Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Losail International Circuit.
Driver performance summary
| Driver | Q stage | Q pos. | Q gap to team mate | SR grid pos. | SR pos. | GP grid pos. | GP pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | Q3 | 1 | -0.979s | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Sergio Perez | Q2 | 13 | +0.979s | 8 | Not classified | 20 | 10 |
| Charles Leclerc | Q3 | 5 | -0.249s | 6 | 12 | 5 | 5 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Q2 | 12 | +0.249s | 5 | 6 | 12 | Not classified |
| Lewis Hamilton | Q3 | 3 | +0.086s | 12 | 5 | 3 | Not classified |
| George Russell | Q3 | 2 | -0.086s | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Esteban Ocon | Q3 | 8 | +0.210s | 10 | Not classified | 8 | 7 |
| Pierre Gasly | Q3 | 7 | -0.210s | 11 | 9 | 7 | 12 |
| Lando Norris | Q3 | 10 | -0.039s | 2 | 3 | 10 | 3 |
| Oscar Piastri | Q3 | 6 | +0.039s | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Q3 | 9 | -1.394s | 13 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| Zhou Guanyu | Q1 | 20 | +1.394s | 15 | 14 | 19 | 9 |
| Lance Stroll | Q1 | 17 | +1.122s | 16 | 15 | 16 | 11 |
| Fernando Alonso | Q3 | 4 | -1.122s | 9 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Q1 | 19 | +1.142s | 19 | 13 | 18 | 14 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Q2 | 15 | -1.142s | 7 | Not classified | 14 | 16 |
| Liam Lawson | Q1 | 18 | +0.577s | 14 | Not classified | 17 | 17 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Q2 | 11 | -0.577s | 18 | 11 | 11 | 15 |
| Alexander Albon | Q2 | 14 | -0.092s | 17 | 7 | 13 | 13 |
| Logan Sargeant | Q1 | 16 | +0.092s | 20 | Not classified | 15 | Not classified |
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (0%)
- Logan Sargeant (1%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
- Liam Lawson (0%)
- Kevin Magnussen (0%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (1%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Guanyu Zhou (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (6%)
- Oscar Piastri (61%)
- Lando Norris (6%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- George Russell (9%)
- Lewis Hamilton (1%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Charles Leclerc (0%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (16%)
Total Voters: 89
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2023 Qatar Grand Prix
- Albon fears Qatar GP conditions risked creating dangerous “wet bulb effect”
- Alonso: New-spec fireproofs and pre-race anthem timing made Qatar heat worse
- Magnussen admits he took “too long to learn” Losail circuit
- Analysis: Sargeant’s Qatar radio reveals his painful struggle to end point-less run
- Alfa Romeo ‘finally understand their upgrade’ Bottas believes as team target Williams
Debates and polls
- Will Verstappen race on with Red Bull until the end of 2028?
- Will Alonso win a world championship title with Aston Martin?
- How long should Red Bull give Ricciardo to prove he’s not lost his touch?
- Were stewards right to penalise Alonso over his driving before Russell’s crash?
- Are Williams right to bench Sargeant so Albon can race after crash?
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2023, 20:09
DOTW & DOTD: PIA
Simon
8th October 2023, 23:01
Number 9, Brighton line
Niefer (@niefer)
8th October 2023, 20:09
Went for VER. He was the only one to even try and make the stints count. Commanding win, WDC wrap, pole….
PIA did absolutely great as well. Solid drives.
I’d like to praise Zhou’s race, even though we’re talking about the Weekend.
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th October 2023, 8:36
I would like to add Valtteri Bottas on you list..
jamt
8th October 2023, 20:12
Verstappen leaded all laps, no?
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
8th October 2023, 20:25
Piastri for sure! Norris has his work cut out for him.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
8th October 2023, 20:29
Bottas for me. Great qualifying, great race.
The usual suspects didn’t convince me: Verstappen shouldn’t have lost the sprint and was lucky that noone did beat his one Q3 time. His race pace was decent but not overwheming.
Piastri was just to slow in the race in comparison to Norris.
Norris was probably the fastest man this weekend but cracked in qualifying which cost him deeply.
Russell is a close second to Bottas. He didn’t put a foot wrong and showed great speed and overtakes during his fightback.
Leclerc didn’t have a stellar saturday.
Alonso had a horrible race for his standards.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
8th October 2023, 20:29
Russell and Piastri impressed the most, but Piastri did make the error with track limits in qualifying and turn 1 did play into his hands somewhat, so I went for Russell in the end who I think did what he could from the situation he was in.
Poor weekend for Max, dropped 2 points /s
David BR (@david-br)
8th October 2023, 20:43
Piastri.
RR
8th October 2023, 20:47
Piastri. That’s easy.
Not Lewis, that’s for sure. Was that really Lewis driving into Russell like a rookie who’s not yet got the hang of this F1 lark?
melanos
9th October 2023, 2:15
oh, big surprise
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
8th October 2023, 20:58
Piastri, but the boy needs to work on his safety car restarts.
elchinero (@elchinero)
8th October 2023, 21:25
#44 … best post-car saunter
melanos
9th October 2023, 2:13
Unbelievably got only 2% of the votes, after best teammate smashing of the weekend, followed by the most leisurely track crossing of the season.
David BR (@david-br)
8th October 2023, 21:34
@pironitheprovocateur Russell’s by contrast was sublime.
GmP (@gmp)
8th October 2023, 22:06
Oscar, George, Max in group one, Lando just behind.
Gave it to Oscar, as the others are far more experienced, so expectations are higher.
Adrian R
8th October 2023, 23:34
Owcar obviously.
No brainer pole and win in the sprint .. then 2nd in race less than 5s behind Max in absolutely brutal conditions ..
Driver of the WEEEKEND for sure – tho I agree with above about his safety cat restarts
melanos
9th October 2023, 2:20
GR impressed me the most, after been butchered and losing a g0dawful amount of time including an extra pitstop, came out 4th with plenty of overtakes which seemed effortless Without the carnage GR would surely have left behind the Maccas and maybe could have challenged Max a bit.
MaddSusie (@maddsusie)
9th October 2023, 10:23
Verstappen didn’t really put a foot wrong all weekend, he drove a clean measured sprint race, doing exactly what he needed to do in order to claim the WDC, he also qualified pole for the race and went on to win by a suitable margin and again no errors.
Whilst Piastri also has had a superb weekend, he did make his mistakes in Quali on Friday, I also feel that team orders during the race enabled him to hold the 2nd place finish.
RR
9th October 2023, 16:52
I think OP was also driving a measured race. If he had to fight with Norris he would have speeded up. When Norris set the fastest lap Piastri responded with a lap only 0.001 slower.
He was also closing in on Max who was probably managing tyres at this point and could have easily gone faster himself.