Fernando Alonso was starting the race in third place, as Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen were given grid penalties. Hence, he was hoping to have a good race. He had a great start, stealing the second place from Pierre Gasly as soon as the lights went out.

After a few laps around the Losail International Circuit, Alonso was trailing behind his rivals. But the drama at the Qatar Grand Prix just escalated from there, as Bottas suffered a horrible puncture.

Valtteri Bottas puts on a firework show for Fernando Alonso

Bottas hadn’t pitted yet unlike his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, and paid the price. He suffered a horrible puncture which saw him go off into the gravel trap but did manage to get his car back on track.

The Finn was struggling and soon had to deal with Alonso. The Spaniard was behind the Mercedes driver as sparks erupted from his Mercedes.

This saw Alonso being hit by the sparks that Bottas’s car generated. Still, Alonso soon overtook the Finn to steal his place in the race.

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Pirelli did warn the teams about how long the tires will last at the Qatar GP

Tire manufacturer, Pirelli did warn the teams about how long their tires could last for Sunday’s race. They had stated that they could last at least thirty laps, but Mercedes kept Bottas on track for thirty-five laps.

The Silver Arrows paid heavily for this, as Bottas suffered a massive puncture, and was called into the pits to get his front wing and tires changed. This mistake saw the Finn fall from third on the grid to fourteenth.

With the title fight with Red Bull getting even more intense, the Brackley-based squad will be hoping to make fewer errors in the upcoming races to secure another constructor’s championship this season.

Read More: Why Are Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas & Carlos Sainz Under Threat of a Grid Penalty for Qatar GP?