Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish at the Losail International Circuit this morning for his seventh win of the season at the Qatar Grand Prix. The win is a follow up to his performance last weekend in Brazil. Max Verstappen held onto P2, and Fernando Alonso took P3 with his first podium since the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2014.
A muddled qualifying saw Lewis Hamilton take pole position with Max Verstappen in P2 and Valtteri Bottas in P3. However, both Verstappen and Bottas received grid penalties after ignoring yellow flags when Pierre Gasly's tire exploded at the end of the session. P2 and P3 went to Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly respectively.
Hamilton got away well at the start, with Alonso and Gasly trading places for a couple of corners and Verstappen making up three positions finding himself in P4. Bottas dropped down to P11 behind Lance Stroll. Verstappen passed both Gasly and Alonso soon after. Lap 9 saw Bottas attempt a double overtake on Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda both only managed the Alpha Tauri to end up in P10. He took Tsunoda for P9 a couple of laps later. Lando Norris meanwhile caught up to Gasly and took P4 on Lap 12.
Alonso Overtakes Norris
Sergio Perez couldn't manage better than P11 in Saturday's qualifying, but found a lot of pace during the race, charging through the field and taking P4 by Lap 17. Verstappen pitted for hard tires on Lap 17, while Hamilton followed suit on the following lap. Bottas quietly moved up the field and was challenging Norris for P5 by Lap 21. He overtook the McLaren on Lap 23.
Pit stops put Perez down in P12 behind Sebastian Vettel. Upon trying to overtake the Aston Martin, Vettel forced him wide and kept the place, but on the next lap, Perez managed to stay close and take the place. Alonso meanwhile passed Norris on Lap 27 for P6. The battle for P5 heated up when Carlos Sainz locked up his Ferrari while defending from Perez and Alonso on Lap 27. Both the Alpine and the Red Bull scooted past the Ferrari without much trouble a few corners later.
Bottas was running P3 when he sustained a blown tire, causing heavy damage. He managed to get back to the pits as the last driver to receive a new set of tires. Verstappen took his second pit stop on Lap 42 for a medium set of tires. Alonso was back into P3 by Lap 47, with Norris multiple seconds behind. Alpine intended Ocon to defend from Perez to preserve Alonso's podium, but Perez stormed past Ocon on the main straight under DRS. Perez was still 15 seconds behind Alonso with 9 laps to go. Bottas retired on Lap 51, as George Russell's front tire exploded. Latifi was the next driver to sustain a failed front tire, like all drivers on a one-stop strategy.
Alonso was also on a one-stop strategy yet managed to keep P3 for his first podium since 2014 when he was driving for Ferrari. Hamilton led from start to finish, as Verstappen came in P2.