The 2021 Qatar Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021) was a Formula One motor race, held on 21 November 2021 at the

Losail International Circuit The Lusail International Circuit (, sometimes rendered Losail International Circuit) is a motor racing circuit located just outside the city of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar. The track is in length, with a main straight of . It is surrounded b ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. The inaugural

Qatar Grand Prix The Qatar Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event which is held in Qatar. It was held for the first time on 21 November as part of the championship at the Lusail International Circuit, and after not taking place during the season due ...

, it was the 20th round of the

2021 Formula One World Championship The 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship was a List of motorsport championships, motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 72nd running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internat ...

. Mercedes driver

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

won the race ahead of

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

driver

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

, while

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...

scored his first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, as well as his first podium with

Team Enstone "Team Enstone" is the colloquial name for a Formula One team based in Enstone, Oxfordshire, which has won seven Formula One World Championships. Since 1981, the same team has competed under five different identities—most notably Benetton Formul ...

since the

2009 Singapore Grand Prix The 2009 Singapore Grand Prix (formally the 2009 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on 27 September 2009. The 61-lap race was the fourteenth round of the 2009 Fo ...

. As a result of Hamilton's victory, Losail became the 30th different circuit where he has won a Grand Prix.

Background

The

did not feature on the original calendar, but was added in place of the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

, which was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It was the first Qatar Grand Prix, with a 10-year contract to host the Qatar Grand Prix from 2023 at a new purpose-built circuit; there was no Qatar Grand Prix in , as the country hosted the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Championship standings

Heading into the race,

led the World Drivers' Standings with 332.5 points, 14 points ahead of second-placed

Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver, who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Mercedes. Bottas competed in Formula One from to , and twice finished runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in ...

was in third on 203 points, too far behind Verstappen to be able to win the title but 25 points ahead of

Sergio Pérez Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990) is a Mexican racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Pérez was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Red Bull, and won Gr ...

in fourth, with

Lando Norris Lando Norris (; born 13 November 1999) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Norris was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and has won Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix ...

fifth on 151 points. In the World Constructors' Standings, Mercedes led with 521.5 points, 11 points ahead of second-placed

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

were third with 287.5 points ahead of

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

on 256.

and AlphaTauri were fifth and sixth with 112 points each, with Alpine being ahead courtesy of a win, compared to no wins for AlphaTauri.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race or practice.

Tyre choices

Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C1, C2, and C3 compounds of tyre to be used during this Grand Prix weekend.

Practice

The event held three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first two practice sessions were on Friday, 19 November at 13:30 and 17:00 local time ( UTC+03:00) respectively. The first practice session ended with

fastest for

, ahead of AlphaTauri driver

Pierre Gasly Pierre Jean-Jacques Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine. Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri. Born and raised in Normandy, Gasly began competitive kart racing age ...

and Mercedes driver

. Second practice ended with

fastest, then Gasly and Verstappen. In the third practice session, held on Saturday from 14:00, Bottas was again fastest, with his teammate Hamilton second.

Qualifying

Qualifying took place at 17:00 local time, and lasted one hour, with Hamilton qualifying on pole. Verstappen, who qualified second, received a five-grid place penalty for failure to respect double yellow flags in Q3.

Qualifying classification

Notes * –

received a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect a double waved yellow flag in Q3. * –

received a three-place grid penalty for failing to respect a single waved yellow flag in Q3.

Race

The race began at 17:00 local time and was contested over 57 laps. The race was noted for four front-left tyre failures, as teams attempted to run one-stop strategies against Pirelli's advice. Hamilton won the race, leading every lap, but Verstappen, who finished second, denied him a grand slam by setting the fastest lap.

finished third, taking his first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Race classification

Notes * – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. * Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Notes

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...