Oscar Piastri resisted late-race pressure to clinch the Sprint Race win in Qatar, beating out Max Verstappen who was crowned the 2023 Formula 1 World Champion.
Along with Piastri’s maiden F1 triumph, McLaren claimed a consecutive double top-three finish as Lando Norris completed the top three.
Despite concerns over the degradation of the tyres this weekend, George Russell and the two Ferraris opted for the Soft compound, along with Fernando Alonso and the Alpine pairing. The top three, however, played it cautiously with the Medium tyre.
Piastri got away from the line perfectly to retain the lead into Turn 1, but Norris and Verstappen were swarmed by those behind on the Soft tyres.
Russell, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc all utilised the gripper rubber to fall in line behind Piastri, while Verstappen at least managed to take advantage of Norris leaving the door open to recover fifth.
Red Bull’s challenging opening to the fifth Sprint Race encounter of the campaign was confirmed by Sergio Perez dropping down to 10th.
Further back, Liam Lawson spun his AlphaTauri into the gravel at Turn 2, causing the Safety Car to intervene and remain on track for a single lap before withdrawing back to the pitlane.
Upon the restart, Norris was made to defend valiantly from the lurking Alonso in the Aston Martin, but team-mate Piastri was powerless to stop Russell from charging through into the lead with an optimistic dive into Turn 6.
Alonso’s unsuccessful attempt to gain a place from Norris saw him lose out to ex-team-mate Esteban Ocon, who moved his Alpine car up into seventh.
However, the Safety Car was again called into action when Logan Sargeant dropped his Williams into the gravel in the middle sector, this time remaining on track for three tours.
Russell executed an expert restart, leaving Piastri under immense pressure from Sainz, who had his attempt around the outside into Turn 1 rebuffed by the Australian.
Having lost the place prior to the race being neutralised, Alonso rapidly overhauled Ocon to regain seventh before immediately setting his sights back on Norris.
Verstappen was eager to claw back ground he had lost at the start and overtook Leclerc into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 9, then passing the sister Ferrari of Sainz the following lap.
Meanwhile, in between his team-mate’s moves, Perez usurped Pierre Gasly to get back into the top 10, with Lewis Hamilton proceeding to demote the Frenchman a further place.
Piastri had steadily reeled Russell in and was in position to swoop past Russell for the lead of the race on Lap 11, while Norris also swung around the outside of Leclerc for fifth.
But the Safety Car would be required for a third time as Perez, Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg all ended up in the gravel.
Replays showed Hulkenberg and Ocon duelling into Turn 1, enabling Perez to swing back underneath and aim to take two positions at once.
However, the trio got caught up on the approach to Turn 2, prompting all three to end up out of the race, handing Verstappen the title on the spot mid-race.
The Safety Car released the field back to racing conditions at the end of Lap 14 and Leclerc caught Norris sleeping to replace the Briton in the top five.
Next time around Russell conceded second to Verstappen, who set about trying to catch Piastri for the victory across the remaining four laps.
The stronger durability of Norris’ Medium tyres allowed him to pick off both the Ferrari drivers within a matter of a few corners.
A lock-up from Gasly proved costly as it left the door open for Hamilton to move into eighth before he then picked off Alonso to latch on to the Ferrari pairing.
The final lap witnessed a multitude of position changes: Norris passed Russell for third, Hamilton overhauled Leclerc and Sainz for fifth, while Albon nabbed the final point from Alonso.
But at the front, Piastri maintained the margin to Verstappen to clinch his first ‘win’ in F1 ahead of the newly-crowned three-time World Champion.
Norris recovered from a sluggish start to make it a double top-three finish for McLaren, who gained more ground on Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship.
Mercedes secured fourth and fifth, edging out the Ferrari pairing, with Albon completing the points places at the end of the 19-lap dash for Williams.
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