The Qatar Grand Prix was full of emotions but also misfortunes for some drivers. To start, the driver who got almost all the attention throughout the weekend was Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver was crowned drivers’ champion for the third consecutive time, and with a P2 (and a DNF from his teammate) in Saturday’s sprint race it was enough for him to get the necessary points and achieve his third championship, while a start-to-finish victory in Sunday’s feature race was the icing on the cake after a fabulous weekend for the Dutchman.
Oscar Piastri was also one of the main protagonists of the weekend, as he achieved his first victory in the highest category of motorsport, while his teammate, Lando Norris, also stood out throughout the event as he managed to step on the podium for a third consecutive time.
Mercedes seemed to be the main threat to the current constructors’ champions, Red Bull. A good qualifying session saw both drivers start in a very good position, with George Russell in P2 and seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, in P3.
When the race started, both Mercedes drivers had had an excellent reaction, so they were extremely close to the poleman, Max Verstappen. In Turn 1, Russell is on the inside of his teammate, while Hamilton takes a wider line to attempt an overtake round the outside. The seven-time world champion misjudged the distance he needed, so he didn’t go wide enough and made contact with Russell.
Hamilton’s W14 no longer had a right rear tyre, as well as getting stuck in the gravel, so he had to retire, while Russell spun and had to pit to change his tyres because of a puncture.
Photo Credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Despite having had a very good race coming from last place and having finished in P4, 34 seconds behind the race winner, Mercedes take home a bittersweet result as they had the possibility to achieve at least a double podium, after George Russell did manage to demonstrate that the W14 had excellent race pace.
Mercedes’ Chief Communications Officer, Bradley Lord, who stepped in for Toto Wolff after the race with the Austrian not there as he recovers from knee surgery, shared his thoughts on the tyre strategies of each driver and how it was supposed to play off going into turn 1 and the early laps.
“The game plan was… we knew with the selection of the mediums and hards that we had left, we had 59 useable race laps. So the trade was between a new soft and the potential to take that up to lap 8 or a used medium. We felt the start benefit would outweigh the potential loss later in the race,” Bradley Lord told the media.
“That explains that decision. We did talk about the potential scenarios at the first corner in the strategy meeting this morning.
“We discussed the likely offset between the two drivers and how that would be handled and obviously what happened was not part of the plan but certainly not intentional from either side either.”
Even though George Russell finished the race in P4 with impressive damage limitation to outscore by Ferrari by two points on Sunday, the W14 was in line for a double podium, if not at least one driver on the rostrum.
After the collision between both drivers, we remember different fights throughout the season between Hamilton and Russell where they almost made contact, like in the Japanese Grand Prix.
While it was far from ideal, Lord didn’t seem too concerned about it as both drivers are working well together to try and get them back to the front of Formula 1.
“I think rule number one for any racing team is your two cars don’t make contact. That is something the drivers have bought into, just like every other member of the team has as well.
“To have one car in the gravel, one in the pit lane and last at the end of lap 1 is about as badly as first lap can go. How we deal with it, we will talk about it behind closed doors. I think both drivers have been very magnanimous afterwards and we’ll talk about it and put it behind us,” Lord stated.
“I think the feature of this season has been how well they’ve work together to try and lead the team back from the difficult position in which we started with the car, and I’m sure they’ll continue to do that for the last five races and hopefully secure P2 in the championship.”
It was confirmed that the seven-time world champion later apologised to his teammate and accepted blame for this incident.
However, Bradley Lord has commented that the responsibility will not be placed on a single person, but he was full of praise for Hamilton taking responsibility.
“I don’t think it is my job to sit here and put responsibility on one side or the other, the drivers know far better than me how they conduct themselves on track.
“I think what I would say is Lewis doing that [apologising to George] and being able to have the strength of character to come out and speak like he has done, shows that champions aren’t just made in the winning moments but also in the most difficult ones. It speaks volumes to his strength and character that he is able to do that.”
Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
