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Successful Inaugurational night race F1 GP Qatar 2021 -
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Alpine
Spanish Fernando Alonso, and his french Alpina Team celebrating his first podium in the Inaugurational Qatar F1 Worldchampionship GP Nov 2021 since 7 years -
Alonso profited from both Bottas and Verstappen’s grid penalties to start the race third. He harboured hopes of getting the lead after starting on the soft tyre, but instead had to make do with picking off Gasly for second. Losing out to a recovering Verstappen after a few laps, the Spaniard pitted and slowly worked his way back to that podium slot. But with a fresher shod Perez chasing him down it looked tight to the finish – until a late VSC period helped Alonso escape home for this first podium since 2014. As for Ocon, a great start for him made his race, and he did his best to help his team mate out by keeping Perez behind as long as possible.
Laurent Rossi, Chief Executive, Alpine
“What a fantastic team result. Firstly, a huge congratulations to Fernando on his podium. It marks his first since returning to the team and, I must say, after the season he has had, he truly deserves it. We knew a big opportunity would arise today with the pre-
Fernando Alonso, 3rd
“It felt fantastic today and to be back on the podium was so good. We deserved this result as a team and I’ve had to wait seven years since my last one. Hopefully we don’t need to wait this long again! We took some risks with the one-
Esteban Ocon, 5th
“Today was a great race on our side and I am very pleased to have finished fifth after starting ninth. I managed to pass Carlos [Sainz] and Yuki [Tsunoda] after a good start. I tried to return the favour to Fernando from Budapest; I asked the team if they needed me to defend from Perez. He was on fresh tyres and it was not easy, but I did the maximum I could. Today’s result is almost like a win for us. Everyone in the team deserves credit for this fantastic effort. Twenty-
Mercedes
Hamilton started from pole, built a decent lead and was in control for the entire race. He came home to win the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix in serene fashion, but behind it was anything but for poor old Bottas. He dropped to P11 at the start and needed a stern message from Wolff to get him going. Climbing through the field on a one-
Lewis Hamilton, 1st
"It's been a hell of a year so to be at this point of the season and have back-
Valtteri Bottas, DNF
"Obviously, that was a very disappointing day for me and a tough way to end the weekend, after it started so promisingly on Friday. I struggled on the formation lap to get temperature into the tyres and then being on the dirty side of the grid, I had no grip for the start, so I was just wheel spinning, and was skating around on the first lap. Then I got into a bit of a DRS train but once the gaps opened up, I could make progress, the pace was good, and I could go long on the stint. But then, all of a sudden, I had the puncture without any vibration or warning. We knew we were pushing the limit of the tyre, but I was still getting good grip, we still felt comfortable and staying out was our best shot at a podium. It failed just after the pit entry as well, so the most unlucky part of the track, and the car got so damaged on the lap back to the pits we felt it was safer to retire and save the mileage."
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-
"That was a commanding win for Lewis. He controlled the pace from the front and did everything he needed to do, completely in the zone. The lion got woken up in Interlagos and we saw that today in Qatar! For Valtteri, it was a difficult day, the puncture came out of nowhere, with literally no indication, and unfortunately, he was the first one to pick up the puncture. But while we come away from the race result with mixed emotions, the pace of the car this weekend has been encouraging for the last two races. We know there are still many challenges to come but we're enjoying the ride, when it is so tough, this is exactly why we are in this sport. It's maximum attack for the last two rounds, we've got some points to make up, so this is what we're aiming to do and we're enjoying every minute of it."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"A mixed bag today. On one hand, Lewis showed what he and the car can do over a Saturday and Sunday, his margin in qualifying was truly impressive and even in the race, he only had to do what was required to hold the gap. Valtteri on the other hand had a tough day; we thought he'd be P5 to start which meant the good side but as we were leaving to go to the grid, a second document came out that put us a place further back on the dirty side. That didn't help him get off the line but a poor Turn 1 and 2 dropped him further and by the end of the lap one he was down in P11. From there he mounted a very strong recovery and was getting back into a position where a podium was looking likely.
