Losers: Williams

Williams’ dreadful run continued into Qatar as they suffered yet more damage within moments of the lights going out, as Franco Colapinto was collected by Ocon after the Frenchman was hit by Hulkenberg.

Colapinto retired the car for his second DNF in three races. It was the team’s seventh crash in the last four Grand Prix weekends.

Team mate Alex Albon was in the top 10 in the closing stages but ran out of tyres and fell back to 15th at the chequered flag after picking up a time penalty for a clash with Kevin Magnussen.

READ MORE: What the teams said – Race day in Qatar

Winner: Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly continued his rich vein of form with a superb drive to fifth from 11th for his second top-five finish in three Grands Prix.

It shows how far Alpine have come from race one in Bahrain earlier this year, where they were woefully overweight and locked out the back row, that Gasly was able to defend from Ferrari’s Sainz in the closing stages in Qatar.