Max Verstappen won a chaotic and drama-filled Qatar Grand Prix after a one-place grid penalty for driving “unnecessarily slowly” during qualifying. The Dutchman made a brilliant start from second on the grid to sweep around the outside of George Russell at the first corner to control the remainder of the race but it wasn’t enough to keep his Red Bull team in the constructor’s championship.
Verstappen after taking the lead didn’t look back controlling the race from the start ahead of the McLaren’s in a race which saw plenty of overtaking and drama on track. The Dutchman mastered both restarts to retain the lead of the race despite the various incidents he managed to control the race from then on, taking his ninth win of the season.
Charles Leclerc finished second the Ferrari driver was six seconds behind the four-time champion and seven-tenths ahead of the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Verstappen had battled with his former championship rival Lando Norris despite a safety car but pointed out the McLaren driver had gone too fast behind the first safety car. The steward agreed awarding a ten second stop and go which saw Norris drop to just outside the points, before recovering to claim the final point.
Leclerc’s second place ahead of Piastri saw Ferrari cut McLaren’s lead in the constructors to twenty-one points, ensuring the championship will be decided in Abu Dhabi next weekend. But Red Bull are now mathematically unable to retain the championship double.
Verstappen said, “It was a very good race, yesterday in qualifying the car was a lot better and today, that first stint was very, very fast, Lando [Norris] and I doing 1.8seconds of each other the whole time and pushing each other, it was honestly a lot of fun out there.”
“This track has a lot of grip and this year the tyres were really holding on so that was a lot of fun to really be pushing the tyre and we went really long in that first stint, after that there were a lot of safety car moments that you had to take car.”
Leclerc added “I’m really happy, I mean honestly I would have signed a paper that told me that we will finish second after a weekend like this. Especially on a track like this because our car characteristics is not fitting very well with this track and we knew it was going to be a difficult weekend compared to McLaren.”
Piastri in the McLaren finishes in third, he said: “It was a tricky race, the cars at the front seemed to have a similar pace to each other. It was really tough to make inroads to get to DRS and then fire into the DRS overtakes, a couple of good moments with Charles [Leclerc] out there and nice to end up on the podium, but not quite the result we were looking for.”
Norris’s penalty not only cost him but McLaren teammate Piastri, the timing of the safety car allowed Leclerc to undercut Piastri as the Ferrari was able to stop under a safety car, thus losing less time in the pit lane. From then on the Monacan was able to keep Piastri behind him and secure second.
Norris told Sky Sports “Honestly I don’t know what I did wrong. Apparently I didn’t slow under the yellow, I am not an idiot if I saw a yellow I would have slowed down. The rule is you have to slow down under the yellow, so it is a fair penalty.”
There will be questions for the already under-pressure FIA about the situation which lead to the second safety car after a piece of wing mirror was left lying on the pit straight for a number of laps before it was smashed by one of the cars.
It looks as if the race director was slow to react, it took seven laps under double waved yellows before any action to bring out the safety car. But only after Valtteri Bottas ran over the original debris, shredding it to bits, so Hamilton and Sainz suffered dramatic punctures.
The FIA has not responded to questions as to why the mirror was not cleared up earlier, but could further fuel the feud between the governing body and the GPDA, the union which represents the drivers. The punctures happened shortly after the mirror was hit, and the safety car was called to allow marshals to clear the shattered carbon fibre and glass.
Russell was unable to fight from pole with the Red Bull before losing places to Norris and Leclerc to finish fourth, the Englishman finishing seven seconds on the road behind Piastri before being given a five-second time penalty for a safety car infringement. But it was a tough penultimate race for Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton who could only manage twelfth.
The seven-time champion who joins Ferrari next season, had two penalties for a false start and speeding through the pit lane. At one point he asked to retire from the race. Pierre Gasly continued Alpine’s strong finish to the season finishing fifth almost seven tenths ahead of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and his Spanish compatriot Fernando Alonso.
That was a decent recovery for Sainz following the puncher picked up following the wing mirror incident.
Guanyu Zhou came through the mayhem to finish eighth five seconds behind the Aston Martin to score Sauber’s first points of the season thus ensuring they don’t finish the season pointless for the first time in the teams thirty year history. Kevin Magnussen was ninth ahead of Norris, the McLaren driver fighting back to take the final point and fastest lap giving the team two points in the fight with Ferrari.
Valtteri Bottas was eleventh finishing nearly five seconds ahead of former teammate Hamilton, as the seven-time champion endured another tough evening in Lusail. Hamilton being caught up in the dramas on lap thirty along with Sainz both getting punchers from the debris caused by a wing mirror falling off Alex Albon’s Williams and shattered by Bottas.
The race director and the FIA facing more scrutiny over the decision not to bring out a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car for seven laps, deciding to use double-waved yellow flags on the main straight. Bottas running over the debris forced the race director to act.
During that period, Norris seemingly did not slow down for the yellows, which was instantly spotted by Verstappen. This drama had huge impacts for Hamilton and Sainz as well as Norris picking up the stop-go penalty. Bottas finished the race eleventh after Norris overtook him in the closing stages to take the final point.
Yuki Tsunoda was thirteenth ahead of his RB teammate Liam Lawson and Alex Albon. Albon continued in the race despite contact which caused Lance Stroll to retire early on.
Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto all retired due to a collision on the opening lap. The Haas driver lost the rear of the car which spun him into Ocon with the momentum pushing the Alpine into the back of the Williams, the stewards investigated briefly but decided it was no more than a racing incident, with more leanly being given to first lap incidents.
Following the race, reports emerged Ocon would not race for Alpine in Abu Dhabi before moving to Haas next season with Jack Doohan replacing him. Its been reported clear gulf between Ocon and teammate Pierre Gasly in pace had emerged during the Las Vegas weekend, in which Gasly clinched third on the grid.
As such, the team has been weighing up whether to give Doohan his debut a race early in preparation for 2025, while Ocon will nonetheless be in Abu Dhabi to join Haas for the end-of-season test at Yas Marina.
Related
- Qatar GP – Qualifying Result
- QATAR GP – Max Verstappen takes pole by half a tenth ahead of George Russell, but under investigation for driving “unnecessarily slowly”
- Qatar GP – Sprint Result
- QATAR GP – Oscar Piastri takes back-to-back sprint wins in Lusail after Lando Norris hands victory to teammate
- Qatar GP – Sprint Qualifying Result 2024
- QATAR GP – Lando Norris beats Carlos Sainz to sprint pole by six hundredths in another close qualifying
- QATAR GP – Charles Leclerc ahead of both McLarens by four-tenths in practice
- Welcome to the Qatar Grand Prix – 2024
- PRIXVIEW – Qatar Grand Prix
