@Max33Verstappen takes victory in chaotic #QatarGP as @LandoNorris is hit with penalty. #F1
Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, celebrating in Parc Ferme after winning the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024, Lusail International Circuit, Lusail City, Qatar. Image credit to Clive Mason/Getty Images. Verstappen Qatar GP Victory, 2024 Qatar GP Results, F1 Qatar GP Results, Formula 1 Qatar Results.
Verstappen Qatar GP Victory – Max Verstappen took his ninth victory of the season in a chaotic Qatar GP, which saw three safety cars, three punctures and multiple penalties handed out including to McLaren’s Lando Norris who received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding under yellow flags as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came home second and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top three runners.
Verstappen lead every lap of the race to take his 63rd-career win as main threat Norris copped the ten-second stop-and-go and wounded up tenth.
The Constructor’s Championship is now down to the wire at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix between McLaren and Ferrari with the gap at 21 points.
When the 57 lap Qatar GP began, pole-sitter Russell gets a great getaway along with second-placed Verstappen as the latter made the dive on the inside into the opening corner to jump into the lead as McLaren’s Lando Norris also squeezed through into second place.
Behind them Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made his way in-front of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to take fourth place.
Further behind, Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg locked up on the inside into turn one and collided into both Williams’ Franco Colapinto and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon as the latter two retired and brought out the safety car.
The order under the safety car was Verstappen leading, Norris second, Russell third, Leclerc fourth, Piastri fifth, Sainz sixth, Perez seventh, Alonso eighth, Hamilton ninth as Tsunoda rounded out the top ten.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll also massive hit the other Williams FW46 entry of Alexander Albon which sent the Thai-Briton into a spin.
Hulkenberg came in for another set of the C1 white-marked harder tyre and was noted by the race stewards for causing a collision.
When the race resumed on lap five, Verstappen breezed away as the top three remained stable, behind them Piastri made the move on the inside of Leclerc into the opening corner to take fourth place.
At the beginning of the sixth lap, Verstappen’s lead was at 1.077 seconds over Norris with Russell third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth, Sainz sixth, Perez seventh, Hamilton eighth, Tsunoda ninth as Magnussen rounded out the top ten.
The stewards have decided that the Hulkenberg crash was a racing incident and that there will be no further investigation – whilst Stroll and Albon’s is currently under investigation.
Meanwhile Verstappen is leading and is out of DRS range from Norris – DRS is enabled. The question was how long can Norris hang before the dirty air starts to cause the tyres on the McLaren to suffer?
Russell also had Piastri for company – the F1 Sprint winner looking very quick at this part of proceedings.
Bottas and Lawson’s incident was also noted by the race stewards as Hamilton’s start was also under investigation by the officials.
Stroll was the third retiree of the Grand Prix on the tenth lap and also served a 10-second penalty before doing so.
Stroll’s team-mate Alonso in 12th place, was also unhappy on his straight-line speed saying: “I cannot ***** believe it man, two ***** years the same problem.”
Verstappen’s lead out-front on lap 11 was nearly two seconds – as predicted, but it was a challenge for the drivers to stick it out in the dirty turbulent air. Russell was a further 1.857 seconds behind Norris, as Piastri was just out of DRS range from Russell’s Silver Arrow.
Lawson was hit with a five-second timed penalty for causing a collision with Bottas meanwhile the incident involving Tsunoda and Magnussen was noted.
Further back on the 13th tour, Gasly picked off Tsunoda to move up into the points as a lap later – Alonso also made his way ahead of the RB driver around the outside into turn one to move into 11th.
On the 15th lap, Verstappen’s lead over Norris was sitting at 2.021 seconds with Russell holding third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth and a further three seconds behind the McLaren as Sainz completed the top six runners.
Eighth-placed Hamilton was given a five-second-timed-penalty for his false start and was currently in eighth place behind the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
Out-front, Verstappen was not building his lead – with the gap hanging at 1.6 seconds with the pit-loss time quite big in Lusail, and track position is everything in Qatar.
The top teams were very evenly matched, overtaking on-track even with DRS, was proving difficult for the drivers.
On the 18th tour, Gasly was the only driver in DRS range as the Alpine driver got very close to MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who was ninth.
Leclerc up in fifth place also told his team to “check the (tyre) pressures” as the Ferrari was slowly eating into Piastri’s gap.
