Dominant Hamilton wins historic Qatar GP

Doha: Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton produced an indomitable performance on his Mercedes to clinch a dominant victory at the inaugural Formula One Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix at the floodlit Losail International Circuit.   

Hamilton wowed packed stands at the Losail track last night with his flawless show, beating title-rival Max Verstappen by over 25 seconds to reduce his lead to eight from 14 points, with Jeddah and Abu Dhabi rounds left in the championship.    

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso – two-time world champion – returned to the podium after seven years, taking a stunning third position, his first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.     

The lights-to-flag victory by the Briton – 102nd of his career –  was his seventh win of the season and second in seven days after his superb Sao Paulo Grand Prix triumph. 

“The last two weeks have been amazing. But there’s no time for celebrations, I’ll be back in training tomorrow, back on it,” Hamilton, who clinched the pole position on Saturday, said yesterday. “I don’t have many emotions, I’m just driven right now. They still have a fast car. These next two races are needing an even better performance,” he added. 

Red Bull’s Verstappen, who started seventh following a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect warning flags in the qualifying, also had an impressive race as he stormed to second quickly after the start and also claimed the fastest lap bonus point. 

“Once I know I was starting seventh I was just very motivated to move ahead and that’s exactly what we did,” Verstappen said.

“We had a good first lap and then after five laps we were second again and I just tried to keep the gap small which we did throughout the whole race so they couldn’t do an extra stop – and it gave me the fastest lap at the end so I was definitely happy with that.

“We just didn’t have the pace this weekend to match them [Mercedes]. I did the fastest lap – at the end of the day it was still one extra point and everything counts at the moment – but this weekend wasn’t the best for us,” he added. 

Alonso led a fine day for Alpine with a third finish, overcoming a late charge by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who ended up fourth. Alonso’s team-mate Esteban Ocon secured fifth position while Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin.

Alonso was delighted to take the podium after 105 races – a record interval between consecutive podiums.

“Unbelievable, seven years! Finally we got it, honestly I thought to be leading after Lap 1, on the red tyre I wanted to have a go at Lewis,” the Spaniard said yesterday. 

“We tried one stop from the beginning but we didn’t know the [tyre] wear at a new venue for everybody. The car was superb and [the team] deserve it. I’ve waited so long for this, so I’m very happy,” he added. 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were placed seventh and eighth, while Lando Norris finished ninth for McLaren ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who was fastest in practice - had a nightmarish race, which started with a grid penalty followed by a poor start and a puncture before being retired from the race. 

“With the puncture there was no warning, no vibration, no loss of grip, everything was feeling normal and the pace was very consistent and then it just happened. Not the first time to be honest,” said the Finn. 

While Verstappen continues to lead the championship, Red Bull cut Mercedes lead in the constructors’ standings from 11 to five points after last night’s race.

The Qatar Grand Prix will return in 2023 for ten years following a one year gap due to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.