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Hamilton wins in Qatar before Verstappen: The lead is melting

2021-11-21T19:28:14.108Z


With a furious start, Max Verstappen forgot his starting place penalty - but he had no chance against competitor Lewis Hamilton in Qatar. Two races before the end of the season there are only eight points between the two.


Enlarge image

Max Verstappen: "When I knew I was going to start in seventh place, I was very motivated to move forward."

Photo:

Clive Mason / Getty Images

Confusion Before Starting:

The Qatar Grand Prix was a controversial first. Formula 1 has never raced at the Losail International Circuit. Nevertheless, the race started like last week: with starting place penalties. If Lewis Hamilton was still affected in Brazil, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas have now been moved back. They were sanctioned for ignoring double-waved yellow flags (Verstappen) and single yellow flags (Bottas) during qualifying. Verstappen had to start from seventh place instead of second; Bottas, third fastest in qualifying, fell three places. The starting line-up of the world association, which initially provided Bottas with fifth place on the grid, caused confusion. The Fia then corrected itself, Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari and Bottas had to swap positions.

The result: it

looked similar to Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton won confidently in the Mercedes ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and further shortened his deficit in the drivers' championship, while Fernando Alonso caused a surprise in the Alpine.

Read the race report here.

The start:

In Brazil, thanks to a new engine, Hamilton had shown a furious race to catch up.

In Qatar, Verstappen was not impressed by his penalty transfer either and moved up to fourth place right from the start.

He then got stuck in the AlphaTauri just behind Pierre Gasly, but on lap four he easily passed DRS, and one lap later it was Alonso's turn.

At the time, Hamilton was 3.7 seconds ahead of his rival.

Announcement from the boss:

By lap 15 the still world champion had increased the lead to 6.9 seconds, Alonso was already 22 seconds behind the leading duo. Verstappen, who came to change tires on lap 18, therefore stayed ahead of Alonso. Hamilton, who pitted immediately after Verstappen, defended his lead. For Bottas, on the other hand, there was pressure from the Mercedes team boss: "You're fighting for P3 with Pérez," Toto Wolff radioed to his driver, who had lost five positions after a weak start and worked his way up to eighth. Pérez, who started the race in eleventh place, was already fifth.

Finnish flying sparks:

Things got worse for Bottas. On lap 33 he reported a puncture, meanwhile third ahead of Pérez, and slipped off the track at turn seven. He was the only driver from the leading group who was still on the road with the first tires. With a flat left front tire, he maneuvered the spark-spraying Mercedes very slowly into the pit lane and came back in 14th place. Pérez took third position, but was already more than 50 seconds behind the Verstappen in front of him.

Lonely at the top:

The distance between Hamilton and Verstappen had meanwhile leveled off at around eight seconds, and the second stops didn't change the sequence either. Hamilton was the first to cross the finish line untouched. "It was a pretty straightforward race, I felt lonely at the front," he said afterwards. Pérez, who had dropped to fifth after his second stop, missed the podium. Bottas had to end the race early on lap 51. Two races before the end of the season, Mercedes is four points ahead of Red Bull in first place in the constructors' championship.

Rüffel for Horner:

Verstappen had done damage limitation and still secured the fastest race lap, so that he can still go into the penultimate race in Saudi Arabia with eight points ahead of Hamilton. Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner then had to go to the stewards because he had argued against the marshals concerned about the starting place penalty. In the situation in qualifying, the race management had apparently given the signal "Track Clear", but the yellow flag was waved. Horner had accused the Fia of not having a grip on the stewards. Because he apologized, he got away with a warning.

On the podium at the age of 40:

The two-time world champion Alonso, who was on the podium again after seven years, had a special day. “I enjoy these rounds very much. The car is really great today, «the 40-year-old Spaniard radioed during the race - and in the end beat Pérez by 2.8 seconds.

The world as a guest in the emirate:

Formula 1 made its first appearance in Qatar a year before the World Cup, and from 2023 the racing series will run there regularly - despite the critical human rights situation in the emirate.

As a promo for the 2022 soccer tournament, not only the winner's cup but also a replica of the World Cup trophy was placed on the grid before the start of the race.

Fifa boss Gianni Infantino was also present.

The Formula 1 season will be decided this year during a triplet in the Arabian region.

It continues on December 5th in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the final will take place in Abu Dhabi.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-11-21

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