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2021 Qatar Grand Prix

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2021 Qatar Grand Prix
Race 20 of 22[1] in the 2021 Formula One World Championship
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The circuit layout
The circuit layout
Race details[2]
Date 21 November 2021
Official name Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021
Location Losail International Circuit, Lusail, Al Daayen, Qatar
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.380 km (3.343 miles)
Distance 57 laps, 306.660 km (190.550 miles)
Weather Clear
Attendance 80,000[3]
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 1:20.827
Fastest lap
Driver Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time 1:23.196 on lap 57 (lap record)
Podium
First Mercedes
Second Red Bull Racing-Honda
Third Alpine-Renault
Lap leaders

The 2021 Qatar Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021) was a Formula One motor race, held on 21 November 2021 at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. The inaugural Qatar Grand Prix, it was the 20th round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the race ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, while Alpine's Fernando Alonso scored his first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix,[4] as well as his first podium with Team Enstone since the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix.

As a result of Hamilton's victory, Losail became the 30th different circuit where he has won a Grand Prix.[5]

Background

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The Qatar Grand Prix did not feature on the original calendar, but was added in place of the Australian Grand Prix, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first Qatar Grand Prix, with a 10-year contract to host the Qatar Grand Prix from 2023 at a new purpose-built circuit;[6] there was no Qatar Grand Prix in 2022, as the country hosted the FIFA World Cup.[7][8][9]

Championship standings

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Heading into the race, Max Verstappen led the World Drivers' Standings with 332.5 points, 14 points ahead of second-placed Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas was in third on 203 points, too far behind Verstappen to be able to win the title but 25 points ahead of Sergio Pérez in fourth, with Lando Norris fifth on 151 points. In the World Constructors' Standings, Mercedes led with 521.5 points, 11 points ahead of second-placed Red Bull Racing. Ferrari were third with 287.5 points ahead of McLaren on 256. Alpine and AlphaTauri were fifth and sixth with 112 points each, with Alpine being ahead courtesy of a win, compared to no wins for AlphaTauri.[10]

Entrants

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The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race or practice.[11]

Tyre choices

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Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C1, C2, and C3 compounds of tyre to be used during this Grand Prix weekend.[12]

Practice

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The event held three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first two practice sessions were on Friday, 19 November at 13:30 and 17:00 local time (UTC+03:00) respectively. The first practice session ended with Max Verstappen fastest for Red Bull Racing, ahead of AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.[13] Second practice ended with Valtteri Bottas fastest, then Gasly and Verstappen.[14] In the third practice session, held on Saturday from 14:00, Bottas was again fastest, with his teammate Hamilton second.[15]

Qualifying

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Qualifying took place at 17:00 local time, and lasted one hour, with Hamilton qualifying on pole. Verstappen, who qualified second, received a five-grid place penalty for failure to respect double yellow flags in Q3.[15]

Qualifying classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.901 1:21.682 1:20.827 1
2 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:21.996 1:21.984 1:21.424 71
3 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:22.016 1:21.991 1:21.478 62
4 10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1:22.535 1:21.728 1:21.640 2
5 14 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 1:22.422 1:21.894 1:21.670 3
6 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.839 1:22.216 1:21.732 4
7 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:22.304 1:22.241 1:21.840 5
8 22 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda 1:22.458 1:22.058 1:21.881 8
9 31 France Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1:22.565 1:22.012 1:22.028 9
10 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 1:22.549 1:22.146 1:22.785 10
11 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:22.398 1:22.346 N/A 11
12 18 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1:22.551 1:22.460 N/A 12
13 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.742 1:22.463 N/A 13
14 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.688 1:22.597 N/A 14
15 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1:22.863 1:22.756 N/A 15
16 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:23.156 N/A N/A 16
17 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1:23.213 N/A N/A 17
18 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:23.262 N/A N/A 18
19 47 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 1:23.407 N/A N/A 19
20 9 Russian Automobile Federation Nikita Mazepin[a] Haas-Ferrari 1:25.589 N/A N/A 20
107% time: 1:27.634
Source:[17][18]

