Max Verstappen is a three-time Formula 1 world champion after finishing in second position in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race, which was won by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
The 19-lap event featured three safety car periods and was characterised by the drivers opting to use soft tyres making big gains early on and the safety car restarts, before falling back as the race wore on with their Pirelli tyres graining.
A three-way crash that triggered the third safety car period eliminated Sergio Perez which ultimately sealed Verstappen’s title.
At the start, Piastri held the lead off the line from pole while his fellow front row and medium tyre starter Lando Norris and Verstappen, also on the yellow-walled rubber from third, were swamped by the cars starting on the softs – George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
The race was then neutralised by the safety car being called into action soon after Liam Lawson spun off from the back of the pack at Turn 2, where he appeared to lose the rear of his AlphaTauri at the long left-hander and spun off into the gravel.
When the race restarted on lap three, Piastri made a getaway but lost the lead when Russell made a late dive to the inside of the Turn 6 hairpin – getting ahead as Piastri slid a touch and lost momentum exiting the corner.
Proceedings were then neutralised by another safety car – required because Logan Sargeant had spun off by himself running through the Turn 9 right-hand kink mid-way through the second sector.
The race restarted again at the start of lap seven, with the drivers on the mediums being told the cars running the softs were already seeing tyres graining up and the expectation being the event would swing back towards those on the more durable compound.
Russell was even better than Piastri on the second restart, shooting clear well before the track’s final turns once the safety car had run ahead to the pits to lead by 1.4 seconds as lap seven went by.
The Mercedes driver was able to hold Piastri at bay and out of DRS range for the first few laps after the second restart, during which Verstappen climbed back to third with DRS-assisted runs passes on the Ferrari pair on consecutive laps.
On lap 11, Russell was finally in DRS range for Piastri as the soft tyre swing turned out as many engineers had predicted and the McLaren driver surged back to the lead with a DRS run to the first corner.
A few seconds later, a third safety car was required when a three-way battle involving Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in the lower reaches of the top ten resulted in all three cars off the road at Turn 2.
Ocon was under pressure as a soft tyre runner versus the other two on medium tyres and as he fended off Hulkenberg’s attentions in and out of Turn 1, Perez got a run on both into Turn 2, where Ocon moving right and the Haas being sandwiched triggered the contact and put Ocon and Perez out on the spot – with Hulkenberg able to escape the scene before retiring in the pits.
The race resumed again on lap 15, with Russell having argued hard with his Mercedes engineer in favour of pitting during the final safety car as he felt his tyres were gone, a suggestion his team dismissed.
Piastri cleared Russell with P1, with Verstappen taking second with a DRS blast into Turn 1 the next time by, with the leader having established a 2.6 seconds lead over the recovering Red Bull.
Verstappen set two fastest laps during the first two tours of the remaining three, but he could not eat into Piastri’s lead enough to ever make a move.
Piastri had the legs on the final lap to cap Verstappen’s charge to finish 1.8 seconds back, with Norris recovering to third having passed the Ferrari pair in the first two laps after the third safety car ended, then getting Russell with a move around the outside of Turn 1 on the final lap.
Russell ended up fourth – ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who rose up the order after his shock Q2 sprint qualifying elimination and lowly P12 grid spot thanks to the Ocon-Hulkenberg-Perez shunt happening just in front of him and the Ferrari drivers fading in the final laps.
Of the pair in red, Leclerc had jumped Norris to run fifth just after the third restart before the McLaren driver’s medium tyre life advantage came to bear, with Sainz then under pressure from his team-mate after Norris had gone through.
Leclerc locking up ahead of Hamilton at the Turn 6 hairpin on the final lap gave Sainz some breathing room, but it was not enough as the Mercedes driver carved his way passed both Ferraris on the last lap.
With Sainz and Leclerc sixth and seventh, Alex Albon made many late gains to rise to ninth, with soft starters Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly falling back to ninth and 10th having led Hamilton in the period immediately after the third restart.
At the rear of the field, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu made pitstops during the final safety car, but could not use their fresh rubber to make an impact.
Leclerc and Stroll face a post-race investigation over apparent repeated track limits infractions.
Post-race penalties for these two drivers following track limits. So Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso are promoted to the points.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the 2023 season and becoming a three-time Formula 1 world champion. What a fantastic achievement in the Red Bull.
As for Oscar Piastri, well deserved to take victory for McLaren in the sprint. Has a bright future in the sport so this success is just the start.
