Mrhban, MiniFans! Friday left a few unexpected surprises on the grid. Piastri has come back from the grave to snatch the sprint pole with a record under his belt, whereas a very rare mistake from Verstappen that damaged his floor left him in sixth, surpassed by his teammate for the first time in a very long time. With Norris almost perfecty in the middle of his two pursuers, as he is starting from sixth, the start will probably become a ley element. Russell in second and Alonso in fourth will look out for themselves alone, not minding the championship battle happening around them.
After a long wait for the ligths, the S-Race took off cleanly. Tsunoda surprised by almost getting to Norris, but Verstappen is too much of a force to be reckoned with. The Dutch driver easily and quickly got rid of both his teammate and Alonso while the frontrunners took the first few corners with special care, not wanting to compromise their race or their title hopes. Verstappen got very close to Norris, giving it a try the first chance he got, not to overtake just yet, but to start showing himself and make Norris nervous. Further back, Tsunoda and Alonso had lost touch with them, leaving them on their own.
In the midfield, things were similar to what was going on at the front. DRS zones were invaded by rivals, but the trains forming meant that it was quite difficult to even try and get close enough for a chance at overtaking. The short main straight and shorter DRS opening zone meant that it was difficult to take advantage of the reduction in drag, forcing drivers to take more risks in order to try and gain one position. Adding to this, Verstappen was compliaining about not simply bouncing, but something he straight up defined as jumping. Not having more radios broadcasted meant it wasn’t clear whether it was just him having problems, but a big chunk of carbon fibre being detached from Sainz’s car, with the subsequent time loss, helped gather it probably wasn’t just the Red Bull.
Gaps kept getting wider, with drivers stretching along the track, specially at the front, where up to Alonso the space between drivers had grown to between two and three seconds. Verstappen seemed to have given up, three full seconds away from Norris and the podium, but Leclerc, down in fourteenth after having troubles at the start, was still fighting tooth and nail with Bearman until a couple of mistakes forced him to back down.
The tyres were just one of the many troubles that needed juggling. Tsunoda quickly earned enough track limits warnings to get himself a 5-second penalty, whereas the gravel thrown onto the track after going wide was a risk tot he rest of the drivers. Still behind Verstappen, even if separated by over four seconds, the Japanese driver kept on pushing to lose as few places as possible and stay in the points. He wasn’t the only one having difficulties, as Sainz’s car wasn’t whole anymore and could see Hadjar in his rearview mirrors, whereas Leclerc was still stuck behind Bearman despite his best efforts and Bearman’s aid via going wide and traveling through a gravel trap.
The last couple of laps came with a few black and white flags, added to Stroll getting ready for qualifying, as a late stop due to tyre trouble had left him dead last with a set of softs. At the very front, Piastri was completing a perfect run, save for the fastest lap taken by Stroll, followed by Russell and his very own teammate, who had managed to shake off Versappen a while ago and keep him a handfiul of seconds away, crossing the line in first place since he did so in Zandvoort many months ago, delaying a title celebration at least one more day.
Despite all the warnings from Pirelli due to the tyres underperforming, the drivers still went all out, as backing down could mean losing a position in the race or even the championship. They weren’t the only troubles the drivers needed to juggle, as track limits also came up quite a bit and stray gravel wasn’t exactly easily dodged. Piastri managed all the variables wonderfully, not allowing anyone to even breathe in his direction as he guided everyone to the finish line in first, getting ready to keep on fighting.
MiniDrivers – 2025 Qatar Mini Prix
S-Race
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