Winners and Losers from the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix 

Max Verstappen wrapped up his third world title at the Losail circuit after he needed to score only three points across the Sprint weekend.

The Red Bull driver secured the title on Saturday after finishing behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the Sprint race.

Verstappen was the major winner of the Qatar Grand Prix that was blighted by many incidents. These included safety issues around tyres and more importantly the health of drivers due to the extreme heat.

Winners

Max Verstappen – Sunday’s Qatar GP saw Verstappen grab his 14th win from 17 races this season. 

The Red Bull driver maintained his dominance in the race despite the hot and humid conditions and cruised to victory.

Reflecting on his third title, he said: “My hunger for winning hasn’t stopped since winning the championship, I want to keep going and maximising the performance of the car each weekend.”

Oscar Piastri – The rookie had a remarkable weekend by winning the Sprint race from pole position. The Australian followed up his brilliant performance on Sunday by finishing second on the podium despite starting sixth. He showed great composure to avoid Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell on the opening lap and managed his tyres well to score his career-best finish. Piastri is one of F1’s brightest stars. 

Lando Norris – The British driver fought hard all weekend and showed great race pace to finish third in the Sprint and GP. 

Norris’ haul of 15 points saw him leapfrog Russell in the drivers’ standings and cemented another impressive weekend for McLaren whose upgrades in the past few weeks have made them genuine contenders for podium places.

Losers

Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes had the third fastest car of the weekend and started the GP in second and third positions. However, a rare error by Hamilton saw him nick the left rear tyre of Russell on the first corner while attempting to pass the Brit around the outside. 

The result saw both cars spin into the gravel and Hamilton retired on the opening lap. The seven-time world champion said: “It was a really unfortunate situation and I feel sorry for the entire team. Massive apologies to everyone back at Brackley and Brixworth, and I take full responsibility.”

Sergio Perez – We’ve bemoaned Perez’s disappointing form in 2023. The Mexican had another weekend to forget after qualifying eighth for the Sprint and then scoring a DNF. His GP performance wasn’t any better as he went over track limits numerous times, was overtaken by his teammate, and ultimately finished 10th. 

Lance Stroll –  The Canadian driver showed once again he is not good enough for Formula 1 and the pressure is mounting on him despite his dad owning the team. Stroll suffered a Q1 exit for the fourth consecutive time and angrily pushed his race engineer when he got into the Aston Martin garage. 

His behaviour in the media pen after the result wasn’t great either and his recent results are disappointing, to say the least. He finished 11th in the GP and said he was on the verge of passing out in the car due to the soaring temperatures during the race.

“But I was passing out in the car, and they painted the kerbs and made the track narrower so you can’t even feel the kerbs,” he said after the race.

Sean Parker

Sean Parker is a motorsport journalist and sports content creator at The South African. He has worked for the country's premier motoring publications, and is a Formula 1 contributor to Bet.co.za, the Bet Central podcast, and Vision View Sports radio.