Verstappen takes dominant victory after Mercedes drivers collide

Max Verstappen took a dominant victory in Qatar followed by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The Red Bull driver led from lights to flag victory following his title victory in the Sprint race, while the two McLaren drivers fought back into the podium spots.

Sprint race winner Piastri was just four seconds behind at the flag, after a slow late pit stop for Verstappen.

George Russell was fourth ahead of Charles Leclerc, who rounded out the top five.

The Mercedes driver made a late pit stop after staying out with seven laps to go, while Fernando Alonso finished in sixth.

Alonso ran much of the race in third, but the Aston Martin driver had an off-track moment midway through the race and lost a lot of ground.

Sergio Perez had a difficult outing after starting from the pit lane, managing to climb back into the points. But he was handed two time penalties for track limit infringements.

The Red Bull driver had a late surge into the points with three laps to go, battling with Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly. He ended 9th on the road, after overtaking both in the closing stages along with Zhou Guanyu.

Hamilton taken out at the first corner

Lewis Hamilton suffered a first lap crash with teammate Russell, after the Mercedes driver made contact into the first corner.

The seven-time world champion got a better start off the line on the Soft tyres and went around the outside of Russell, but the pair made contact and both went off into the gravel.

While Hamilton was out on the spot with damage, Russell continued and fought through the field in the opening stint.

The FIA mandated an 18-lap stint on safety grounds for each of the drivers, which meant that strategy was not as much of a guessing game for the teams.

The popular strategy was the three-stop, with many opting to start on Mediums to run as long as possible at the start.