"We then had the puncture, that came without warning and at the worst place on track, just coming into the final corner so he had to do the whole lap on three wheels. We couldn't make any headway once we were back out on track as the car had been quite badly damaged, so in the end we decided to retire. We move into the final two rounds with a small margin in the Constructors' and a small deficit in the Drivers'. It's going to be tight, but we've got a car that is capable of doing the job and that's giving us great encouragement. We'll likely need to win both races, but we've got good reason to think our strong form from here can carry into the next two. It's a big push to the finish from here but we're looking forward to the fight and
Red Bull
Handed a five-
Max Verstappen, 2nd
“I’m of course happy with the result today. This weekend has been quite difficult for us as a Team and we are still lacking pace, I tried everything I could after the five-
Sergio Perez, 4th
“We managed to recover from qualifying and moved through the grid quickly from P11, we were in a very good position to be on the podium but unfortunately it didn’t work out. It was a very exhausting race, I was flat out the whole time, overtaking and pushing. We were changing our strategy throughout the race; at some stages we were going for one stop and at others two, but others’ tyres were exploding so we had to protect ours to prevent getting a puncture and maximise our position in the Constructor’s Championship. I think we had the podium in our pocket but for the second week running a virtual safety car has potentially cost us. I don’t know if without it we would have definitely caught up with Fernando, but we would have been close. It is a bit of a shame but we managed to minimise the damage from Saturday and Valtteri didn’t score any points which is a big benefit to us. Ultimately, I think from a Team point of view we had to play it safe with the constructors in mind. Where we have finished today is a good result for the Team and the longer-
Christian Horner, Team Principal
“Today was a big day, I think Max’s recovery on the first lap was stunning and his first two corners were sensational. Mercedes had a quicker car with Lewis today, but we were able to come back at them in the second and third stint. Whilst we haven’t got quicker, our straight-
Aston Martin
Vettel was unlucky at the start, running wide to avoid the pack and dropping down to P17 as a result. From there he drove a strong race, making his used soft tyres last over half the Grand Prix as he one-
Sebastian Vettel, 10th
“The start of the race proved very costly. We were basically at the back of the train after the first corner. We made a reasonable recovery from P17, but we lost the potential to score more points than we did. On the approach to Turn One, there were lots of cars around me and I was squeezed. I tried to go around the outside but the track was dirtier than I expected and I slid wide. It is frustrating because the car was quick, especially when we were in clean air, and that helped me recover to P10. So, after lap one, it was a strong race, a good recovery, but it hurts when you are on the back foot straight away. It is great to see both cars in the points today so there are many positives to take away from the weekend.”
Lance Stroll, 6th
“The car felt very good today and I am very happy with our performance. I made up a couple of places on lap one and over the first stint it was clear that we had pace to perform well. I overtook [Yuki] Tsunoda on the Mediums and then, after catching the guys ahead, undercut [Carlos] Sainz to move into sixth after stopping for the Hards. Overall, everything went perfectly for us today and scoring eight points at the end of this triple-
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal & CEO
“That was a complex race from a technical point of view, and I want to pay tribute to two brilliant drives, particularly by Lance, who managed tyre wear and pressure from the Ferraris superbly to finish sixth under intense racing throughout all 57 laps. He was the star of our race today. Sebastian was pushed wide at the start by [Valtteri] Bottas, and had to take to the artificial grass to avoid an accident, which dropped him back to P17, having started from a P10 grid slot. He drove hard and consistently well thereafter, ending up back in the points. Our tyre group and strategy team combined to do a fantastic job throughout, both here in Qatar and at Mission Control at the factory, and it is a great feeling for all of us to record our first double points finish since Paul Ricard in June.”
