Sensational Piastri Wins in Formula 1 as Max Verstappen Seals his Third World Championship
Rookie Oscar Piastri can now (sort of) say that he’s a Formula 1 Race Winner after a super drive in the Qatar Sprint whilst a second-place finish was enough for Max Verstappen to be crowned a 3-time “Champion of the World!” McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the Top 3 on another super day for McLaren.
I Like this Track a Lot
Both George Russell and Carlos Sainz got really great starts to jump both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen off the start before Liam Lawson went spinning off into the gravel to course the first Safety Car of the Sprint. When the race got back underway, George Russell pulled off a sensational overtake on Oscar Piastri at Turn 6 to take the lead of the Sprint before we got our second Safety Car of the Race as Logan Sargeant lost his car and got beached in the gravel. When the race got back underway for (technically) the third time, it became pretty clear that the Soft Tyre wasn’t the one to be on which is why Oscar Piastri was easily able to repass George Russell for the lead whilst Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were starting to move up the field as well (Lando’s move on Charles Leclerc was particularly good). However, we then got another Safety Car because Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon, and Nico Hulkenberg all came together at Turn 2. Whilst nobody was at fault for this incident, Hulkenberg was definitely the passenger out of the three. When we got back underway with 5 Laps to go, Verstappen was able to clear George Russell, but he wasn’t able to catch the McLaren of Piastri whilst the two Ferrari’s were trying their best to defend from Lando Norris and eventually Lewis Hamilton. On the Final Lap of the Qatar Sprint, Norris was able to overtake Russell for a spot on the Sprint “Podium” whilst Hamilton was able to pass Sainz for P5.
The Highs and Lows of the Sprint
I’ve given out two 10’s for the Qatar Sprint and the first one is obviously for Oscar Piastri. If you remember back to my “Midseason Driver Rankings/Ratings”, I said that Oscar was a master on a Sprint Saturday and he’s proved that once again this weekend with a terrific Sprint Victory. The other driver I’ve given maximum points to is Alex Albon as I felt he did a terrific job of avoiding all of the carnage to score 2 points for Williams, despite starting down in P17. I also feel that Max Verstappen deserves a massive shootout for sealing an amazing (and dominant) third World Drivers’ Title whilst Lando Norris, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas all had really good Sprints.
In terms of the lowest possible grade, I’ve given out two 1’s for the Sprint, and the first one is for Logan Sargeant. I really don’t understand why Logan’s driving so poorly right now and he needs to bounce back immediately in today’s Grand Prix. The other driver I’ve given the lowest possible grade to is Liam Lawson as he also made a very silly and unnecessary error. Liam’s done a terrific job since he substituted in for Daniel Ricciardo in Zandvoort, but he’s let himself down a little bit this weekend. I also thought Lance Stroll had a poor day whilst Charles Leclerc got himself a silly penalty, Zhou Guanyu just didn’t seem to have the pace, and Sergio Perez ended up beached in the gravel whilst his teammate was about to celebrate clinching a third World Championship with 6 Races still to go (I think that says it all).
Overall Sprint Race Results and My Ratings
Oscar Piastri: 10
Max Verstappen: 9
Lando Norris: 8
George Russell: 8
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Carlos Sainz: 6
Alex Albon: 10
Fernando Alonso: 6
Pierre Gasly: 6
Valtteri Bottas: 8
Yuki Tsunoda: 7
Charles Leclerc: 3
Kevin Magnussen: 4
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Lance Stroll: 2
Nico Hulkenberg: 6
Esteban Ocon: 4
Sergio Perez: 3
Logan Sargeant: 1
Liam Lawson: 1
My Predictions for the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
George Russell
Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri
Lewis Hamilton
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