Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris started the Qatar Grand Prix consecutively, from second to fourth respectively. But all had rather different afternoons.
While Alonso finally scored his first podium finish of the year, Gasly failed to score from the front row of the grid and Norris was struck by a late puncture which ruined his race.
Gasly and Norris were possibly disadvantaged by the dirty side of the grid but that wasn’t where either driver lost time. Alonso moved ahead of the Alpine with a superb pass for second place on the outside of turn two as the race began.
As the lap time chart shows, Gasly was slower than the McLaren and the Alpine in the first stint, with Alonso having an additional edge over Norris. As Gasly’s pointed out later, even on fresh tyres he had no chance of keeping pace with the Alpine, which was easily able to out-pace him on older rubber.
Norris began to edge towards Alonso in the second stint. But as he admitted, the McLaren would have been hard pressed to challenge Alonso, whose lap times remained consistent. This was despite Alonso taking particular care to avoid the kerbs, particularly once Valtteri Bottas’ lap 33 failure put everyone on notice. Indeed, Norris stopped gaining on Alonso a few laps before his puncture and pit stop on lap 49.
A Virtual Safety Car was triggered as other drivers also encountered tyre troubles. Until then, Alonso was being caught by Sergio Perez at a tremendous rate – up to two seconds per lap at times. Had it not been for the VSC, Perez would have been on Alonso in the last couple of laps, fighting for the final podium spot.
After the VSC, Max Verstappen took a fresh set of rubber and further lowered the fastest lap time which he already held, ensuring a vital bonus point.
That stop made Verstappen the only driver to do a three-stop strategy. Most teams aimed for single stops though the title contenders made two each as they had the luxury of time over their rivals and a strong desire to avoid tyre problems.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr ran the longest opening stints: Ferrari double-stacked them in the pits after 27 laps. It worked, keeping both their cars in the points and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. They finished ahead of both McLarens thanks to Norris’ puncture.
The longest pit stops of the race, unsurprisingly, belonged to those who had punctures. Valtteri Bottas had to switch the front wing on his Mercedes, as well as the tyres, after his lap 33 puncture. Appropriate for car number four, Norris had the fourth-best and fourth-worst pit stops.
Here too the title contenders showed they are letting no opportunity for an advantage slip. The three quickest stops of the race were all performed on the cars of Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
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The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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Lewis Hamilton
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Valtteri Bottas
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Max Verstappen
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Sergio Perez
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Lando Norris
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Lance Stroll
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Sebastian Vettel
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Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
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Charles Leclerc
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Carlos Sainz Jnr
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Pierre Gasly
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Yuki Tsunoda
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Kimi Raikkonen
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Antonio Giovinazzi
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Mick Schumacher
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Nikita Mazepin
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George Russell
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Nicholas Latifi
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The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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Lewis Hamilton
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Valtteri Bottas
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Max Verstappen
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Sergio Perez
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Lando Norris
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Lance Stroll
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Sebastian Vettel
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Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
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Charles Leclerc
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Carlos Sainz Jnr
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Pierre Gasly
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Yuki Tsunoda
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Kimi Raikkonen
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Antonio Giovinazzi
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Mick Schumacher
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Nikita Mazepin
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George Russell
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Nicholas Latifi
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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Lewis Hamilton
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Valtteri Bottas
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Max Verstappen
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Sergio Perez
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Lando Norris
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Lance Stroll
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Sebastian Vettel
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Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
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Charles Leclerc
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Carlos Sainz Jnr
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Pierre Gasly
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Yuki Tsunoda
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Kimi Raikkonen
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Antonio Giovinazzi
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Mick Schumacher
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Nikita Mazepin
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George Russell
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Nicholas Latifi
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Each driver’s fastest lap:
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The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 Stint 2 Stint 3 Stint 4 Lewis Hamilton C2 (18) C1 (24) C2 (15) Max Verstappen C2 (17) C1 (24) C2 (14) C3 (2) Fernando Alonso C3 (23) C1 (34) Sergio Perez C2 (19) C1 (22) C2 (16) Esteban Ocon C3 (24) C1 (33) Lance Stroll C2 (23) C1 (34) Carlos Sainz Jnr C2 (27) C1 (30) Charles Leclerc C2 (27) C1 (30) Lando Norris C3 (25) C1 (24) C2 (7) Sebastian Vettel C3 (26) C2 (30) Pierre Gasly C3 (13) C2 (22) C2 (21) Daniel Ricciardo C2 (26) C1 (30) Yuki Tsunoda C3 (9) C2 (25) C1 (22) Kimi Raikkonen C3 (10) C2 (20) C1 (26) Antonio Giovinazzi C3 (15) C2 (17) C2 (24) Mick Schumacher C3 (22) C2 (34) George Russell C3 (17) C1 (32) C3 (6) Nikita Mazepin C2 (31) C3 (24) Nicholas Latifi C3 (18) C1 (32) Valtteri Bottas C2 (33) C1 (15)
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How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver Team Pit stop time Gap On lap 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 25.175 41 2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 25.235 0.060 18 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 25.300 0.125 17 4 Lando Norris McLaren 25.319 0.144 25 5 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 25.347 0.172 32 6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 25.381 0.206 42 7 Sergio Perez Red Bull 25.419 0.244 19 8 Sergio Perez Red Bull 25.420 0.245 41 9 Max Verstappen Red Bull 25.465 0.290 55 10 Esteban Ocon Alpine 25.517 0.342 24 11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 25.562 0.387 26 12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 25.630 0.455 13 13 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 25.633 0.458 30 14 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari 25.639 0.464 27 15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 25.659 0.484 9 16 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 25.726 0.551 26 17 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 25.799 0.624 27 18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 25.811 0.636 18 19 Mick Schumacher Haas 25.881 0.706 22 20 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 25.987 0.812 15 21 Fernando Alonso Alpine 25.991 0.816 23 22 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 26.109 0.934 35 23 George Russell Williams 26.121 0.946 17 24 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 26.157 0.982 23 25 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 26.174 0.999 10 26 Nikita Mazepin Haas 26.515 1.340 31 27 Lando Norris McLaren 26.552 1.377 49 28 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 26.674 1.499 34 29 George Russell Williams 35.006 9.831 49 30 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 36.341 11.166 33Browse all 2021 Qatar Grand Prix articles