Notes

  • ^1Max Verstappen received a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect a double waved yellow flag in Q3.[19]
  • ^2Valtteri Bottas received a three-place grid penalty for failing to respect a single waved yellow flag in Q3.[20]

Race

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The race began at 17:00 local time and was contested over 57 laps.[15] The race was noted for four front-left tyre failures, as teams attempted to run one-stop strategies against Pirelli's advice.[21][22][23] Hamilton won the race, leading every lap, but Verstappen, who finished second, denied him a grand slam by setting the fastest lap. Fernando Alonso finished third, taking his first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Race classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 1:24:28.471 1 25
2 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 57 +25.743 7 191
3 14 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 57 +59.457 3 15
4 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda 57 +1:02.306 11 12
5 31 France Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 57 +1:20.570 9 10
6 18 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 57 +1:21.274 12 8
7 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 57 +1:21.911 5 6
8 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 57 +1:23.126 13 4
9 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 56 +1 lap 4 2
10 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 56 +1 lap 10 1
11 10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 56 +1 lap 2
12 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 56 +1 lap 14
13 22 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda 56 +1 lap 8
14 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 56 +1 lap 16
15 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 56 +1 lap 18
16 47 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 56 +1 lap 19
17 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 55 +2 laps 15
18 9 Russian Automobile Federation Nikita Mazepin[a] Haas-Ferrari 55 +2 laps 20
Ret 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 50 Puncture 17
Ret 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 48 Puncture damage 6
Fastest lap: Netherlands Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:23.196 (lap 57)
Source:[18][24][25]

Notes

  • ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Nikita Mazepin is Russian, but he competed as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to the state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Smith, Luke (28 August 2021). "Formula 1 reveals updated 2021 calendar, drops to 22 races". Autosport. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Qatar - 2021". Formula1. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Over 80,000 fans celebrate as Qatar delivers riveting F1 race weekend". thepeninsulaqatar.com. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Lewis Hamilton dominates F1 Qatar GP to cut Max Verstappen's title lead". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Lewis Hamilton Adds Another F1 Record to His Impressive Career". essentiallysports.com. 24 November 2021.
  6. ^ Cooper, Adam (30 September 2021). "F1 confirms Qatar GP on 2021 calendar as part of long-term deal". Autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  7. ^ "F1 to hold first Qatar Grand Prix at Losail this November". Motor Sport Magazine. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Qatar confident of 'a lot of overtaking' in inaugural F1 grand prix". www.motorsport.com. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Qatar to join F1 calendar in 2021, as country signs additional 10-year deal from 2023". www.formula1.com. 30 September 2021. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Championship points" (PDF). FIA. 14 November 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  11. ^ "2021 Qatar Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  12. ^ "What tyres will the teams and drivers have for the first ever Qatar Grand Prix at Losail?". www.formula1.com. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  13. ^ Benson, Andrew (19 November 2021). "Verstappen fastest in Qatar first practice". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  14. ^ "F1 Grand Prix practice results: Bottas fastest in Qatar". www.msn.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  15. ^ a b c "Qatar timetable". Formula 1. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  16. ^ Luke Smith (5 February 2021). "Mazepin set to race under neutral flag after CAS ruling extends to F1". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 20 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 20 November 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Decision car 33" (PDF). FIA. 21 November 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 November 2021.
  20. ^ "Decision car 77" (PDF). FIA. 21 November 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 November 2021.
  21. ^ Maher, Thomas; Rencken, Dieter (22 November 2022). "Pirelli reveal what they suspect caused Qatar GP tyre failures". RacingNews365. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  22. ^ Cleeren, Filip (3 December 2021). "Pirelli: Kerb use behind Qatar GP F1 tyre failures". Autosport.com. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  23. ^ Khorounzhiy, Valentin (3 December 2021). "Likely cause of F1 Qatar tyre failures revealed". The Race. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  24. ^ "Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  26. ^ a b "Qatar 2021 - Championship". www.statsf1.com.
[edit]
Previous race:
2021 São Paulo Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2021 season
Next race:
2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Previous race:
None
Qatar Grand Prix Next race:
2023 Qatar Grand Prix