14:34
Lap 20/57: If nothing else, Red Bull’s decision to pit so early on the medium tyres has irritated Hamilton slightly, but that looks to be the extent of the damage. He is still out in front by 8.5secs.
14:32
Lap 18/57: Mercedes react immediately, Hamilton pits and goes to the hard tyres. It’s a smooth stop, and Hamilton comes out still with a comfortable lead.
“It’s definitely way too early to stop,” says Hamilton on the radio, clearly not impressed with the decision. But he is still nine seconds clear of Verstappen and well set for victory.
14:30
Lap 18/57: Verstappen pits for Red Bull! He goes from the medium tyres to the hard tyres and emerges from the pitlane just ahead of Alonso. “They may as well do that,” Brundle says on commentary … “They couldn’t match the pace of the Mercedes.”
Updated
14:29
Lap 17/57: Hamilton is now more than nine seconds clear of Verstappen, and is about to start lapping people. Brundle, incredulous, repeats that Hamilton is two seconds faster than the rest of the field.
14:26
Lap 15/57: Alonso of Alpine, in third, is now 30 seconds behind Verstappen (Red Bull) in second. Hamilton of Mercedes has produced a masterful drive so far, and unless there is some bizarre occurrence with the pitstops, he is scorching away to a resounding victory.
Updated
14:24
Lap 14/57 – live standings
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +6.624secs
3 Fernando Alonso Alpine +26.789
4 Lando Norris Mclaren +29.649
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +30.808
6 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +33.565
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +34.368
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +35.273
9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +35.681
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +36.647
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +38.763
12 Daniel Ricciardo Mclaren +41.564
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing +47.103
14 George Russell Williams +49.320 – –
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +49.863
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +51.006
17 Mick Schumacher Haas F1 Team +52.888
18 Nikita Mazepin Haas F1 Team +55.424
19 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +65.707 1
20 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing +66.944 1
Updated
14:22
Lap 12/57: Bottas’s struggles to move up the field are ammunition for those who don’t rate his driving ability, although it’s possible his Mercedes is not operating as well as Hamilton’s, having said that.
14:20
Lap 11/57: A couple of minutes ago, Bottas’s Mercedes team were on the radio, urging him to try and make some headway through the field. He is now up to ninth. Hamilton leads, Verstappen second now nearly six seconds down, Alonso third, 21 seconds further back.
Updated
14:19
Lap 10/57: The leaders are more than two seconds faster than everyone else on track, observes Brundle on commentary, so this is very much a two-way tussle for victory in the inaugural Qatar GP.
14:18
Lap 9/57: Verstappen went off track slightly through a bend and there is speculation that he may have sustained a bit of damage to his car. Hamilton is currently leading by 4.9secs so the gap has stretched out … Looking good for Hamilton and Mercedes right now.
14:15
Standings on Lap 7/57
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +4.684
3 Fernando Alonso Alpine +11.380
4 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +13.125
5 Lando Norris Mclaren +14.093
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine +15.339
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +16.525
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +17.227
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +21.208
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +21.795
11 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +22.245
12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +23.239
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing +24.004
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing +25.406
15 George Russell Williams +26.106
16 Daniel Ricciardo Mclaren +27.454
17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +27.743
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams +28.759
19 Mick Schumacher Haas F1 Team +30.216
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas F1 Team +32.709
Updated
14:12
Lap 6/57: Verstappen is now catching Hamilton! He narrows the gap to 3.7secs, but then it seems to go out again, to 4.1secs. Anyway, Hamilton and Verstappen are turning this into a two-horse race, with Alonso in third place nearly 10 seconds down on Verstappen now.
Updated
14:11
Lap 5/57: Verstappen overtakes Alonso! He is up to second, and Hamilton leads by 4.1secs … Hamilton has apparently been on the radio to ask where Bottas is. The answer is he is 11th, having had a poor start, certainly in comparison to Verstappen, who has made light work of his five-place grid penalty.
14:09
Lap 4/57: Making use of DRS, and the fact that Gasly went wide going into the home straight, Verstappen of Red Bull overtakes and is up to third place, having started the race in seventh. Brundle reckons the best Red Bull can hope for, from here, is second place and fastest lap to limit the damage.
Updated
14:08
Lap 3/57: Hamilton had a perfect start from pole, with Verstappen flying up the inside into turn 1, but then being forced off the track slightly when Alonso slammed the door. Anyway, Hamilton’s lead has stretched to 2.5secs, while Verstappen is fourth, and goes on the radio to say “I’m a little bit stuck here,” saying he can’t get past Gasly.
Updated
14:05
Lap 1/57: Hamilton leads by 1.8secs. Alonso moved up to second with a good start, Gasly is third, Verstappen is fourth.
