Max Verstappen took a masterful victory in a hugely eventful 2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, a race that featured three Safety Car appearances, numerous incidents and a penalty for Lando Norris that dropped the Briton down the order after earlier battling for the lead.
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Having lost pole position following a one-place penalty for an incident in qualifying, Verstappen looked to be in fighting mode from the off, the Dutchman winning a battle for the lead against George Russell and Norris into Turn 1.
However, it was not necessarily a straightforward drive from there, with the Safety Car appearing on the first lap after Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon were both casualties in an incident with Nico Hulkenberg.
This proved to be the first of three Safety Car outings during the 57-lap encounter – and while the second restart saw Norris run close to Verstappen in a fight for the lead, the world champion ultimately held on and remained in the position through to the chequered flag.
Norris, meanwhile, saw what looked to be a certain podium result slip away after being handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags, dropping him down the field and leaving him with a battle on his hands to claim points.
Charles Leclerc took second place, the Ferrari driver crossing the line six seconds back from Verstappen, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the podium in third. Russell was Mercedes’ sole points-scorer in fourth, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who held off Carlos Sainz to take a solid fifth for Alpine.
Sainz had to settle for sixth in the Ferrari – recovering well from an earlier puncture – with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso taking home points for Aston Martin in seventh. Zhou Guanyu, meanwhile, scored Kick Sauber’s long-awaited debut points of the season by claiming a popular eighth place, also earning him the Driver of the Day accolade.
Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas, while Norris’s recovery drive following that aforementioned penalty saw him claim the final point in 10th. Valtteri Bottas just missed out on adding to Kick Sauber’s celebrations in the 11th, with former teammate Lewis Hamilton cutting a dejected figure in the 12th after receiving two penalties during the event.
The RB pair of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were P13 and P14, respectively, with Alex Albon the last classified runner in P15 for Williams. Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg was one of five retirees, the Haas spinning out and becoming beached in the gravel, while Sergio Perez also found himself out of the running after suffering a spin of his own in the Red Bull.
Lance Stroll recorded a DNF early on, having sustained damage to his Aston Martin following contact with Albon on the opening lap. Colapinto and Ocon also saw their races end before they had begun following that first corner incident with Hulkenberg.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
As expected, this was a hectic weekend for us. In today’s race, two front left tyre punctures were in Sainz’s and Hamilton’s cars. As per procedure, we will now analyse the damaged tyres in detail and select other tyres. The telemetry data we have acquired and onboard footage from the cars will be sent to our laboratory in Milan. In addition, we will carry out all the usual checks on the stresses to which the tyres were subjected.
This track has some rather peculiar characteristics: it is very severe in terms of the energy exerted on the tyres and in terms of tread wear while not leading to a drop in performance. Clearly, this combination of factors can create a situation in which wear levels reach their limit while the teams try to lengthen the stint as much as possible to get the best possible result, and we saw that confirmed today.
In yesterday’s Sprint, in some cases, the level of wear had reached 100% on cars that had started with about one-third the fuel load they took on board for today’s start. At this track, the left front is the tyre subjected to the greatest load, and it’s no coincidence that both punctures were on this tyre. When you reach a certain level, even the smallest piece of debris can cause a situation we witnessed today.
As for the rest, the performance levels of the most used compounds – the C1 and the C2 – were very similar and, as mentioned earlier, with hardly any degradation. Therefore, the level of tyre management required was practically zero, with the drivers able to push as much as they liked, even though they were, in fact, running a one-stop strategy.
The day on the track:
All the drivers opted to start on the Medium tyre, with the exception of Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), who went for the Hard. As expected, the one-stop was the preferred choice for all teams. Apart from those drivers involved in collisions on the opening lap, who had to pit immediately, everyone tried to extend the first stint on the Mediums as much as possible, getting to over half-distance. There were a few exceptions: George Russell (Mercedes) pitted after 23 laps, Valtteri Bottas switched to the Hard on the following lap and Kevin Magnussen (Haas), pitting after 27 laps. For the rest of the field, the run of pit stops began on lap 34, with some coming in when the race was neutralised to switch to the hard tyre. Hulkenberg had already pitted to take on Mediums after lap 30.
The Safety Car made three appearances. At the last two, the chance to pit costing less time induced Williams and Racing Bulls to gamble on the Soft, but it did not pay off, as the characteristics of this track meant the C3 proved to have too much of a drop in performance.
2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 1:22:05.969 | 25 | 217 |
| 2. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +7.313s | 18 | 208 |
| 3. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | +11.906s | 15 | 259 |
| 4. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +14.283s | 12 | 319 |
| 5. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | +16.582s | 10 | 403 |
| 6. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +43.385s | 9 | 340 |
| 7. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +51.365s | 6 | 268 |
| 8. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +59.808s | 4 | 35 |
| 9. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +62.808s | 2 | 30 |
| 10. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | +63.114s | 1 | 152 |
| 11. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +69.195s | 0 | 62 |
| 12. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +69.803s | 0 | 14 |
| 13. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +74.085s | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Argentina | Williams Racing | +75.172s | 0 | 5 |
| 15. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | +84.102s | 0 | 24 |
| 16. | 30 | Liam Lawson | New Zealand | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +91.005s | 0 | 4 |
| 17. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 23 |
| 18. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 19. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | DNF | 0 | 12 |
| 20. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 26 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | McLaren Racing | 640 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 619 |
| 3. | Red Bull Racing | 581 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 446 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 92 |
| 6. | Alpine F1 Team | 59 |
| 7. | Haas F1 Team | 54 |
| 8. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 46 |
| 9. | Williams Racing | 17 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 4 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
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