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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sealed
his seventh win of the season tonight, with tyre strategy at the centre of
the action, to take a three-way title fight to the championship finale in
Abu Dhabi next weekend.
All three tyre compounds were seen on the
grid and at the chequered flag, but the pivotal moment was the appearance of
a safety car on lap seven: for the fourth time at four races held in Qatar
so far.
With most drivers starting on the medium tyre, all but the
two McLarens pitted to put on a fresh set of tyres under the safety car –
with Verstappen, who had forced his way up to second from third on the grid,
the first to come in.
Pitting under the safety car carries an
advantage of roughly 10 seconds compared to green flag running, and it was
here that Verstappen built his crucial advantage.
Adding to the
tactical complexity today was the fact that each tyre set had a 25-lap limit
specifically for the 57-lap Qatar Grand Prix: meaning that the McLarens were
then out of sync with everybody else in terms of strategy.
The other
drivers had to pit by lap 32 for their final stops, with McLaren staying out
longer on each stint as a result of their earlier decision not to pit under
the safety car.
Oscar Piastri relinquished the lead on lap 42 for his
last pit stop, with his team mate Lando Norris coming in two laps later as
Verstappen consolidated the lead.
Nearly all the drivers ran their
two opening stints on the medium before switching to the hard for the final
stint, including all three podium finishers. Piastri set the fastest lap of
the race on both the medium and the hard tyres – with the overall fastest
lap, which was also the new race lap record of 1m22.996s, coming on the hard
compound on lap 44.
That final place on the podium was claimed by
Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who adopted a perfect strategy to clinch his
second podium of the year from seventh on the grid.
Conditions were
cool at the challenging Lusail circuit this year, with ambient temperatures
of 22 degrees centigrade and 23 degrees on track as the race got going under
the spotlights at 19:00 local time.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“All the strategic choices in today’s race were conditioned by the arrival
of the safety car. The compound considered to be the best compromise between
getting good grip right from the start, and also maintaining an adequate
performance level throughout the duration of the stint, was the medium.
Although nearly every driver only used the hard for the final stint to
the flag, the C1 compound would also have been competitive halfway through
the race. The lap times showed that in some cases it offered better
performance than the C2 medium in the final laps. All the compounds
displayed very limited wear, allowing drivers to push to the maximum.
There was a lot less graining compared to previous days, which reduced
cases of extreme wear but did not eliminate them entirely. As a result, the
25-lap limit was shown to be appropriate to avoid any issues.
The
fascinating twists and turns of this race, with unprecedented levels of
performance and new circuit records set throughout the weekend, reflect an
entire season with closer competition than ever. So it’s perhaps no surprise
that the championship now gets decided at the last race, with three very
worthy contenders going into battle for the final time next weekend."
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