On lap 20, Verstappen’s lead was 1.801 seconds over Norris with Russell third, Piastri fourth, and the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz in fifth and sixth respectively as Perez and Hamilton rounded out the top eight.
The pit window was opened on lap 20 and the question was who would perform the undercut? Piastri potentially on Russell? It was all about free air, with two groups forming – the front eight then the gap to the rest of the field. The top drivers would want to be in the clear air.
Out-front both Verstappen and Norris dropped third-placed Russell – five seconds between Norris and his fellow-British-compatriot last time out. The Ferrari drivers were in a race of their own in fifth and sixth.
The race leaders Verstappen and Norris were given permission to use up their tyre life and would not be out there much longer on the mediums as on lap 24 – third-placed Russell was the first to stop. The Briton put on a set of the C1 harders – suffered a slow seven second stop due to a right-rear issue and fell down into 11th place behind Alonso.
The 25th lap saw Verstappen’s lead over Norris at two seconds with Piastri third, Leclerc fourth, Sainz fifth, Perez sixth, Hamilton seventh, Magnussen eighth, Gasly ninth as Alonso completed the top ten runners.
Russell’s slow stop opened the door for Ferrari to jump the Mercedes. No one has reacted to the stop as of yet. Bottas pitted further back as everyone is switching from the mediums to the hards.
With Russell out of the way, third-placed Piastri was running with fresh air and trying to make it count on his opening stint as the Australian was trying to build up a gap to not fall into the traffic of the midfield like Russell did.
Russell was right behind Alonso in 11th place.
On the 28th lap Haas’s Magnussen pitted from eighth and emerged in 16th behind Lawson as both Mercedes drivers complained that their F1 W15 entries would not turn in. Magnussen’s stop promoted Gasly up to eighth place behind Hamilton.
Lap 30 saw Verstappen’s lead at 1.117 seconds over Norris with Piastri third, Leclerc fourth, Sainz fifth, Perez sixth, Hamilton seventh, Gasly eighth, Alonso ninth as Russell completed the top ten.
The wing mirror from Albon’s FW46 entry flew off and was sitting on the main-straight – which will need a VSC to clear.
On the 31st tour, second-placed Norris was told by his race engineer: “I’m sure you’ll tell me where to go, but if you have any more pace…”
“Speak louder,” comes the droll response from Norris as the gap out-front came down to 1.2 seconds.
On the 34th tour, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas ran over the mirror on the main straight as both Hamilton and Sainz suffered a puncture for running over the debris.
Meanwhile Piastri and Sainz pitted for a fresh set of hards and came out in fifth and tenth respectively as the safety car deployed four laps too late for the debris.
On the 36th lap, race leader Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Perez and Hamilton all pitted for hards and emerged in the same positions with Perez behind Piastri in fifth. Hamilton re-joined out in 16th.
Gasly was up into sixth as race control ordered the safety car to take the train of cars through the pits at the debris gets cleared on the pit-straight.
Russell also came in for another set of hards to which he furiously responded: “Why have we put hards on? Why have we put the ***** hards on again?”
The race order under the safety car on lap 38 was Verstappen leading, Norris second, Leclerc third, Piastri fourth, Perez fifth, Gasly sixth, Russell seventh, Sainz eighth, Zhou ninth, Alonso rounding out the top ten.
Perez lost drive, spun and parked it at turn 15. Replays did not whether he was hit from behind.
When the race went back to green, Verstappen was pressured by Norris as both went wheel-to-wheel into turn one as the former covered the latter to remain in the lead as Leclerc also battled with Piastri for third as the Ferrari kept the McLaren at bay.
Hulkenberg suffered a separate incident from Perez at turn ten after a spin into the gravel trap which brought out the safety car.
Second-placed Norris was also under investigation by the stewards for failing to slow under yellow flags.
When the race went back to green on the 43rd tour, race leader Verstappen got a solid getaway this time as Leclerc got into the slip-stream on Norris but could not find a way by into turn one and remained in third place behind the McLaren.
Replays showed Gasly lost a place to Russell after running wide into the opening corner.
The 44th tour saw Verstappen’s lead over Norris at 0.774 seconds with Leclerc third, Piastri fourth, Russell fifth, Gasly sixth, Sainz seventh as Alonso completed the top eight.
Second-placed Norris was hit with a ten second stop-go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags, which he had to serve within two tours.
On the 45th tour, Norris came in to serve his ten second stop-go penalty and dropped him to the rear of the field in 15th.
