Max Verstappen (Red Bull) wins the Qatar Grand Prix

A week after winning his fourth consecutive world title, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, the 23rd round of 24 of the season, while Ferrari reduced the gap on McLaren in the standings. builders.

The Dutchman, leader from start to finish, beat the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), while the Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), second for a long time, finished only 10th after receiving a penalty. a penalty.

“It was a very good race. I was very fast during the first stint and I had a lot of fun on this circuit. Despite the interventions of the safety car, I managed to stay in front. I am very proud of the team because after the sprint, we managed to reverse the trend to have a much more efficient car”savored Verstappen.

+Mad Max+, who started in second place after winning pole position but who had been sanctioned with a place on the grid for having hampered George Russell (Mercedes) during qualifying, thus won the 63rd victory of his career in F1, the 9th this season.

The race was marked by three interventions of the safety car and numerous penalties, including that imposed on Norris for not having slowed down under yellow flag and which changed the situation since the Briton came out of the pits in 15th position and was only able to move up to tenth place.

This was good for Ferrari, which was virtually on the verge of losing the constructors' championship at the start of the race and which ultimately reduced the gap to McLaren by nine points, which nevertheless remains 21 lengths ahead as it A maximum of 44 remain to be pocketed next weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Russell, who started in pole position, had to settle for fourth position, ahead of the surprising Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who started in 11th place and had a very good race, masterfully resisting the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) in the last ten laps.

Thanks to the ten points pocketed under the floodlights of the Losail circuit, Alpine regains sixth place in the constructors' standings with five lengths ahead of Haas, who only scored two points on Sunday thanks to the ninth place of Dane Kevin Magnussen.

The other event of this Grand Prix with twists and turns was the unexpected eighth place of the Chinese Zhou Guanyu, who gave the Sauber team its first points (4) of the season during the penultimate round.