.
At the premiere in the Qatari desert, Lewis Hamilton drove the race without a mistake – he started from the pole position, quickly separated from his companions and was not endangered at any moment. Just before the start, Max Verstappen was penalized by moving five positions due to disrespecting the double yellow flags in the qualifying finish, but he quickly broke through to the second position, and a bonus for him is a point for the fastest lap.
And while the two best were never endangered in the leading positions, Alonso reached the first podium since the race in Hungary in 2014, thanks to different tactics, but maybe also the mistakes of Red Bull. The two-time world champion was second after the start, but he could not match the drivers of Mercedes and Red Bull for a long time, but he only went to boxing once, and he also profited from the fact that Sergio Perez, perhaps unnecessarily, had to get new tires for the second time. .
Alonso and Perez were separated by a little less than three seconds in the end, followed by Esteban Ocon in the second Alpina car, in front of Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll. The top ten and also the winners of the points were completed by the duo of Ferrari Carlos Sainz junior and Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris in McLaren and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
In addition to the complete dominance of Hamilton, as well as the return of Alonso to the podium, the race was marked by problems with tire bursting. One of the drivers whose tire was damaged was Valtteri Bottas in another Mercedes, at the moment when he was holding the third position and was yet to go to the pits. The Finn did not finish the race, as the team dragged him to the garage before the last few laps, and Williams driver Nicholas Latifi gave up next to him, due to whose stopping the lap of the virtual safety vehicle was highlighted three laps before the end.
Thanks to the triumph, Lewis Hamilton reduced his gap with Max Verstappen in the general classification to eight points, and by the end of the season there were only two races left. The first of them will be ridden on December 5 for the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia, and a week later, the grand final is scheduled in Abu Dhabi.
More F1 news: F1: Max Verstappen won a tactical battle against Hamilton in Austin
source: formula1