Race Report: Eventful Sunday in Doha

Kimi Antonelli came home P5 in today’s Qatar Grand Prix with teammate George Russell taking P6.

Both drivers opted to start the race on the Medium compound, with George lining up P4 and Kimi P5.

George unfortunately lost three positions on the opening lap, putting him P7 behind the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

All cars, except the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, decided to pit under the Safety Car on lap seven, enabling the team to make one more stop to the flag owing to the mandatory tyre stint length.

Both cars lost time though with a slow stop for Kimi also impacting George. Both drivers were delayed leaving the pit box and returned to the track with in P5 and P9 respectively.

Throughout the rest of the race, George worked his way back up to P6 with Kimi running P4 before a dose of oversteer on the penultimate lap dropped him to P5.

The team now carries a 33-point advantage over Red Bull Racing for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship heading to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

George Russell

I lost several positions on the opening lap unfortunately and that compromised my race. The inside of the track, where I was starting from, is lower grip and that hurt me in the first few corners. I got caught out at turn two as I lost the rear and then I dropped another position at our first stop as we had to wait for the fast lane to clear. We battled back where we could, but we saw on Saturday just how difficult it is to overtake here. We had to be patient and, whilst P6 is not a result we came into the day hoping for, we’ve put a few more points on our tally in the battle for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.

We are well positioned to claim that P2 next weekend in Abu Dhabi. It is only between us and Red Bull Racing now so hopefully we can get the job done. We won’t just be looking to play it safe though. We want to end the season, and this era in our sport, on a high so we will be aiming to get ourselves on the podium.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

A really frustrating result for us today but we at least scored a decent number of points. We go into the last race 33 points ahead in P2 in the constructors’ championship and although we didn't have much clear air to show it, the car has good pace.

George lost a bit of ground on the start but that seemed to be the case for all cars on the inside row. He then ended up off line following a snap at turn 2, lost grip with dirt on the tyres and unfortunately dropped places to Sainz and Alonso. Kimi's start was better and he was just settling into the stint behind Norris when the safety car came out at the exact lap that allowed the race to be completed with two 25-lap stints. As expected, almost all cars stopped; we ended up holding Kimi for slightly longer than necessary which cost him a place to Sainz and ultimately that is what cost him a shot at the podium. With George there was always going to be some loss from having to stack and that allowed Hadjar to also get in front. The rest of the race was fairly unspectacular. George gained a place to Hadjar when he had a puncture and also realised he could go a full second quicker once in clear air. Kimi lost a spot to Norris when he was pushing to stay ahead.

Not the result we wanted but we will regroup over the next two days and hopefully finish the year strongly in Abu Dhabi.