The final triple header of 2021 came to a close at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, which made its cameo debut ahead of the state beginning a 10-year contract with F1 in 2023. Some late grid penalties and star qualifiers from the midfield teams shuffled the pack, but we ended up with the usual suspects at the front.

Here’s the report cards for the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix:

Top of the class:

Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 5^th (started 3^rd due to penalties) | Race: 3^rd

We’re all Fernando Alonso fans, even if you don’t want to admit it, you’re definitely still a Fernando Alonso fan. This was simply a stunning weekend from the Alpine driver that yielded a well-deserved first podium in 105 races.

After a couple of anonymous races, Alonso bounced back to Q3 and was just 0.03 seconds off AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who eventually ended up on the front row due to penalties for Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. Not only a brilliant qualifying but to beat the Ferraris and McLarens, who have been the class of the midfield this season, earns him extra kudos.

Take nothing for granted. Alonso had to fight tooth and nail for this result, aggressively defending from Max at turn two on the first lap, before passing Gasly around the outside of turn four. Fernando would eventually allow the charging Red Bull driver through at turn 1 on lap three.

From there, Alonso was locked into battle with the recovering Sergio Pérez, initially falling behind the Mexican towards the end of the first stint. Only Alpine elected to go long despite starting on used soft tyres, whilst Red Bull had calculated in a 2-stop strategy, which forced the Mexican to play catch-up.

Despite a spate of punctures that threatened to derail the fairy tale, Fernando pulled off the one stop and crossed the line in third, less than three seconds clear of the charging Sergio.

Sure, the late VSC to retrieve the stricken Williams of Nicholas Latifi helped Alonso’s case, but you cannot take it away from him. It was a superb drive and the result was deserved. This was the Spaniard’s first podium since Hungary 2014 and I think we can all agree it’s a very popular one at that.

This result also gives Alpine a significant boost in the teams fight for P5 against AlphaTauri, as teammate Ocon had a strong weekend as well, taking the French marquee 25 points clear after having been level heading into Qatar. El Plan was a resounding success.

Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 1^st | Race: 1^st

Lewis is hitting the front at a time when he really needed it in order to try and make history by becoming an eight-time World Champion. After coming off second-best in the North America leg, it looked like those ambitions were slipping away, but that stunning recovery drive in São Paulo was followed a thoroughly dominant, if not lonely, race for the Mercedes driver in Qatar.

Saturday’s qualifying was emphatic, just shy of six tenths faster than Max in what was the largest margin between pole and P2 in the dry this season.

His job was made somewhat easier by the penalty for Verstappen, but Lewis had some punchy drivers like Alonso and McLaren’s Lando Norris to be wary of. At lights out Hamilton nailed the start and went unchallenged for the entire race, gapping a recovering Max to between seven and nine seconds, until the Dutchman pitted under the VSC to cement that fastest lap point.

The result means that Lewis now closes the lead to eight points having been facing a 21-point deficit heading into the previous race. The signs are looking pretty ominous for the final two rounds I must admit, as that straight line advantage the Silver Arrows has is considerable. His pride helmet design was also refreshing to see, so that deserves some extra recognition as well.

Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 9^th | Race: 5^th

It’s been a strange season for Ocon, up until Qatar his shock victory in Hungary accounted for half of his points haul, as teammate Alonso had the edge for much of the season.

Whilst that edge for Alonso remained present in Qatar, with the Spaniard outqualifying Ocon by three and a half tenths, Ocon also made it to Q3 – which means that he had nothing to be ashamed of.

However, a top-ten position isn’t all glitter and sparkle, as it did mean that he had to start on the soft tyres. Despite this, Esteban had a strong start to the race and was up to 7^th in the early stages. Like Alonso, he also went for an one-stop strategy and would finish a strong 5^th, capping off an excellent day for his team. Not only that, but holding back a train that included an Aston Martins and a Ferrari that benefitted from fresh tyres at the start of the race deserves some extra credit.

His defending from Sergio Pérez towards the end of the race was also excellent, it may not have made much of a difference to the result, but the effort was there to repay the favour to Alonso after his defensive masterclass in Budapest.

Honourable mentions:

Making this list again is Pierre Gasly. Sure, the race didn’t go to plan as the early two stop strategy simply did not work, the Frenchman ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but getting his first front row start is another significant achievement after another strong qualifying.

Considering I’ve given this driver quite a hard time in 2021, I’ve also got to give a shoutout to Lance Stroll. Despite being outqualified by teammate Sebastian Vettel, Lance had a much stronger race form and was able to work his way up from 12^th to take P6 at the chequered flag – defending valiantly from a pair of Ferraris to take his best result of the season so far.