Scudería Ferrari
Sainz escaped a grid penalty and so started sixth in the end, but had a slow getaway on the medium compound tyres from the dirty side of the grid. Running a long first stint helped the Spaniard, with Leclerc capitalising on the AlphaTauri pair two-
Charles Leclerc, 8th
"As a team, we ended the weekend on a positive note. Personally, I was happy to see my pace return after quite a frustrating qualifying. I would like to thank our mechanics for the incredible job they did in changing my chassis yesterday. From the first few laps of the race, the feeling I had in the car was already much better and I knew that I could push.
"In terms of the overall result, there is nothing to be excited about when you only finish in P8. But considering that I started from a long way back and looking at the strong pace I had, especially in the second stint on the Hard tyres, I think we made a really good recovery. We will now do everything we can to carry this momentum into the final two races of the season."
Carlos Sainz, 7th
"It wasn’t the most entertaining race today for us due to the amount of tyre management we had to do. However, we did a good job and managed to finish on the one-
"From there I just focused on extending the first stint to the maximum and then taking care of the Hard tyre during the first laps of the second stint. When I was told we were safe to push to the end I finally had some fun, catching Ocon and Stroll ahead of me. However, being stuck in a DRS train made it impossible to overtake so that was it.
"Overall it’s been a positive triple-
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal
"A result to be viewed in light of the championship, which has seen us take another step forward towards the goal we have set ourselves for this final part of the season. We knew we might struggle at this track in terms of tyre wear, as was the case in Paul Ricard for example. We therefore asked our drivers to adopt a cautious approach at all times, without taking risks while trying to make a one-
The team worked well, having to deal with the strain of this being the third race in as many weekends. The mechanics did an excellent job of changing Charles’ chassis in the time allowed so that there were no grid penalties and then again worked well when the drivers came in for a double-
McLaren
For the third race running, McLaren found themselves scoring with just the one car, and lowly points at that. Norris was running well having gone for the one-
Daniel Ricciardo, 12th
“Unfortunately, a pretty disappointing end to the triple-
Lando Norris, 9th
"A disappointing race. We could've scored some good points today. The car was very strong, I felt confident and we had good pace compared to everyone behind. Only Fernando [Alonso] had slightly better pace. I'm not sure we could've challenged for the podium, but we had good pace to go for P4, or at least P5, which would've been a great result for us. We lost that position through no fault of our own. It's a huge shame, as the team worked really hard all weekend, but there was nothing we could do."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal
“This triple-
“My thanks to the entire team, who have worked incredibly hard, both here at the track and back at the factory, and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP, who have given us excellent support. Everyone has pushed very hard through this intense run of races. We’ll go home now, reset, take a weekend off and try to finish the season on a high.”
AlphaTauri
Just not their day. Gasly started a career-
Pierre Gasly, 11th
“It’s a really frustrating day. Both Yuki and myself started in the top 10, but went massively backwards during the race. I was giving everything I had inside the car today, but we were just too slow. Even at the start I wasn’t able to stick with Alonso, so we tried to go for an aggressive two-
Yuki Tsunoda, 13th
“That was a particularly tough race, I struggled a lot on the soft tyre, especially in the first stint. We really weren’t expecting that, as overall this week we’ve had really good pace, but today in the race it dropped off, so we’ve got to look at the data and figure out why that was. It’s a real shame, as Alpine had a very good race today, so we need a strong comeback for the last two races.”
Jody Egginton, Technical Director
“Tonight's race has been a difficult one as both cars struggled with pace and tyre degradation. Yuki’s first stint was compromised when a visor tear off became stuck on the rear wing. This caused a loss of load and balance, necessitating the first stop being brought forward so it could be removed, which dropped him further back than ideal. With Pierre we were struggling with balance, as he had high front left tyre wear, meaning he could not follow the cars ahead. So again, we were forced to bring the first stop forward and adapt the strategy to allow tyre wear to be managed. The net result of these issues impacted track positions and we did not have sufficient pace to recover on this occasion. All credit to Alpine, they really made the soft tyre work and in such a tight battle this has made the difference tonight. Obviously, the entire team is disappointed to have lost ground in the battle for fifth in the constructors’ championship, however there are still two races to go. Although challenging, our objectives remain unchanged and we will be pushing hard to score as many points as we can.”
