08 October 2023 , 18:31
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Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was left to stroll to Qatar Grand Prix victory after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell destroyed their own plan to chase him.
The Brits lined up just behind the Red Bull on the grid and would have hoped to work together to thwart the three-time title winner. But their strategies imploded within seconds as Hamilton turned into the other Mercedes at the first corner.
The seven-time world champion's car was send into the gravel and out of the race. While Russell was able to continue, damage to his front wing prompted a pit stop at the end of that first lap which forced him to climb back up the order from the back of the pack.
That left Verstappen free to breeze off into the distance. He didn't need the win having already wrapped up the 2023 drivers' title in Saturday's Sprint race, but he never looked likely to spurn the chance to take the Grand Prix victory for the 14th time this season.
That collision between the two drivers brought out the safety car early. But while most would usually have taken the opportunity to grab a cheap pit stop, tyre rules mandated at short notice by the FIA made that a much less appealing option.
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Tyre supplier Pirelli had noticed a concerning amount of wear on tyres in practice on Friday. And two safety car periods in Saturday's Sprint meant they did not get enough data from that session to make a judgement over how much damage the kerbs were doing to the rubber in race conditions.
So the FIA mandated that all tyre sets could be raced for a maximum of 18 laps only, to guard against any dangerous blowouts. That meant that, assuming the race went the full 57-lap distance as it did, every driver would have to stop for new tyres at least three times.
All those visits to the pit lane meant the order was changing rapidly throughout the Grand Prix. The only person whose position very rarely changed was Verstappen, given he had extended a massive lead and was cruising to victory.
McLaren looked well placed for a double podium behind him. Russell had made excellent progress up to second place with 10 laps to go but needed to stop again, which allowed Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to zoom past when he did dive into the pit lane for the final time.
He came back out on softs in the hope of reeling in the two orange cars, but they were already a long way up the road. The 19-second gap with just five laps to go made it a very tall order for Russell and fourth was the best he could do, though that did mean that Mercedes still managed to out-score Ferrari despite their first-lap disaster.
Full 2023 Qatar Grand Prix result
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Oscar Piastri – McLaren
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
- Esteban Ocon –Alpine
- Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
- Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
- Sergio Perez – Red Bull
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Alex Albon – Williams
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
- Nico Hulkenberg – Haas
- Liam Lawson – AlphaTauri
DNS: Carlos Sainz – Ferrar
DNF: Logan Sargeant – Williams; Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes