Verstappen, on another planet; Alonso, impossible against the two McLarens

Max Verstappen This Sunday he achieved a new victory in F1, his best way to celebrate his third title F1 world championship got a day before. The Dutchman achieved his 14th victory of the season in 17 races by winning the F1 Qatar GP this Sunday with no competition. Max He started first and finished first, running alone. This explains why he barely appears on television except at the start and when he comes to the finish line. And behind Max, F1 is beautiful, full of struggles and uncertainty. One can’t help but think how much better the fight for victories and the crown would have been without Max being so superior to the rest. And behind him, powers like McLaren, Mercedes either Ferrari They alternate in this final stretch as the second best car. This time, it’s orange’s turn. both McLaren They conquered the podium, including Piastre in the second position and Norris in the third.

F1 2023 Qatar GP Results

Classification of F1 World Cup 2023

The Woking car was the most consistent leader in pursuit of Max in this final stage and Piastri, with a good start, and Norris, with a good comeback, took full advantage of their car’s pace. The battle of the orange cars against the silver arrows looks interesting, with George Russell starting in 2nd place and Lewis Hamilton from third. But this time, those from Brackley made it very easy for McLaren from the first corner.

Mercedes fell

Hamilton tried to pass his teammate on the outside of Turn 1 and was overly optimistic. George found himself in the middle of a car sandwich, between Max and Hamilton, with no room for maneuver. And it ended with Lewis touching George. Lewis was going to the gravel and had to leave. For his part, Russell had to enter the pits with an injury, in search of a complicated comeback. The fierce battle for the podium began. Verstappen will escape and interest is in two podium positions.

Piastri, who had a good start from 6th place, is second and has the pace to maintain that position if he doesn’t fail. And Fernando Alonso, who started in 4th, moved up to third position at turn 1. The excitement was in the fight for third place between Fernando, Leclerc, Norris and a Russell who was looking for the almost impossible by extending of his stints.

Alonso tried, but it was impossible

The race was marked by a new rule created by the FIA ​​to avoid possible safety problems in the form of punctures in Pirelli tires, something that is unacceptable for top motorsport competition. All this, because of how much the track curves, created for MotoGP, affect the tires. Thus, the FIA ​​limited the stint of each set of tires to a maximum of 18 laps. Anyone who completes 19 rounds with the same game is eliminated. This forced everyone to make at least three stops.

After a bumpy start, the key to the event is in that strategy and the challenge for Fernando Alonso in third position looks very complex. His Aston Martin, which had less pace than Norris’ McLaren, did not seem to be enough of a weapon to stop the Englishman, who started 10th and was placed 6th after the start. The man from Oviedo held that momentum until the second stoppage. Lando, who had delayed his pit stop a bit on Fernando, gained enough of an advantage to pass him when he came out of the pits for the second time. Fernando’s battle happened with Charles Leclerc. But on lap 33, Fernando Alonso, who complained that his seat was on fire, suffered a whiplash and went off the track. There, the Spaniard entered the asphalt just behind Leclerc, taking fifth place from him and leaving him in the sixth last position against Esteban Ocon, the best the Spaniard could achieve in the race with his Aston Martin.

Fourth was for George Russell, who had the opposite approach to the others, stopping at the start and taking advantage of the initial ‘safety car’ due to his incident. The Englishman was able to extend his stop as long as possible and was able to get out of several turns on the soft rubber. The good speed of his Mercedes earned him the fourth position. I have a car for more. If not for the accident caused by Hamilton, the two Mercedes could have had a great battle with the McLarens. Bottas (8th), Zhou (9th) and Pérez (10th) rounded out the Top-10

Sainz did not participate

Carlos Sainz had worse luck. The man from Madrid left Qatar empty-handed and saw how some of his rivals in the overall World Championship standings cut his points after not even starting the race due to a fuel leak in his Ferrari.

Sergeant, dehydrated; Pérez, sunk

The most negative image of the race is that of Logan Sargeant, who had to retire early due to unwell feeling. Several Williams mechanics pulled him out of his car with obvious symptoms of dehydration. The American said before the Singapore GP that he does not want to drink while driving, something very dangerous that could cost him dearly in this race.

For his part, ‘Checo’ Pérez started from the pit lane and accumulated two penalties of 5 seconds each for exceeding track limits on multiple occasions. He finished 10th, with one point, with the same car that Verstappen swept.