Alfa Romeo
Both drivers got great starts, each making up four places. But sticking with a two-
Kimi Raikkonen, 14th
“I was surprised by the overtakes we could do, in the end it was an entertaining race. I didn’t expect much at the beginning, perhaps to be able to race with some people as the car was pretty much the same as yesterday, but we had a good start and then things kept improving as the race went on. I had some good battles and by the end we were catching the McLaren and AlphaTauri ahead. I think we got everything we could out of this race.”
Antonio Giovinazzi, 15th
“We did the maximum we could, I don’t think anything more than P15 was possible today. We had a great first lap, gaining four places, and then we were in some nice battles for the rest of the evening. We struggled yesterday, but we knew with a good race we could finish ahead of both Haas and Williams – and that is what we delivered. We went for a two-
Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal
“We had a better Sunday after a difficult weekend, on a track that has been quite tough for our cars. Our pace through practice, qualifying and the race was affected by some damage we picked up during the sessions, so to pull together a good recovery drive like tonight’s, leaving behind the Haas and the Williams, was a positive. Both drivers did really well at the start, produced some good overtakes and in the end we were able to close to within three seconds of Ricciardo and Tsunoda. P14 and P15 was the most we could achieve today and we did it. Now we have a week to regroup after this triple-
Haas F1 team
Schumacher got the better start of the two Haas drivers, making up a place before falling back. Mazepin briefly ran ahead of his team mate as he chose to stop later, in fact the last driver bar Bottas to get rid of his starting tyres. But that long first stint couldn’t propel the rookie up the field, and in the end he propped up the leaderboard, while Schumacher finished ahead of Russell after the Williams man suffered a late puncture.
Mick Schumacher, 16th
“It was good, and we can be happy with what we achieved today. We made the strategy that we chose and committed to work. The start was pretty decent, we got Latifi at the beginning. The performance of the car was there, and we were right in the window. We were very close to the Alfas which is what we were expecting but on the other hand, not from the beginning of the year. It’s down to our teamwork committing to understanding the car as well as we do and having to work with what we have. We’re still now finding new things, finding new ways of improving.”
Nikita Mazepin, 18th
“We expected the tyres to do one thing and we went medium to soft, and it felt like the balance had a lot of understeer at the end of the first stint. I did decent laps towards the end of the last. I certainly didn’t drive like they were race tyres, I drove like they were qualifying tyres, learning the track with every lap out there. It was a very hot race. Our big goal was to do laps and maximise. Not the easiest one out there but another new track in the mix next time.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal
“The race today was one of our better ones this year, if not the best. Both drivers did a good job – Mick was fighting with the Williams and Alfa Romeo’s which is unexpected. We didn’t get by them but at least we were in the mix, which was good for the whole team to see. Nikita also did a very, very good first part of the race, keeping up, thinking that he only did 15 laps with the car before going into the race and never driving the car with a full fuel tank. With the other Williams stopping earlier and being on a different strategy, it got a little bit difficult therefore he fell back.”
Williams F1 Team
Williams were having a reasonably sedate race until the closing stages. First Russell suffered a puncture, damaging his front wing in the process. He was able to limp back to the pits and rejoin the field, but his team mate wasn’t so lucky. Latifi also suffered a late puncture, but he’d just crossed the start-
George Russell, 17th
"We had an aggressive strategy today and we were trying to push our final stint as long as possible. With the really high-
Nicholas Latifi, DNF
"We tried to make the one-
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance
"Having lost positions on the opening lap, we were keen on executing a one-
"Despite being at the final event of a tough triple-
We will be back in two-
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