Fernando Alonso has returned to the podium. Seven years later, with 40 on his identity card, the Asturian has once again been among the top three in a memorable Qatari GP that he won Lewis hamilton upon Max verstappen.
The management of the tires, the final punctures and the penalties that occurred an hour and a half after the start marked the future of a race that is now history.
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Carlos Sainz, after a gray race, entered the 7th race.
Start: Alonso climbs to 2nd and Hamilton escapes
From the first meters it was clear that Alonso he was going to look for the podium as it was, and that’s why he attacked from the first meters. While Hamilton escaped without problems, the Asturian showed his reflexes not only defending the impressive initial arreón of Verstappen, which allowed him to win three positions at once, but also to pass to his great rival, Gasly, on the outside.
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Verstappen was short-lived, as planned, and began to look at what was going on behind him. Although Gasly seemed the rival to beat in this first part of the race, Norris was in charge of neutralizing him in a good fight for fourth place.
Stabilized the race, began the movement in the pits. Verstappen was the first to stop from the top, with Hamilton taking cover from him by stopping next. The undercut goal went wrong at Red Bull here, but not with Sergio perez.
Pérez forces to change Alonso’s plan and Bottas fixes it
Alonso stretched his stop to try to go to a strategy of only one, and for this he began to undertake a race pace unthinkable for the Alpine. Only Verstappen and Hamilton were faster than him at the moment.
He waited until lap 24 to ride hard and it turned out well: not only did he initially resist Pérez, but he put Ricciardo in the middle. Eventually, Alonso ended up losing the position to Red Bull, but his goal became 5th … or better.
After the halfway point of the race, Mercedes’ strategy fell through again. Not because of Hamilton, but because of a Bottas who, after a start to forget that he forced him to come back from 11th, stretched too much his entry into the pits for the first time. On lap 32, the left front tire of his Mercedes said enough and punctured. He had to hobble to the pits.
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This incident, which gave everyone a good scare, made those who were fighting for victory or the podium fear the worst. The first reaction came from Red Bull, who ordered Pérez to enter immediately for a second stop. The pace of the Mexican made one think that Alonso’s podium was more at risk than ever, but the designs worked in his favor.
First Russell and later Latifi they prodded, much like Bottas. After a few moments in which the Spaniard feared that Pérez would hunt him down, the great final script twist came in his favor: the FIA ordered the deployment of the virtua safety carHe, the differences remained and ‘Checo’, in the absence of a lap, ran out of margin.
With this result, Hamilton cuts to 8 points the difference with Verstappen, who continues to lead despite giving up in the last races. In constructors, there are only five points in favor of Mercedes.