Andrea Stella: "Today's race result is a huge disappointment; there's no point hiding it. We had the potential to win and to have both drivers on the podium, but we made an error of judgment during the Safety Car period and paid dearly for it. Today we had the fastest car, and the drivers did a great job, but as a team we didn't deliver for them. We will react to this setback as we always have, learning from our mistakes and working as a united and cohesive group. This is a team based on important values, and we will prove it once again.
"Now we must prepare ourselves in the best possible way for the final race. We still have every chance of achieving our goals. Let's not forget that we are still leading the Championship and both our drivers have a chance to win the title. It won't be easy, but we are channelling our disappointment into total determination."
Laurent Mekies: "We can definitely be happy with that one. The pace in the car steadily improved from Friday night when we were in a tricky position, to tonight when we could fight with the McLarens, which is a testament to the Team once again. Of course, the decisive moment was the call to come in under the Safety Car and it was another great call from our strategy team here and those working back in Milton Keynes. From there on, Max didn't put a foot wrong, drove two incredible stints, taking great care of his tyres and managed to create a solid gap to the McLarens, which drove us to this most welcome race win! Yuki managed to recover to score points and his pace was promising at the end of the race once outside of the DRS train. We'll need to perform again in Abu Dhabi and we will have absolute focus on getting the car into a position where Max can fight at the front and look ahead. What happens behind him is not something we can control."
The team decided to split the strategies between its two drivers with Charles starting on Mediums and Lewis, looking for an aggressive first stint, on Softs. It paid off as the Englishman was already P14 at the end of the opening lap. Charles dropped down one place and was 10th. On lap 7 the Safety Car was deployed following a crash between Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly and most drivers stopped for the first of their mandatory two pit stops, given the requirement to run no more than 25 laps on any one set of tyres in a 57 lap race. Charles rejoined in tenth place, Lewis, due to traffic in the pit lane, was 15th. Both fitted Medium tyres. At the end of the Safety Car period and the run of pit stops Charles was up to P9 and Lewis to P14. On lap 32, all drivers who had stopped 25 laps earlier, including Charles and Lewis, pitted again. The Monegasque rejoined on Hards, the Englishman on Mediums once again in the same positions following the second run of pit stops. Charles took the chequered flag in eigth place, with Lewis 12th.
Fred Vasseur: We knew this circuit would be more difficult than the previous one for us and all weekend long, we were unable to find the right set-up. We struggled to run the cars with the very high tyre pressures mandated here and we clearly took a step backwards. A couple of races ago we were on the podium and today we were fighting for P10. For sure, it's been tough. Next week in Abu Dhabi we can expect to be back to the more normal pressures, so we can hope for a better weekend. I can perfectly understand the frustration that everyone, the drivers, the mechanics, the engineers, is feeling tonight and we are sorry for our fans. But right from tomorrow morning, we will react as a team, we will be back at work trying to prepare as well as we can for Abu Dhabi.
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.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: We are frustrated with how our race played out today. It was a difficult evening where we could have brought home a podium at the very least, along with good points, but mistakes meant we didn't take advantage of the situation.
George had a tricky first lap, losing positions as he suffered from running on the lower grip side of the track. From there, the lap seven safety car meant we, along with almost the entire field, boxed and we were locked in strategically. It was the right call to box both cars but a slow stop with Kimi cost us a position to Sainz and that in turn held up George.
It was almost impossible to follow closely and set up an overtake so we knew it would be a long race from there. Both drivers maintained pressure on those ahead though and were driving on the limit. We are fighting for P2 in the Constructors' Championship and that is very important to us. Kimi was also pushing for his third podium in a row. Any view that he 'let' Norris past is hard to understand. It was a simple mistake and a frustrating one for both him and the team.
We turn our attentions to Abu Dhabi and the final race of the season. We have a 33-point advantage over Red Bull so P2 is very much in our hands. We want to end the year and this era in F1 on a high and will be looking to do so in what is likely to be a spectacular championship-finale.
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.
Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer: "A strong race for Fernando this evening with six points helping strengthen our hold on seventh place in the Constructors' Championship. The early Safety Car dictated the strategy for the majority of the grid and limited our options. Fernando followed the conventional strategy and brought the car home in P7. With Lance, we suffered a radio issue, limiting our ability to speak with him, but we tried something different with an offset strategy in the hope that we might capitalise on a late Safety Car. Well done to the team here on the ground and back in the UK for their continued hard work and efforts. We focus now on closing the season well in Abu Dhabi next weekend."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished the Qatar Grand Prix, held Sunday at Lusail International Circuit, with Esteban Ocon 15th, while Oliver Bearman retired his VF-25 in the closing stages of the 57-lap race.
