Max Verstappen took victory in a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix that saw a broken wing mirror prompt a portion of the action, when it was run over and brought out the Safety Car.
Charles Leclerc took second and Oscar Piastri rounded off the podium, but a rare 10-second stop/go penalty for Lando Norris for not lifting under yellow flag conditions – while the broken wing mirror was on track – relegated him to 10th place come the chequered flag, along with two penalties and a puncture for Lewis Hamilton, among penalties for several others in what became a frantic race.
There was a change to the front row ahead of the race, after Max Verstappen was demoted from pole to P2 with a rare one-place grid penalty for impeding George Russell in Q3.
Russell admitted ahead of the race the Red Bull driver told him he was even more fired up for the race as a result, with a long run down to Turn 1 to potentially draw alongside the Mercedes driver.
And he did exactly that on the way down to Turn 1, holding the inside line and getting ahead of the Mercedes by the time they braked, with Lando Norris able to follow him through, demoting Russell down to third.
Further back, there were significant incidents that brought out the Safety Car as an apparent lock-up from Nico Hulkenberg, on hard tyres, saw him tag Esteban Ocon, who in turn collided with the Williams of Franco Colapinto on the outside of him.
Hulkenberg was able to pit and get going again, but that was the end of the race for Ocon and Colapinto.
Alex Albon was also spun around after contact with Lance Stroll at Turn 4, saying he got “massively hit” by the Aston Martin driver, claiming he “knew he was going to do it” too – but it would eventually force a retirement for Stroll a few laps later.
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton dropped places down to ninth from sixth on the grid, after seemingly moving before the lights went out, stopping, then being affected once the start did take place – but he made up one place at the restart by jumping back ahead of Fernando Alonso into Turn 1.
Oscar Piastri did the same against Charles Leclerc, using the slipstream to good effect to move back up to P4 into Turn 1 – but behind him, a lock-up saw Liam Lawson go off the circuit in the background, though he was able to get going again in P18 and last place.
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It was soon noted that Hamilton was being looked at for a false start, with a message of “sorry about that, guys” coming to his team after the start, and a five-second penalty duly came the way of the seven-time World Champion.
If Piastri was able to pass Russell for the final podium place, that would put McLaren in Constructors’ championship-winning position – and he was pushing hard to gain, suffering a snap of oversteer at the final corner that put him briefly off-track and losing time to the Mercedes.
Russell was the first of the stoppers on lap 23, but a slow seven-second stop opened the door for Piastri to try and get past – with the right-rear tyre being unable to get off the car to halt him in the pit lane.
With Russell caught up behind Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and the front-runners still lapping faster than the polesitter, he was likely to lose out when the pit stops eventually shook out.
An errant wing mirror landed on the track when it came loose from the Williams of Alex Albon, flying into mid-air and landing on the start-finish straight, which prompted a yellow flag in that area of the track and eliminating the main overtaking opportunity on the circuit.
But while getting out of the way to be lapped, Valtteri Bottas ran over the debris – sending it into multiple pieces across the main straight.
As a result, both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both suffered punctures on their next lap, relegating Hamilton to the back of the field and Sainz to the end of the points.
“Trust me to have this luck, man,” came the message from Hamilton as a Safety Car was finally deployed, which prompted a flurry of pit stops among those who had not stopped.
It took several laps for the debris to be cleared as the drivers drove through the pit lane under Safety Car conditions, but when the action got underway again after Hamilton and Bottas were allowed to unlap themselves, it was Verstappen leading Norris and Leclerc, Piastri and Sergio Perez in the top five – not a title-winning position for McLaren.
Before the restart, Perez said he “lost drive” in his Red Bull and retired from the race after spinning on the exit of Turn 15, and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg retired from the race to bring out another Safety Car – but not before plenty of action before then.
Norris tried to make a move on Verstappen for the lead but found himself shepherded to the outside, Pierre Gasly ran wide and lost a place to Carlos Sainz before regaining it again in P6, with George Russell making his way back up to fifth on the opening lap of the restart.
Meanwhile, Norris was placed under investigation for failing to slow under yellow flags while the broken wing mirror was on track, which subsequently became a 10-second stop/go penalty for the McLaren driver, a severe punishment for the driver that all but ended the team’s chances of securing the Constructors’ Championship on the night, leaving that fight to the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Norris rejoined the circuit last of the remaining runners in 15th, 16 seconds behind the next car in Liam Lawson – while Hamilton’s issues were compounded with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
“Park the car, mate” was Hamilton’s request after hearing of his second penalty of the night, along with his puncture, but: “Negative” was the reply from Pete Bonnington on the pit wall in a tough evening for his penultimate race for Mercedes.
Elsewhere, Zhou Guanyu was promoted to eighth place in what was looking set to be his and Sauber’s first points of the season.
Norris managed to clamber back towards the points, however, moving past both VCARB drivers as he looked to salvage what he could from the weekend, while Bottas was doing all he could to try and score his first point of the season after passing Albon for P10, all while Norris loomed large behind them in the final laps.
Bottas could not hang onto a points-paying position, however, with Norris getting by and back into the top 10 before the chequered flag, after losing around 35 seconds due to his penalty.
At the front, it was serene going for Verstappen as he claimed a ninth victory of the season, while there were 10 crucial points for Alpine in their Constructors’ battle for P6, with Zhou jubilant with his P8 finish and Magnussen adding two points to Haas’ total, leaving it all to play for in the Constructors’ standings as we head to Abu Dhabi.
To top off the penalties for the evening, Russell was handed a five-second time penalty for a Safety Car infringement, but did not drop a place as he had a seven-second advantage to Gasly behind.
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 57 laps
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +6.031
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +6.819
4 George Russell Mercedes +14.104
5 Pierre Gasly Alpine +16.782
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +17.476
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +19.867
8 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber +25.360
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +32.177
10 Lando Norris McLaren +35.762
11 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +50.243
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +56.122
13 Yuki Tsunoda VCARB +61.100
14 Liam Lawson VCARB +62.656
15 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
Did not finish
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas F1 Team
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
Franco Colapinto, Williams
Esteban Ocon, Alpine
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