Meanwhile Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane and the incident involving Magnussen and Albon at turn one was also under investigation by the stewards.
Hamilton came in to serve his penalty on lap 48 and came out behind Norris at the rear.
The 50th lap saw Verstappen’s lead over Leclerc at 4.177 seconds with Piastri holding third, Russell fourth, Gasly fifth, Sainz sixth, Alonso seventh, Zhou eighth, Magnussen ninth as Albon rounded out the top ten.
On the 52nd tour, in the battle for the final points place, Bottas ran wide into turn one after and fell behind the Albon’s Williams.
Meanwhile a lap later, Bottas managed to overtake Albon into turn one as Albon was hit with a ten-second timed penalty for causing a collision with Magnussen.
On lap 54, Norris made his way past Bottas to get back into the points and was also holding the fastest lap bonus point to make it two points.
With three tours remaining, the fight for fifth saw Sainz with DRS assistance of Gasly have a look on the Alpine, but the Frenchman covered the Spaniard to hold the place.
On the penultimate lap, Russell was noted by the race stewards for a safety car infringement earlier on.
Verstappen crossed the line to clinch the Qatar GP victory by 6.031 seconds over Leclerc with Piastri completing the final podium place in third.
Russell was given a five-second-timed-penalty for the safety car infringement but remained in fourth.
Gasly came home a solid fifth place for Alpine and in-front of Sainz who survived a puncture to finish seventh and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu who scored Sauber’s first points of the season to take eighth.
Haas’s Magnussen was ninth as Norris rounded out the top ten and also scored the fastest lap bonus point to make it two points for the McLaren driver.
Bottas finished outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Hamilton who reached the chequered flag 12th and RB’s Tsunoda and Lawson who were 13th and 14th respectively whilst Albon finished a lap down at the rear.
2024 Qatar GP – The Top Three
2024 Qatar GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – 25 Points:
“It was a very good race; the car was a lot better. That first stint was very, very fast – me and Lando were pushing each other, always within 1.8s and it was a lot of fun out there. A few Safety Car moments, but very happy. It’s been a while in the dry since we’ve been this competitive. It got a bit spicy into Turn 1 [with Norris] but very happy to win here. The last few years we’ve been competitive [in Abu Dhabi] so hopefully we can fight for a win there again.”
2nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 18 Points:
“I’m really happy. Honestly, I would have signed straight away for second after a weekend like this at a track like this – our car characteristics don’t fit with this track. The fight will go all the way to Abu Dhabi. For the debris I was staying left and hoping it didn’t bite me – it didn’t but it was unlucky for Carlos. It’s exciting, 21 points [to McLaren] is a lot, but we’ll give it our all.”
3rd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team, Mercedes, MCL38 – 15 Points:
“It was a tricky race, the cars at the front had very similar pace so it was very tough to make inroads into DRS. Nice to end up on the podium, but not quite the result we were hoping for. I’m not sure what Lando’s penalty was for, obviously quite a big one. Going to take everything we’ve got to seal the deal.”
Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024 Race Results Classification (57 Laps)
| Pos | Driver | Gap | Tyre | PIT |
| 1 | Max Verstappen – Red Bull Racing | Leader | 3 | |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc – Ferrari | +6.031 | 3 | |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri – McLaren | +6.819 | 3 | |
| 4 | George Russell – Mercedes | +14.104 | 4 | |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly – Alpine | +16.782 | 3 | |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz – Ferrari | +17.476 | 3 | |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin | +19.867 | 3 | |
| 8 | Zhou Guanyu – Kick Sauber | +25.360 | 3 | |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen – Haas F1 Team | +32.177 | 3 | |
| 10 | Lando Norris – McLaren | +35.762 | 4 | |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas – Kick Sauber | +50.243 | 3 | |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes | +56.122 | 4 | |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda – RB | +61.100 | 4 | |
| 14 | Liam Lawson – RB | +62.656 | 4 | |
| 15 | Alexander Albon – Williams | 1L | 4 | |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg – Haas F1 Team | – – | 4 | |
| 17 | Sergio Perez – Red Bull Racing | – – | 3 | |
| 18 | Lance Stroll – Aston Martin | – – | 3 | |
| 19 | Franco Colapinto – Williams | – – | – – | |
| 20 | Esteban Ocon – Alpine | – – | – – |
https://www.formula1.com/en/timing/f1-live-lite
The final round of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads straight to the Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2024 from Friday December 6-Sunday December 8.
