2023 Qatar Grand Prix | 8 talking points

1. Verstappen makes it three

He was beaten in the Saturday sprint, but team-mate Sergio Perez crashing out with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg ensured the inevitable. As expected, Verstappen didn’t need the grand prix to join Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, (father of his girlfriend) Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna as a three-time F1 champion.

Having taken pole position for the GP in qualifying on Friday, Verstappen just needed a clean getaway to cap his weekend. Sure enough, he had things pretty much his own way on Sunday evening, although the pace of the McLarens kept him on his toes, in a race defined by mandatory pitstops following Pirelli tyre safety concerns caused by Lusail’s aggressive kerbs. The minimum requirement of three stops meant everyone had to push harder than usual – not a bad thing – and in the overwhelming heat that made this grand prix a proper trial. Piastri finished less than five seconds behind Verstappen, so the 2023 champ couldn’t hang around. “The McLarens were quick again, I had to push for it,” he said after his 14^th win of the season and 49^th of his career. “It’s in my top five toughest races.”

2. Piastri comes of age

The accomplished win in the sprint race, and then second in the grand prix proper. Yes, this was a big weekend for Oscar Piastri, who at 22 proved conclusively that he’s the real deal. The Aussie got the better of Lando Norris, who screwed his qualifying by having his two best times deleted for track limits violations and only started 10^th. What played out from there has perhaps shifted the dynamic a notch or two within McLaren.

As Piastri acknowledged afterwards, the Mercedes clash at Turn 1 did him a huge favour as the seas parted and allowed him to immediately rise from sixth on the grid to second. But there was nothing lucky about his performance thereafter, Piastri proving to himself as much as anyone that he is getting the hang of managing tyre life over a full grand prix distance, in the toughest race he’d ever experienced. No wonder he looked spent at the end.

There was a hint of internal tension (that will surely only intensify) when Norris emerged from his final stop on Piastri’s tail. McLaren, determined not to blow that precious haul of big points, made the dreaded ‘hold station’ call which was immediately questioned by a nettled Norris. “I’m clearly a lot quicker,” he claimed – against any obvious evidence to back that up. Had Norris been free to race his team-mate, would he have caught and passed him? Both were on the same compound of hard tyre and Piastri seemed more than equal to what Norris had left in the tank – so no, probably not. The rivalry between this pair has been simmering nicely for a while this season. It looks like it might now begin to boil.

Meanwhile, it was all smiles within McLaren. Following a second successive double podium and a third on the bounce for Norris, the team is just 11 points off Aston Martin in the chase for fourth in the constructors’ championship. Millions are at stake, and on current form it’s looking bright for the orange cars to overturn the green ones.

3. Hamilton takes the blame

In the heat of the moment, Hamilton blamed Russell and Russell blamed Hamilton. But once he’d watched the replays the seven-time world champion showed his integrity, called himself out and rightly took the blame. The collision after the start was an accident, pure and simple. There was no malice or intent from either party.

Into Turn 1 Russell’s focus was on Verstappen ahead of him and to his right when Hamilton, with more grip from his soft-compound tyres, came steaming around his outside. It was a touch too optimistic, Hamilton’s right rear just catching Russell’s front left and looping the no.44 Mercedes off and into the gravel. It was properly buried and now missing its right rear wheel. Game over. Hamilton’s later contrition should diffuse some of the heat, but like the McLaren pairing, this is now a team-mate relationship that carries a harder edge.

4. Russell’s fine comeback

Forced to pit with a puncture, an upset Russell cleared his head and began a masterful climb back through the order on what now had to be a four-stop strategy. As the shape of the race finally began to clear in the second half, Russell’s engineer told him fourth place was on – and so it proved. This was a fine recovery, only sullied by the thought of what might have been without that collision, given the pace he subsequently showed.

5. Leclerc rides alone

Poor Carlos Sainz Jr was ruled out from even taking the start because of a fuel system issue, so Charles Leclerc was the lone Ferrari in the grand prix. He started fifth on the grid and that’s where he finished, never in contention for more.

6. Difficult night for Aston Martin

Leclerc finished ahead of fourth-starting Fernando Alonso, who seemed out of sorts in the grand prix. A hot seat made life extra uncomfortable for the Spaniard, but the two unforced errors were out of character. The second one pitched him off through the gravel at Turn 2, whereupon he found the escape road and rejoined recklessly and just ahead of Leclerc. Still, he brough his Aston home sixth, ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine to score at least some vital points in the wake of the flying McLarens.

As for Lance Stroll… oh dear. His stroppy mood after a poor sprint race won’t have been improved after a dire grand prix. Stroll was far from alone in picking up track limits penalties – a tiresome talking point in itself – but a double dose of five seconds left him out of the points in 11^th.

7. More woe for Perez

‘Checo’ was another to pick up two lots of track limit violation penalties as once again he wasted driving the fastest car on the grid. Sure, the sprint accident was not his fault and he was forced to start from the pitlane for the grand prix following the repairs. But in contrast to Russell’s enforced recovery, Perez made a mess of his race, to the obvious exasperation of his engineer. He finished ninth on the road, but the second dose of five seconds dropped him to a miserable 10^th.

8. Big points for Alfa Romeo

Ahead of him were Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, both of whom drove excellent races for Alfa Romeo. Their double score in eighth and ninth might well be crucial to the team’s season. It has lifted them above Haas and into eighth in the constructors’ standings, by four points. Minor as it might appear to the wider world, it’s an important storyline for the teams involved, with just five more grands prix to play in 2023.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images