F1 Qatar GP: Oscar Piastri wins hectic sprint race as Max Verstappen crowned F1 champion for third time
The McL෴aren driver had to fightback against a fast-starting George Russell, who made early progress with extra grip on hisဣ soft tyres, to claim his first victory in F1.
Verstappen recovered from a slow-start that saw him drop as low as fifth to claim second place and be crowned aꦡ three-time world champion.
Lando Norris picked off Russell - whose soft tyres fell off ﷺ;a cliff - on the final lap to make it a McLaren 1-3 on the podium.♔
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton rec𓆏overed from a poor sprint shootout that left him 12th on the grid as he took fifth.
Like Russell, the soft-runni🎉ng Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc faded in the closing stages as they dramatically slipped to sixth and seventh.
Alex Albonౠ claimed the final point on offer in his Williams, ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
The 19-lap race was💃 p🅰unctuated by three Safety Car periods.
The first was caused when Liam Lawson spun off ✃on the opening lap, before the 𒁃same fate befall the under-pressure Logan Sargeant three laps later.
A three-way collis💮ion that took out Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg 🦂and Esteban Ocon resulted in the third and final Safety Car on Lap 11.
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