Qatar Grand Prix: Verstappen – Leclerc – Piastri

Dark. Dry. Air +18…19 C, highway +23 C

Last year the race in Qatar took place in early October in extreme heat – Alex Albon even suffered a sunstroke. But in 2024 the stage was moved to late autumn – the race took place on December 1, which solved the problem. Conditions were comfortable both day and night, except for the wind.

Max Verstappen arrived in Qatar as the winner of his fourth championship title – everything was decided in the last stage in Vegas, now the intrigue was related to the winner of the constructors’ championship. Going into the weekend, McLaren led the team standings, 24 points ahead of Ferrari. Red Bull Racing failed to claim victory, losing 53 points to the leader, which could only be regained under an incredible turn of events.

The second year the stage took place with a sprint on Saturday. The forces were almost equal. In the only Friday training, Charles Leclerc showed the best time, Lando Norris won qualifying for the sprint and in the sprint Oscar Piastri received an unexpected gift from his partner in the last meters and finished first.

In the main qualifying Max Verstappen showed the best time, but the stewards fined him by losing one position at the start, giving pole to George Russell, who lost an elusive 55 thousandths in qualifying.

Russell and Verstappen started the race from the front row of the starting field, Norris and Piastri from second, Leclerc and Hamilton from third.

Pirelli brought the strongest compounds to the podium: C1, C2 and C3, labeled Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race, Hulkenberg started on Hard, the rest opted for Medium.

Returning to the pits after a lap before the start, Piastri pulled ahead of Hamilton at the pit lane entrance and crossed the white line. The stewards reviewed the incident after the race and gave Oscar a formal warning.

At the start, Verstappen and Norris were ahead of Russell. Hamilton made a false start and received a five-second time penalty.

In the first corner Ocon collided with Hulkenberg, who hit Colapinto. Two got out, Hulkenberg turned into the pits. Stroll collided with Albon in turn four and both drivers continued.

The safety car came out, it was necessary to remove the debris and evacuate the equipment.

Top ten for safety car: Verstappen – Norris – Russell – Leclerc – Piastri – Sainz – Perez – Alonso – Hamilton – Tsunoda.

The break didn’t last long; a restart was announced in the fifth round.

Verstappen retained the lead. Piastri overtook Leclerc, Tsunoda and Hamilton, ahead of Alonso. Lawson collided with Bottas and spun out at Turn 1, but continued. He was later given a 10-second penalty.

On the sixth lap, Magnussen and Gasly overtook Alonso – Fernando complained about the lack of speed on the straight.

On lap 7, Lawson passed Stroll for 17th place.

On the 8th lap, Stroll received a 10-second penalty, served it to avoid advancing to the next stage, and retired on the 10th lap.

On lap 13, Gasly passed Tsunoda for 10th place. Alonso passed on the 14th lap and Zhou passed Tsunoda on the 15th lap.

Top ten in round 15: Verstappen – Norris – Russell – Piastri – Leclerc – Sainz – Perez – Hamilton – Magnussen – Gasly.

On lap 17, Piastri left the track but continued driving.

Verstappen and Norris exchanged the best laps and gradually gained ground on their rivals. The platoon stretched out.

On lap 20, Bottas passed Tsunoda for 13th place.

On the 24th lap, Russell changed the tires – there was a problem attaching the right rear wheel.

On the 25th lap Bottas made a pit stop, on the 28th – Magnussen.

Albon’s car lost a small part, the size of a mirror, he fell off the starting line and was left stranded. The race management activated the yellow flags several times, but removed them each time.

On lap 32 Hulkenberg changed the tires.

Bottas hit a part of Albon’s car and it broke. Hamilton and Sainz picked it up and went to the pits with a flat tire.

On the 35th lap, Piastri, Sainz and Hamilton changed the tires – a problem occurred during the maintenance of Carlos’ car.

The safety car came out. Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Perez, Gasly, Russell, Alonso, Zhou, Tsunoda, Albon and Lawson changed tires.

While the debris on the straight was cleared, the safety car led the peloton through the pit lane.

Top ten for safety car: Verstappen – Norris – Leclerc – Piastri – Perez – Gasly – Russell – Sainz – Alonso – Zhou.

Before the restart, Perez stopped the car in Turn 15 due to a loss of power from the power source.

A restart was announced on the 40th lap. Norris attacked Verstappen, but Max forced him off the track and retained the lead. Russell came ahead of Gasly.

Hulkenberg went off the track and got stuck in the gravel. Yellow flags appeared and then the safety car came out. Tsunoda and Lawson made a pit stop. Norris did not immediately slow down under the yellow flags – and was given a 10 second Stop&Go.

Top ten in lap 42: Verstappen – Norris – Leclerc – Piastri – Russell – Gasly – Sainz – Alonso – Zhou – Magnussen.

A restart was announced on the 43rd lap. Albon overtook Magnussen for 10th place, forcing him off the track and receiving a 10-second time penalty. Tsunoda beat Hamilton to 13th place.

On lap 46, Norris pulled into the pits to serve his penalty and returned last. Hamilton was given a penalty for speeding in the pit lane – and served it on lap 48.

Magnussen stayed ahead of Albon in the battle for 9th place.

Top ten in lap 50: Verstappen – Leclerc – Piastri – Russell – Gasly – Sainz – Alonso – Zhou – Magnussen – Albon.

Norris overtook five others in a few laps and returned to the top ten.

On lap 55, Hamilton passed Lawson for 14th place.

In the final laps, Sainz put Gasly under pressure for a long time, but Pierre resisted.

Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix with his 63rd victory of his career and ninth of the season. Charles Leclerc finished second, Oscar Piastri climbed to the third step of the podium.

Ferrari has narrowed the gap with McLaren to 21 points; the winner of the Constructors’ Championship will be announced in the final stages of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Guanyu Zhou finished eighth and gave Sauber its first points of the season.

The 2024 season ends next week with the Abu Dhabi Race.

Race results

* George Russell was assessed a 5 second time penalty for being more than 10 car lengths behind the safety car.

Best round: Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:22.384 (56 laps, 236.798 km/h)

Reasons for the meetings

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship position: Constructors’ Championship

Team		Engine	Glasses
=	1. McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes	640
=	2. Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	619
=	3. Oracle Red Bull Racing	Honda RBPT	581
=	4. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team	Mercedes	446
=	5. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team	Mercedes	92
	6. BWT Alpine F1 Team	Renault	59
	7. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	Ferrari	54
=	8. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team	Honda RBPT	46
=	9. Williams Racing	Mercedes	17
=	10. Deploy F1 Team Kick Sauber	Ferrari	4