Race Results 2021 Qatar F1 Grand Prix

Event: Qatar F1 Grand Prix
Track: Losail International Circuit

Start of the first Qatar F1 GP

Weather: dry 26.4°C
Tarmac: dry 30.8°C
Humidity: 75.2%
Wind: 0.2 m/s SE
Pressure: 1012 bar

Lewis Hamilton scored his 102nd race win today. The British driver won the first ever Qatar F1 GP. It was his 7th race win of the 2021 season. The Mercedes driver started from   pole and led the race from start to finish. It was the 123rd race win for Mercedes.

2021 Qatar F1 GP Race Report

Because Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas received a grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags during yesterday's qualifying, the start grid was changed only one hour before the start. Red Bull driver Verstappen started from P7 instead of P2 and Mercedes driver Bottas started from P6 instead of P3.

The start itself was clean, Fernando Alonso who started from P3 in the Alpine had a good getaway on the clean side of the track. He got passed Gasly who started from P2 in the AlphaTauri. Lewis Hamilton kept the lead and drove away from the pack.

Verstappen also had a perfect start and already passed three cars at the start and was driving on P4 already after turn 1 and was driving a couple of laps behind Pierre Gasly who was passed by Alonso in turn 2.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (left) VS AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly at the start

Bottas dropped back from P6 to P11. In lap 4 Pierre Gasly made small error coming out of turn 16. Verstappen didn't hesitate and passed Gasly for P3. One lap later he already overtook Alonso for P2 and was only 4 seconds behind his title rival Hamilton.

Lap 10 AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda made the first pitstop of the race and switched from soft to medium tyres. McLaren driver Lando Norris passed Gasly for P4 in lap 12. Hamilton and Verstappen were driving in a league of their own and already were 23 seconds clear now.

After 15 laps Hamilton had increased his lead on Verstappen to 7.2 sec. Bottas now was getting up to speed and passed the Alpine of Esteban Ocon for P6 in lap 17 on the mainstraight. At the end of the lap Verstappen pitted to get rid of his medium tyres and switch to hard tyres. The Dutchman didn't lose a place and returned on the track right in front of Alonso. Hamilton pitted one lap later in 2.3 sec. He told the Mercedes team the stop was to early. It seems like the team just wanted to cover Verstappen to be sure and get a new set of hard tyres. Hamilton returned to the track 9 seconds in front of Verstappen.

Alonso who still was driving around on P3 pitted in lap 24 to go to hard tyres. He returned to the track to P8. That lap Verstappen drove the quickest lap time of the race with a 1:27.079 min. Hamilton answered to Verstappen and got back the fastest lap with a 1:26.996.

Verstappen was pushing to get closer to his title rival. In lap 32 the gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was decreased to 6.2 sec. Bottas who still hadn't pitted got a puncture in lap 34 of the race. He almost got trapped in the gravel, but was able to go on. The Finn lost a lot of places because he also had to get a new front wing and fell back from P3 to P14.

Lewis Hamilton wins the Qatar GP and two races in a row at Qatar

At the end of lap 41 Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of mediums in a stop that took only 2.1s. his teammate Perez did the same a few moments later. Hamilton again answered to the stop of Verstappen and also got a new set of mediums in a stop that took 2.4s. After the stops Verstappen was 8.7 seconds behind Hamilton.

In lap 51 Bottas was asked the retire his car by his team on the radio, while Williams driver George Russell also got the same type of puncture as Bottas had earlier in the race. One lap later Nicholas Latifi even had the same problem! The Canadian driver retired the Williams at turn 6. A virtual safety car period was used to recover the car. Verstappen came in to use a set of softs to earn the extra point for fastest lap.

Alonso won his first podium after his return to the sport. His last podium was back in Hungary 2014.

Classification 2021 Qatar GP

P	No	Driver	Team	Time	Laps	Grid	Pts
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	01:24:28.471	57	1	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	01:24:54.214	57	7	19
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	01:25:27.928	57	3	15
4	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	01:25:30.777	57	11	12
5	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	01:25:49.041	57	9	10
6	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	01:25:49.745	57	12	8
7	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	01:25:50.382	57	5	6
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	01:25:51.597	57	13	4
9	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	01:24:29.186	56	4	2
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	01:24:34.067	56	10	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	01:24:39.660	56	2	0
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	01:25:02.071	56	14	0
13	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	01:25:02.397	56	8	0
14	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	01:25:05.206	56	16	0
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	01:25:29.614	56	18	0
16	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas	01:25:31.192	56	19	0
17	63	George Russell	Williams	01:24:46.509	55	15	0
18	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	01:25:08.856	55	20	0
DNF	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	Puncture	50	17	0
DNF	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Puncture damage	48	6	0

Fastest lap: 1:23.196 min by Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (no.33) in lap 57

✅ Check out F1 Standings 2021 Championship
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