After having confirmed his third world championship on Saturday, Max Verstappen eased to yet another victory. Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team adeptly navigated the unprecedented tyre regulations, securing a win at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, finishing in front of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris of McLaren.
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A nightmare start for Mercedes
As the Sprint on Saturday promised, the main event delivered a dramatic start as Lewis Hamilton retired after colliding with his Mercedes teammate George Russell at the first corner.
Russell and Hamilton started 2nd and 3rd respectively with the latter on soft tyres. The 7-time world champion got away from his grid box brilliantly and had a chance to take the lead of the race. Everything came down crushing seconds later as Hamilton collided with Russell. Both spun out into the gravel with George Russell making it back into the pits coming out at the the end of the pack.
His recovery drive has put him 4th, reinforcing the 'what might have been' questions at Mercedes. Russell driver finished in front of Charles Leclerc whose Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz was unable to participate in the race due to a fuel system issue.
Despite Hamilton's initial reaction, which was to blame his teammate, he took full responsibility after rewatching the incident and apologized to both his team and George Russell.
The papaya team gearing up to fight Red Bull?
The weekend in Qatar marked a successful outing for McLaren, yet the lingering feeling of missed opportunities cast a shadow over their performance, particularly for Lando Norris.
Both McLaren drivers got their best times deleted during qualifying on Friday, putting Pisatri and Norris 6th and 10th respectively. Norris' deleted lap time was good enough for the front row and he walked away with a feeling he should've been on pole. Saturday hasn't got much better for the young British driver as he felt the pole position has slipped through his fingers once again, this time into the hands of his rookie Australian teammate Piastri who went on to win the Sprint.
Although it was a 'Sprint' race victory, Piastri is now the second McLaren teammate to beat Lando Norris to a win.
On Sunday, Norris finished a second behind Oscar Piastri after being told to hold the position.
The Gruelling Physical Demands of the Qatar GP
The Singapore Grand Prix has been long considered the most demanding race of the calendar. Well, seems the Qatar GP has taken the reigns on this one.
All participating drivers were struggling physically and mentally. The scorching heat and unbearable humidity created sauna-like conditions in the cockpit for the whole duration of the race.
Esteban Ocon told Sky Sports that he had thrown up by Lap 15, while Williams' Logan Sargeant retired mid-race.
Fernando Alonso asked for water to be thrown at him during a pit stop to cool down his burning seat, however, the Aston Martin crew could not help the two-time world champion as it is not allowed.
Several drivers fainted after the race and had to seek out medical assistance.
In his post-race interview, Charles Leclerc spoke at length about the difficulty of the race:
"The toughest race of our careers, for every
single driver.
Lots of things added up; the heat was absolutely crazy, second we've got a lot of high-speed corners, and third, which I think is the most significant, is adding three stops."
"It's difficult to put into words how difficult it was"
The unprecedented tyre regulation that forced each driver to pit after a maximum of 18 laps, created "a full push race for tyres with little management".
These proved to be dangerous conditions to drive in. Many drivers said they were losing vision due to dehydration during the race.
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