Max Verstappen secured his 3rd F1 World Championship in the sprint on Saturday but it wasn't easy for the drivers as many suffered with heat related issues during and after Sunday's race.
Verstappen has now joined the likes of Ayrton Senna and Jackie Stewart having secured his 3rd championship on Saturday after becoming the first driver since Nelson Piquet to win a championship on a Saturday.
The Dutchman has won all but 3 races this season as he has dominated this championship facing only early season competition from his teammate Sergio Perez. Red Bull have now secured both championships as Red Bull secured the constructors championship at the race prior to Qatar in Japan.
For the race, the drivers and teams were told they could only do a maximum of 18 laps on a new set of tyres and for any old tyres the laps used on them previously would be taken into account. If the drivers exceeded this 18 lap limit they would instantly be given the black flag and disqualified from the race. This limit was brought in due to tyre safety and PIrelli's concerns about the tyres.
In the race, the 2 on the front row of Verstappen and George Russell both started on the mediums as did most of the others but on the second row in 3rd, Lewis Hamilton started on the soft tyre which didn't look like a great race tyre in the day priors sprint.
As the 3 were heading towards turn 1, they looked like they would be going three wide into the first corner with Hamilton on the favoured outside line and Russell in the middle of his teammate and Verstappen. However, Hamilton turned in and as his teammate had nowhere to go on the inside, he clipped his teammate sending the 7 time champion into the gravel and out of the race. Russell had also spun but was able to limp home to the pits with a slow puncture and carry on.
Image: Mark Sutton
Oscar Piastri who had won the Sprint race the day before jumped from 6th to 2nd thanks to the 2 Mercedes' collision which had misplaced Alonso and Leclerc ahead of him. Once the Safety Car had ended at the end of lap 4, Verstappen pulled away and got the jump on Piastri as he had already pulled a gap of over 1 seconds as they started lap 5.
Carlos Sainz was unfortunately unable to start the Qatar Grand Prix as his car had a fuel system issue just before the race which Ferrari say they wouldn't have been able to fix in time. He was meant to start 12th but as he couldn't there was set to be an open slot on the grid. However, this slot wasn't where people expected as Nico Hulkenberg (who was supposed to line up 14th) lined up in the open slot and on lap 10 received a 10 second time penalty for his mistake.
Many drivers had issues during the race with both Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly being given 2 5 second time penalties for track limits with Stroll and Albon also being given 5 second penalties.
It wasn't just the 3 pit-stops and the track limits the drivers had to cope with, it was also the immense heat they suffered during the race. On lap 35, Logan Sargeant who was running 18th and last of the runners, reported to his team he was feeling unwell. Despite being given the option to retire, Sargeant carried on for a few more laps before deciding to retire a few laps after his first report to the team.
Although, after the race it appeared that it wasn't just Sargeant who suffered with the heat as Alex Albon and Lance Stroll both struggled to exit their car after the race with Stroll going straight to the nearby ambulance to where he had parked his car in Parc Ferme.
In the post race cool-down room for the top 3 drivers before going on the podium, both Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen both lay down in exhaustion. Furthermore in the media pen after the race, Lando Norris told multiple media outlets that a few drivers had fainted in the FIA Medical Centre which is known to be where Alex Albon and Lance Stroll went after the race.
In addition, Esteban Ocon told his team after crossing the line for an impressive 7th place that he actually 'threw up' in his car on lap 15. Lance Stroll and George Russell were 2 drivers who voiced that they could feel themselves passing out in high speed corners. Thankfully all drivers were cleared after the race.