The title race heats up as we edge towards the final 2 races of the Formula 1 season.
An action packed weekend saw the tension rise between Mercedes and Red Bull. Saturday's qualifying produced a plethora of surprises, with both Perez and Leclerc eliminated in Q2 before an eventful Q3. In Q3, Gasly's puncture ultimately secured a 4th place spot on the grid for the Frenchman but hindered many other drivers qualifying, as the yellow flags were waved as a result.
But Verstappen, Bottas and Sainz were all adjudged to have ignored the yellow flags and were therefore called to the stewards the following morning. Max was given a 5th place grid penalty for ignoring double yellow flags, Bottas given a 3 place grid penalty and Sainz given no penalty for his infringement.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner once again voice his concerns in his press conference with rival Toto Wolff regarding Mercedes increases in straight line speed over the last few races, and didn't hold back as he grew further agitated at the FIA's decision to give Verstappen a penalty despite his dashboard showing no yellow flags.
The grid penalties meant Gasly was on the front row for the first time in his F1 career with veteran Alonso 3rd on the grid. And Verstappen soon jumped up a few places as a fast start saw him jump from 7th to 4th, with Alonso also leapfrogging Gasly. The Dutchman soon overtook both Gasly and Alonso in quick succession and on the 5th lap, the hunt for Hamilton begun. An ideal start from an unfortunate position for Red Bull as Bottas' poor start saw him dropp to 11th with Checo soon found himself up to 6th. There was soon further issues for Bottas, as after fighting his way back to 3rd, and being the only driver not to pit, he was hit with a puncture in his front left tire pushing him down once again to 12th. Bottas became a catalyst for the tire punctures as both Williams' front left tires suffered the same fate as Bottas'.
And on his own in 1st, Hamilton concluded a dominant and untouchable Qatar GP to reduce the gap to 8 points between him and championship leader Max Verstappen. Max finished 2nd and claimed the fastest lap point, with another excellent weekend seeing Alpine's Alonso finishing on the podium for the first time since 2014 and teammate Ocon finishing 5th as they produced a 25 point gap in the Constructors championship between them and rivals Alpha Tauri. Checo finished 4th to put pressure on Mercedes in the constructors with Bottas' retiring the race. Stroll finished 6th, Sainz 7th, Leclerc recovering to an 8th place finish ahead of Norris in 9th, who also nearly fell victim to a puncture, and Vettel rounded off the top 10. A disappointing race from Gasly saw his first front row start reduced to an 11th place finish, with the teams strategy ultimately letting him down and McLaren's Ricciardo finishing a disappointing 12tj.
So with 2 races to go, it is all to play for in Formula 1. An 8 gap and a 5 point gap is sure to excite, with Toto Wolff biting back at Horner declaring 'We'll get our spicy equipment out for Saudi Arabia'.
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