After a controversial penalty from an incident in qualifying, Max Verstappen started the Grand Prix from P2 instead of pole position. George Russell was promoted to P1 and started on the front row alongside Verstappen. The Qatar Grand Prix never disappoints and this race was action packed! See what happened in the session:

• George Russell started on pole but lost the lead immediately with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris getting past the Mercedes driver
• Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, and Esteban Ocon all made contact on the first lap with the Williams and Alpine drivers retiring from the race
  • The safety car was deployed
• Lance Stroll and Alex Albon made contact resulting in a ten second time penalty for the Aston Martin
  • Stroll served his penalty but then retired the car on the next lap
• Lewis Hamilton received a five second time penalty for a false start
• Fernando Alonso was noted for leaving the track and rejoining in an unsafe matter
  • The Spaniard was struggling with his Aston MArtin and complaining of no straight line speed
• Liam Lawson was having a very tough race and received a ten second time penalty for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas
• By Lap 19 of the race, there were three retirements
• George Russell had a very slow pitstop after his front wheel got stuck resulting in him sitting stagnant for seven seconds
  • Russell dropped down behind Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso
• Alex Albon lost one of his side mirrors and it stayed on the track without being cleared
  • Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both had punctures because of the debris left on track
  • The safety car was deployed after this for the marshals to clear up the debris
• Sergio Perez was hit on the restart and has now retired from the race
• Nico Hulkenberg spun out on the restart and beached his Haas in the gravel
  • This brought out another safety car
• Lando Norris received a ten second stop/go penalty on Lap 46 of the race
  • The penalty was for failing to slow down under a double waved yellow flag
• Lewis Hamilton has received a drive through penalty after speeding in the pit lane
• Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen had a close call on Lap 51 as the drivers were fighting for P9
  • Alex Albon gets a ten second time penalty
• Guanyu Zhou received driver of the day after a very impressive race to finish in P8 in the points
• George Russell received a five second penalty for a safety car infringement
  • This didn't affect his finishing position
• Max Verstappen claimed the victory in Qatar ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri

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Qatar Grand Prix Race Results

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