Updated
14:04
Lights out! Lap 1/57
The first Qatar grand prix has begun! Hamilton gets a great start and leads into turn 1! Verstappen also gets a good start, he goes off track in the second or third bend, but has made up a few places straight away!
Updated
14:03
A yellow flag briefly appeared during the formation lap. Brundle, on comms, isn’t clear why. But we seem to be back to normal now …
14:02
Yes, Red Bull may feel they need to get busy, tactics-wise … but they can’t start to panic, or start to rush things, either.
The formation lap has begun, and the teams are clearly concerned about the ‘dirty side’ of the track, veering over to the left-hand side of the start/finish straight at they set off.
13:59
This being the first Qatar GP, teams are in the dark regarding what may be the best strategy. Maybe Red Bull will have to roll the dice in terms of their tyres? And what is going to happen at turn 1, and in the first few laps, with the faster cars of Verstappen and Bottas trying to make up the places they have lost with those grid penalties?
Qatar is the 33rd sovereign nation to host a grand prix, we are told by the helpful people at Sky Sports.
Updated
13:54
More from Giles Richards on the battle between Mercedes and Red Bull, Hamilton and Verstappen, Wolff and Horner:
13:50
Gasly and his Alpha Tauri colleagues are having a team photo to mark their unexpected appearance in P2 on the grid … and why not?
13:49
Lando Norris has a word with Sky Sports, anticipating his start from fourth on the grid behind Hamilton, Gasly and Alonso: “We’ll see … we’ve got some quick cars behind us … maybe an opportunity to score a few more points. I don’t know how the overtaking is going to be, so that’s going to play a big part.”
Updated
13:46
We’ve just had a rendition of the Qatar national anthem. The Fifa World Cup trophy (the real thing, or a replica?) is placed on a pedestal on the track, with a year to go until the World Cup starts.
On which note:
Updated
13:41
The former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who is on the grid and ready to watch the race, speaks to Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle: “I’ve always liked Lewis Hamilton … obviously he’s proven he’s the best driver over so many years … but I’ve just been to the Red Bull pit, and of course the only Dane [involved in the title battle] is his mechanic, Max Verstappen’s … more than anything I’m just looking to the battle between those two [Hamilton and Verstappen].
Brundle asks him about Ole Gunnar Solskær’s departure from Manchester United: “It’s really sad, I am seriously really sad, on Ole’s behalf, on the football club’s behalf, on the fan’s behalf … it’s too many managers we’ve had to dismiss in to short a period of time … I just feel for Ole, he’s done everything he could, but in this modern day, football’s modern day, it’s been deemed not to be enough.”
13:39
Alonso speaks after his promotion to P3 on the grid: “We were happy with P5 … P3 is another 16 metres, we take it, and let’s see in turn 1 if we can attack the leaders … it’s a lovely track, long corners, you can lean on the car, on the tyres … it’s nice to drive ….”
13:34
Martin Brundle has now spent two minutes lurking by Fernando Alonso, who studiously ignores him. “Crashing and burning here a bit today,” Brundle says. “How’s your roast lunch at home?” Meanwhile, here’s a photo of Sir David of Beckham:
Updated
13:31
Brundle also tries to grab a word with Max Verstappen, who is presumably pretty angry about his penalty, but Verstappen doesn’t want to talk. Now he’s trying to grab a word with David Beckham but he’s struggling …
13:30
“I’ve been on this grid 35, 36 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Martin Brundle on his grid walk, referring to the confusion that reigns with the late decision to punish Verstappen and Bottas for failing to observe those yellow flags in qualifying. The provisional order was obviously changed late, so some of the teams were in the wrong positions on the grid, and had to shuffle around.
Updated
13:26
Preamble
Breaking news: Max Verstappen, the drivers’ championship leader, has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for ‘failing to slow for double waved yellow flags’ in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, meaning the Red Bull driver will be starting from seventh when the lights go out at 2pm UK time. It’s another dramatic twist in the title race, and will be controversial too, with stewards saying they had “sympathy” with Verstappen due to the “lack of display of the yellow light panels, no dash warning lights and no audio signal to the driver” to alert him of the situation when Pierre Gasly went off track at turn 15 and lost his front wing. The stewards argue that ultimately it was Verstappen’s job to observe the flags.
Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, has also been punished with a three-place penalty for the same reason. Hamilton is on pole, a superb run in qualifying following his stunning victory in Brazil a week ago, with Gasly of Alpha Tauri second despite qualifying fourth. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) is third on the grid and Lando Norris (McLaren) is fourth.
Regardless of the technicalities of the decision to punish Verstappen and Bottas, Hamilton now looks well set to turn the heat up even further in the drivers’ title race. Verstappen leads the charge for the title with 332.5 points, Hamilton is 14 points back on 318.5. Pre-race reading and more coming up …