The struggle bus:

Valtteri Bottas – Qualifying: 3^rd (started 6^th due to ignoring waived yellow flag) | Race: DNF

I genuinely feel bad for Bottas because he has had some cruel luck this season, but I can’t help but feel that his mistakes across the weekend somewhat contributed to his downfall during the race.

Had Valtteri not ignored single yellows, he would have started second. This would have made his life much easier. Battling through the pack has never been his forte, and the fact that most starting incidents happen in midfield certainly doesn’t help.

He was relegated to sixth and made an abysmal start to the Grand Prix, falling to 11^th by the first corner. It took him a while to get going, as dirty air has never been Mercedes’ best friend, but by the end of the stint he was in a promising position for a fight back.

He was sitting P3 when disaster struck on lap 31 as his front left tyre failed. The long run on the medium whilst attempting a one-stop strategy ended up costing him. Valtteri limped back to the pits but by the time he was serviced with new tyres and front wing, he was down in 14^th. Mercedes eventually elected to retire the car on lap 48.

Whilst Bottas is blameless for the puncture, a front row start would have helped him and teammate Hamilton a considerable amount, especially for the Constructors’ Championship. Now Bottas has to look over his shoulder at Pérez as the Mexican edges closer to P3 in the Drivers’ standings.

Daniel Ricciardo – Qualifying: 14^th | Race: 12^th

Excluding Sochi, the Honey Badger has been on a bit of a wretched run since taking glory in Monza, and Losail was no different. Whilst Lando managed to qualify 6^th, Daniel was knocked out in Q2 once again, over three tenths slower than Norris in that session.

Although he wasn’t the only big name knocked out in Q2 (Pérez and Leclerc also fell victim), Daniel barely made an impression on the race and had to contend with a P12 finish. In fact, he had such an anonymous race that Ricciardo actually found himself battling with the Alfa Romeos at one stage, which certainly isn’t helping McLaren’s faint hopes at reclaiming P3 in the Constructors’ standings.

It later transpired the Daniel was incorrectly told to save fuel for the race which will explain the lack of pace, but overall it was just another weekend to forget.

Williams

George Russell – Qualifying: 15^th | Race: 17^th

Nicholas Latifi – Qualifying: 17^th | Race: DNF

After hitting a purple patch straddling the summer break with a number of points finishes from both sides of the garage, Williams have slipped back down the order and are barely scraping through Q1 at the moment.

Their race was nothing extraordinary with both drivers running where they qualified until Russell and then Latifi suffered front left punctures. George was able to limp back to the pits but Latifi had to retire the car as his failure unfortunately happened just past the pit entrance.

Nothing much the drivers could do, the team had simply pushed the limits on attempting the one stop and they were caught out – as both drivers had done over the 30 laps Pirelli stated the hard tyres could do. The one saving grace is that their nearest rivals, Alfa Romeo, weren’t in the hunt for points.

Dishonourable mentions:

Despite his excellent recovery from 7^th, Max makes the dishonourable mentions list for copping the penalty for ignoring double waved yellow flags in qualifying. Admittedly, the stewards were slow to react, and the way the single yellow disappeared for a while before later turning into a double only added to the confusion – resulting in no less than three drivers being called to the stewards for breaking yellow flag rules (Verstappen, Bottas and Sainz). I can’t really fault Verstappen for much this season, but this isn’t the first time Max has broken the rules around yellow flags in recent years, which is why he’s earned himself a mention. Red Bull probably didn’t have the pace to beat Hamilton on track regardless of penalties, but we’ll never know as Max had to come back from a bit further in the pack.

Also joining him is Red Bull Team Principle, Christian Horner, for his comments about the race marshal in relation to the double-waved yellows at the end of Q3, to which he received an official warning from the Stewards. As someone in his position I expect more professionalism which has slipped on more than one occasion this season, although he isn’t the only individual in his position to hit below the belt this season with some of their comments, there are quite a few high-placed individuals deserving of sitting on the naughty step.

The Championship battle is down to the wire with just eight points separating Verstappen and Hamilton. F1 is then throwing an extra curveball with a second consecutive new track, this time on the streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

This track may not be high on the agenda for the fans, but we’re going to have it anyway, so tune in on Sunday 5^th December to find out who will take the advantage heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi a week later. Qualifying will be at 5pm with Sunday’s race at the unusual time of 5:30pm.