Ocon started the race from 16th position on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires. The Frenchman moved up to 15th on the opening lap before pitting on lap 8, behind the safety car caused by a collision between Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg. Ocon switched onto White hard tires - during which he served a time penalty for a false start, before pitting again on lap 9 for failing to serve the original time penalty correctly, taking on a set of mediums in the process. Ocon stopped for a final time on lap 33, due to Pirelli's mandatory 25-lap stint regulation, and emerged 17th overall. Ocon moved up to 15th by the checkered flag.
Bearman took the start from 13th on the grid on the medium rubber and made up a position on the opening lap to run 12th, before the collision between Gasly and Hulkenberg elevated him into the top 10. The British rookie pitted under the safety car at the end of lap seven, taking on mediums, with the mandatory 25-lap stint rule locking in Bearman's strategy. Bearman continued to run inside the top 10 before pitting again on lap 32, but unfortunately a problem with the rear-left cost him valuable race time, and he emerged at the rear of the field. Bearman was issued a penalty for an unsafe release, which he served on lap 41, before retiring from the race.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It's been an extremely tough day. It had good potential, the pace in the car was good, and both drivers were much happier with the car. It's a shame with Esteban, there was the smallest of movements from his car on the start grid, which we need to understand more about. We made a couple of big errors on the pit stops, we're not proud of it, but when doing 24 races and however many pit stops we do - we all make mistakes. What's important is that we stick together and support each other. We have one more race, an important one, next weekend, and it's a good thing as we'll get back up from this one and put on our best performance from FP1 through to the race. We're determined to finish the season on a high, that's our focus."
James Vowles, Team Principal: Exceptional. Really fantastic performance from Carlos and the team when it counted and every detail adds up. Getting on the podium by milliseconds really is such a just reward for the incredible work the whole team is putting in this year. I was proud of Carlos and the team when we got our first podium in Baku; the second is a dream come true, but perhaps more importantly at a track that was almost our worst last year. And we've come back, we've reinvented ourselves and the result is there for everyone to see.
For Alex, we will come back fighting in Abu Dhabi. We haven't got it all together this weekend, but I'll reiterate that his performance across the season is why we've secured fifth in the constructors' championship today. And more so than that, his pace is still there. We just need to bring it all together.
Finally, fifth would have been a dream come true just 12 months ago when we were languishing in ninth in the Constructors' Championship. Thank you very much.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen sealed his seventh win of the season tonight, with tyre strategy at the centre of the action, to take a three-way title fight to the championship finale in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
All three tyre compounds were seen on the grid and at the chequered flag, but the pivotal moment was the appearance of a safety car on lap seven: for the fourth time at four races held in Qatar so far.
With most drivers starting on the medium tyre, all but the two McLarens pitted to put on a fresh set of tyres under the safety car - with Verstappen, who had forced his way up to second from third on the grid, the first to come in.
Pitting under the safety car carries an advantage of roughly 10 seconds compared to green flag running, and it was here that Verstappen built his crucial advantage.
Adding to the tactical complexity today was the fact that each tyre set had a 25-lap limit specifically for the 57-lap Qatar Grand Prix: meaning that the McLarens were then out of sync with everybody else in terms of strategy.
The other drivers had to pit by lap 32 for their final stops, with McLaren staying out longer on each stint as a result of their earlier decision not to pit under the safety car.
Oscar Piastri relinquished the lead on lap 42 for his last pit stop, with his team mate Lando Norris coming in two laps later as Verstappen consolidated the lead.
Nearly all the drivers ran their two opening stints on the medium before switching to the hard for the final stint, including all three podium finishers. Piastri set the fastest lap of the race on both the medium and the hard tyres - with the overall fastest lap, which was also the new race lap record of 1m22.996s, coming on the hard compound on lap 44.
That final place on the podium was claimed by Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who adopted a perfect strategy to clinch his second podium of the year from seventh on the grid.
Conditions were cool at the challenging Lusail circuit this year, with ambient temperatures of 22 degrees centigrade and 23 degrees on track as the race got going under the spotlights at 19:00 local time.
Mario Isola: "All the strategic choices in today's race were conditioned by the arrival of the safety car. The compound considered to be the best compromise between getting good grip right from the start, and also maintaining an adequate performance level throughout the duration of the stint, was the medium.
Although nearly every driver only used the hard for the final stint to the flag, the C1 compound would also have been competitive halfway through the race. The lap times showed that in some cases it offered better performance than the C2 medium in the final laps. All the compounds displayed very limited wear, allowing drivers to push to the maximum.
There was a lot less graining compared to previous days, which reduced cases of extreme wear but did not eliminate them entirely. As a result, the 25-lap limit was shown to be appropriate to avoid any issues.
The fascinating twists and turns of this race, with unprecedented levels of performance and new circuit records set throughout the weekend, reflect an entire season with closer competition than ever. So it's perhaps no surprise that the championship now gets decided at the last race, with three very worthy contenders going into battle for the final time next weekend."
