Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a dramatic Qatar Grand Prix that was brought to life by two mid-race safety cars and a penalty for McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen was in a tight fight with Norris throughout the race until the Briton was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags.
Verstappen himself was instrumental in getting Norris the penalty after pointing the incident out to his team.
Meanwhile, there will be questions about the management of the race by governing body the FIA, after Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz both suffered punctures.
It is unclear whether the punctures were caused by worn tyres or debris from a wing mirror that had been lying on the pit straight for about three laps before it was smashed by Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber. The FIA has not responded to questions as to why the mirror was not cleared up earlier.
The punctures happened shortly after the mirror was hit, and the safety car was called to allow marshals to clear the shattered carbon-fibre and glass.
Although Norris challenged Verstappen at the restart, and the Dutchman defended his position robustly, their tussle was academic, because of Norris’ penalty.
The punishment also ended McLaren’s hopes of tying up the constructors’ championship in this race.
They now go to the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend with a 21-point lead over Ferrari and a maximum of 44 points available to score.
How the race was won
Verstappen put himself in position to win the race at the start. He had taken pole position on Saturday, before being demoted one place behind Mercedes’ George Russell for driving too slowly during the session.
Verstappen made his typically good start, getting up the inside of the Mercedes on the run to Turn One, and taking the lead.
As they washed slightly wide, Norris went up the inside to pass Russell, but Verstappen fended off the McLaren on the run to Turn Two.
Verstappen and Norris ran together at the front for half the race, the gap never more than two seconds, as Russell started to fall back from them with Norris’ team’s mate Oscar Piastri putting him under pressure.
Verstappen always had the advantage as the leader, but the destiny of the win was up in the air until Norris was adjudged to have transgressed in failing to slow for a yellow caution flag.
During the safety-car period, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc jumped Piastri in the pits to take what became second place with Norris’ penalty. Leclerc is now just eight points behind Norris in their battle for second in the drivers’ championship.
Russell, who had fallen back with a slow pit stop made under racing conditions before the safety car, took fourth place despite a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement, ahead of a strong drive from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who was passed by Russell but managed to hold off the recovering Sainz in the final part of the race.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took seventh, while Sauber scored their first points of the year with Zhou Guanyu in eighth, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and the recovering Norris, who took 10th after dropping to the back with his penalty.
