LUSAIL, QATAR - It’s already almost the end of this 2021’s season and this week, we have rendez-vous on a brand new track. Welcome to Qatar Grand Prix !
Only three races left, but nothing is decided Chen it comes to the winner of the championship. Indeed, even if Max Verstappen is still leading for now, the 7 times World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, proved us once again during the Brazilian Grand Prix that he didn’t win those chamionships with luck. Remember, Hamilton went to P10 at the beginning of the race to P1 on lap 59, cutting Verstappen’s championship I lead from 21 points to 14 points.
Yesterday’s qualifying showed us that Hamilton is getting back on the track after a few races without having the lead and the precious points that this implies.
He delivered one of his most dominant qualifying performances of the season. The second place is taken by Verstappen’s Red Bull and the third place by second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.
Gassy come in P4, who did an amazing performance « until the penultimate corner where he ran well wide, dragged himself into a kerb, which shattered his front wing and let to a puncture »*. « Most important is that the whole qualifying was amazing » said the French driver Pierre Gasly, « and to finish it in fourth position behind the two top teams is just an amazing feeling ».
Small recap of the qualifying :
Q1 - Bottas was the quickest in the beginning but, not so long after, the two title protagonists moved into the top spot and demoted him into P3 with just a gap of 0.095s between them. The Monégasque Charles Leclerc did a great lap, putting himself into P6 just before the time was deleted for track limits.
Out for Q2 : Kimi Raikkonen, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Q2 - Everyone picked the medium tyres exept for AlphaTauri, Aston Martin and Alpine.
It was a good choice for AlphaTauri, Gasly take the P7 while Tsunoda is p7. Both Alpines are in the top 10 too. And Vettel from Aston Martin finished P6.
Too bad for Perez, the Mexican had to change his tyres from medium to softs for the final run but the track was already cooled so he slipped into P11.
Hamilton is the quickest again in Q2.
Out for Q3: Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Riccardo and George Russell.
Q3 - A marge of 0.455s between Hamilton and Verstappen, giving the British the pole position for this Grand Prix.
Since 2010, everytime someone had the pole in a new Grand Prix, they won the race. Lewis Hamilton is the one on pole position this week, can he pass again in front of the Deutschland, Maw Verstappen? Or will Max overtake him in Turn 1, thanks to the aspiration ?
The race is today (November 21, 2021) at 5 PM, local time.
Starting grid for the race :
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