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.
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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2021 Qatar Grand Prix lap chart
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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2021 Qatar Grand Prix race chart
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:
Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 6 | -5 | |
| Max Verstappen | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| Sergio Perez | 11 | 2 | 7 |
| Lando Norris | 4 | -1 | -5 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 14 | -2 | 2 |
| Lance Stroll | 12 | 2 | 6 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 10 | -7 | 0 |
| Esteban Ocon | 9 | 3 | 4 |
| Fernando Alonso | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Charles Leclerc | 13 | 0 | 5 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 5 | -2 | -2 |
| Pierre Gasly | 2 | -1 | -9 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 8 | 0 | -5 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 16 | 4 | 2 |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | 18 | 4 | 3 |
| Mick Schumacher | 19 | 1 | 3 |
| Nikita Mazepin | 20 | 0 | 2 |
| George Russell | 15 | 0 | -2 |
| Nicholas Latifi | 17 | -2 |
2021 Qatar Grand Prix lap times
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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2021 Qatar Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’23.196 | 57 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’25.084 | 1.888 | 50 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’25.613 | 2.417 | 49 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’25.746 | 2.550 | 51 |
| 5 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’25.768 | 2.572 | 55 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’26.358 | 3.162 | 53 |
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’26.434 | 3.238 | 53 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’26.555 | 3.359 | 46 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’26.570 | 3.374 | 46 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’26.682 | 3.486 | 48 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’27.019 | 3.823 | 46 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’27.043 | 3.847 | 50 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’27.061 | 3.865 | 46 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’27.198 | 4.002 | 50 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’27.246 | 4.050 | 39 |
| 16 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’27.340 | 4.144 | 55 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’27.356 | 4.160 | 44 |
| 18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’27.823 | 4.627 | 40 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’28.412 | 5.216 | 46 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’28.732 | 5.536 | 44 |
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2021 Qatar Grand Prix tyre strategies
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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2021 Qatar Grand Prix pit stop times
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 | 33 |
2021 Qatar Grand Prix
- Pirelli expect Qatar tyre failures won’t recur in Jeddah
- Pirelli’s investigation into Qatar tyre failures indicates kerbs caused punctures
- Horner rejects talk of title fight pressure after criticism over marshal comment
- “I don’t know how much slower I can go”: Inside Ricciardo’s unnecessary economy run
- ‘No regulator in the world will be popular’ with a title fight this intense – Masi
lubhz (@lubhz)
21st November 2021, 21:56
HAM and VER are indeed in another league… In the ‘gap to leader’ race chart Max has a flat line and all the others lose time and get further back on each lap. The only other driver to get something closer to a flat line is PER on his final stint.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
21st November 2021, 22:28
Not quite, Alonso was losing a little more than one second per lap in the final stage of the race, and he still had a cushion of 8 seconds to Perez before the VSC. He ended up just 3 secs. ahead of Perez exactly because of extra care with those fragile Pirelli tyres. He couldn’t risk that much an even bigger delay of his podium.
Michael
22nd November 2021, 1:55
Alonso would have stayed ahead of Perez even without the VSC.
He was just balancing tyre reliability against keeping ahead of Perez. All he needed to do was keep Perez out of DRS at the end of lap 56. At the end of lap 53 just before the VSC the gap was 8.3 seconds. Perez would have had to make up 7.3 seconds (probably 7.5 to be close enough to pass) at the end of lap 56. He never gained 2.5 seconds in a lap at any time other than the last lap when Alonso was cruising to the finish. Perez would likely have had to do low 1.24s to get near Alonso who was doing mid to high 1.26s immediately before the VSC (lap 53 was 1.26.98). Perez’s fastest lap was a 1.25.6 and he did a 1.25.8 on lap 53. His only hopes were a full safety car with 1 lap of green at the end or Alonso getting a puncture.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
23rd November 2021, 15:53
Michael
Exactly, the VSC at the end made Alonso’s race a little less dramatic in the end, but to say it was a VSC that saved him is somewhat lazy in judgement. Time and gap charts show a slightly different picture. Ocon defense and the VSC at the end prevented a nail-bitting fight for the podium in the end, nevertheless it was still an amazing conclusion for his podium comeback mission.