Qatar Grand Prix sprint race results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 35:01.297
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.871s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +8.497s
4 George Russell Mercedes +11.036s
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +17.314s
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +18.806s
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +19.860s
8 Alexander Albon Williams +19.864s
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +21.180s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +21.742s
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +22.208s
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +22.863s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +24.523s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +24.970s
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +26.868s
Nico Hulkenberg Haas F DNF
Esteban Ocon Alpine DNF
Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF
Liam Lawson AlphaTauri H DNF
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was confirmed as a triple F1 world champion with a battling run to second position in Saturday’s Sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, finishing between the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the end of an action-packed encounter.
Piastri started the 19-lap dash in pole position and, after losing the lead to Mercedes rival George Russell early on amid opposing tyre strategies, the rookie fought back to take his first F1 victory, with Verstappen – who only needed to finish sixth to kick off another round of championship celebrations – ultimately coming home in the runner-up spot ahead of Norris.
Indeed, Verstappen’s result saw him mathematically put the drivers’ championship out beyond the reach of team mate Sergio Perez, who retired in any case, confirming the Dutchman as the sport’s title winner for the third successive season after his breakthrough triumphs in 2021 and 2022.
It means Verstappen joins an exclusive group of drivers with three F1 crowns, including Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, leaving quadruple champions Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel next up on the all-time list.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-secures-third-f1-world-title-as-piastri-takes-sprint-victory-in.4d0SLopnXU9W8uzefnJmu3.html
Oscar Piastri felt the three safety cars “were my friend” during a “very stressful” Qatar sprint race before clinching his first win in Formula 1 with McLaren.
Piastri departed from pole after topping Saturday’s sprint shootout, but having started on mediums the Australian was passed by the soft tyre-shod Mercedes of George Russell on a lap three restart.
But while the softs proved a handy advantage on the restarts, the more robust medium compound was clearly the way to go over the 19-lap contest.
On lap 10 Piastri duly swept past Russell to retake the lead, with only fellow medium runner Max Verstappen a threat in the latter stages.
Afterwards Piastri felt the safety car interruptions were crucial in helping him fend off Verstappen, who had lost positions on a poor first lap but came back to finish second and clinch his third straight world title.
“A very stressful race,” Piastri said. “When I saw all the soft guys come through at the start, I thought we were in a bit of trouble and then their tyres fell off pretty quickly.
“The safety cars were my friend today, definitely, once Max got behind me.
“But the pace was reasonable and, in a race where you had to manage a lot the tyres and cars on other compounds, I think we did a really good job, so we’re very happy.
“Once [Max] got through into second I thought I was going to be in a bit of trouble, but the pace was good and I managed the tyres well.
“A first sprint win sounds pretty cool.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/piastri-safety-cars-my-friend-for-qatar-f1-sprint-win/10530117/
Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll have copped five-second penalties for repeatedly exceeding track limits during the sprint race for Formula 1’s 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
On Saturday morning, the FIA announced that track limits had been brought in by 80cm at Turn 12 and 13 after Pirelli identified tears between the compound topping and tyre carcass.
This was caused by drivers running long and fast over revised kerbs at the Losail Circuit, which feature 50mm raised ‘pyramid-style’ borders that impact the tyre when they drop over the edge.
As such, an extra 10-minute practice session was added to the schedule for drivers to adjust to the revised permitter. However, track limit breaches still peppered the 19-lap sprint contest.
Ferrari driver Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Stroll have now been hit with five-second penalties, with both drivers found to have left the track on four occasions “without justifiable reason”.
As a result, Leclerc has dropped from seventh to 13th and Stroll from 13th to 15th – last of the finishers in an attrition-hit contest that ended with five retirements.
Source: Motorsport.com
Max Verstappen has hailed the feeling of winning a third Formula 1 World Championship as “incredible”, as the Dutchman took P2 in the Qatar Sprint – with team mate Sergio Perez’s crash in the 100km dash having handed the title to Verstappen even before he’d crossed the finish line.
Starting on medium tyres, Verstappen fell from P3 on the grid to P5 as the Sprint got under way under the lights at the Lusail International Circuit. But as the medium compound began to come on song, Verstappen quickly moved past the soft-shod cars of Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and George Russell – via a full three Safety Car interventions – to claim P2, as Oscar Piastri held on to win the Sprint.
However, Verstappen’s third consecutive title had been sealed on Lap 11 of 19, as Perez made contact with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg and crashed into the gravel, rendering the chances of catching Verstappen mathematically impossible.
“Unbelievable guys,” said Verstappen on his cool-down lap. “I don’t know what to say. An incredible year. Thank you for providing me with such a car. It’s been a pleasure so far this year. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone here at the track, back at the factory for putting all the effort in.
“To have been able to achieve something like this, I can’t thank you all enough, and besides all the performance-related stuff, it’s also been a pleasure working with you all, and that’s definitely the most important in the end. Thank you very much.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-calls-winning-third-title-a-fantastic-feeling-as-he-joins-elite.7oa453EGkGv3NynsnDNxAO.html