Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc second and Oscar Piastri third. The race was filled with penalties and three safety cars.

Lando Norris received a ten-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under double yellow flags, George Russell received a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement, Lewis Hamilton received a five-second penalty for a false start and a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Perez, Colapinto, Stroll, Hulkenberg and Ocon all retired from the race.

Alex Albon's wing mirror fell off his car and Valtteri Bottas ran it over after they failed to bring out a safety car to retrieve it. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both ran over the debris and got punctures.

The constructors' championship battle continues in Abu Dhabi, with Ferrari and McLaren separated by 21 points. Red Bull is officially out of the fight and will finish in third place.

George Russell started on pole for the Qatar Grand Prix, inheriting the position from Max Verstappen, who received a one-place grid penalty for impeding in Qualifying. 

​All drivers started on the medium compound tyre except Nico Hulkenberg, who started on the hard tyre.

George Russell lost the lead before Turn 1 to Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris also overtaking George Russell into Turn 1.

Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon collided at Turn 1 and were both out of the race, bringing out a safety car at the end of lap one. Nico Hulkenberg also got a puncture but made it back into the pits after he lost the rear of the car and took out both Colapinto and Ocon. This incident was noted but no further investigation was given.

Alex Albon also got caught up with Lance Stroll at Turn 1 but spun and managed to get back on track.

Piastri dropped from fourth to fifth, Perez moved up to seventh, and Hamilton dropped from sixth to ninth.

The safety car came in at the end of lap four.

Max Verstappen retained the lead at the safety car restart, with Lando Norris and George Russell sticking with him.

Piastri overtook Leclerc at Turn 1 on the safety car restart on lap five, but Liam Lawson and Valtteri Bottas collided, and Liam went backwards exiting Turn 1 but rejoined the track in 18th, as did Bottas.

​Magnussen and Gasly overtook Alonso on lap six.

On lap seven, Max Verstappen managed to pull 1.5s away from Lando Norris, who was in second. Piastri was gaining on Russell, closing up to within DRS range.

Lance Stroll pitted on lap eight to serve his ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Alex Albon. Lance Stroll then pitted to retire the car on lap ten.

Alonso was noted for rejoining the track unsafely after going wide but was ruled no further investigation. Just as Hamilton was noted for a false start and later received a five-second time penalty, going slightly before the lights went out.

Magnussen and Tsunoda go wheel to wheel for ninth with Magnussen getting ahead and Tsunoda immediately under pressure from Gasly on lap 11.

Liam Lawson received a ten-second penalty for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas.

Magnussen, Tsunoda, Gasly, and Alonso were battling on track for highly coveted constructors championship points and places. Gasly got past Tsunoda on the outside for tenth.

Lando Norris chased down Verstappen to within 1.8s, setting the fastest laps. Just as Alonso also got ahead of Tsuonda for 11th, but not for long as Zhou got past Tsunoda on lap 15, who moved to 13th.

​Max Verstappen led the Grand Prix by 1.8s from Lando Norris, with George Russell a further three seconds behind him, but George was under threat with Piastri within DRS range in fourth place, but Piastri fell back after losing the rear at the final corner and going wide.

Charles Leclerc was running in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Perez in seventh, Hamilton in eighth, Magnussen in ninth and Gasly in tenth.

Valtteri Bottas went wide slightly into the gravel on lap 21, all on his own, running in 13th.

George Russell dropped to six seconds behind Lando Norris, with Piastri moving back into DRS range of Russell on lap 23, with Leclerc closing the gap behind them.

George Russell was the first to pit onto hard tyres on lap 24 from fourth. He had a very slow seven-second stop and rejoined the track in 11th, costing him three places on the track in the process.

Piastri moved up into third eight seconds behind Lando Norris in second.

Bottas was the next to pit on lap 25 onto hard tyres and came back out 18 seconds behind Lawson in 17th.

​Lando Norris moved to within 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen, setting another fastest lap. On lap 27, Piastri was 10.2 seconds behind the two front runners.

After pitting, George Russell struggled on the hard tyres, held up by Alonso. This gave the other teams valuable data for the hard tyre compound, which wasn't an advantage, with no other top runners pitting so far on lap 29. Lewis Hamilton was also struggling with his Mercedes.

Alex Albon's wing mirror fell off his car and was on the track on the start and finish straight, with teams hoping for a safety car to clear it. Valtteri Bottas hit the wing mirror on lap 34 before they had a chance to remove it.

​Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both got punctures from hitting the mirror debris on the start/finish straight. Oscar Piastri pitted to get off the main straight. Lewis Hamilton moved down into sixteenth place, with Sainz rejoining the track in 10th.

Finally, a safety car was deployed on lap 36, allowing Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, and Perez to pit under the safety car. George Russell pitted again for a second set of hard tyres and rejoined the track in seventh, but he complained that he wanted medium tyres.

Alonso, Gasly and Zhou also pit behind the safety car, with Alonso changing on another set of mediums.

The safety car went through the pit lane, as Verstappen led the Qatar Grand Prix behind the safety car, followed by Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Zhou Guanyu, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in 17th.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were allowed to un-lap themselves on lap 38. Alex Albon gambled and put on a set of soft tyres for the race restart.

​Sergio Perez lost drive and spun before the safety car restart, having to retire the car.

The safety car ended on lap 40, with Verstappen and Norris going wheel to wheel on Turn 1, but Verstappen managed to hold onto the lead.

A virtual safety car was deployed on lap 40 then another full safety car, to collect Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg who ended up in the gravel on his own.

Lando Norris was investigated for failing to slow under double yellow flags and received a ten-second stop/go penalty.

The safety car ended on lap 43, with the pack closed up, but this time, Verstappen got going as Lando Norris went to the inside to try to defend his position against Leclerc.

​After the safety car restart on lap 43, Verstappen led the race, followed by Norris 0.7s behind him, with Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Gasly, Sainz, Alonso, Zhou, Albon, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsuonda, Hamilton, and Lawson.

Hulkenberg, Perez, Stroll, Ocon and Colapinto were all out of the race.

Lando Norris headed into the pit lane from second on lap 46 to serve his stop/go penalty and rejoined the track in 15th and last in the race.

Moving Leclerc into second place, Piastri in third and Russell in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton also received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. He served his penalty and rejoined the track in 15th behind Lando Norris. Lewis said on the radio that he wanted to park the car.

Further back, Gasly was fifth, Sainz sixth, Alonso seventh, Zhou eighth, Albon ninth, and Magnussen tenth. Albon, Tsunoda, and Lawson were running on soft tyres.

On lap 51, Lando Norris overtook Liam Lawson as he fought his way through the field, lapping three seconds faster than the cars around him. Norris overtook Tsunoda on the start/finish straight.

Bottas and Albon battled for tenth place and the last points position with five laps to go. Further ahead, Sainz and Gasly battled for fifth place.

Bottas overtook Albon on lap 53, but Norris was right behind them and overtook Albon for 11th. As Albon received a ten-second penalty for causing a collision.

Norris overtook Bottas on lap 54 for tenth place, with Zhou running in eighth position and on track for his first points of the season.

Max Verstappen had the lead over Charles Leclerc by six seconds, with Piastri behind him and Russell in fourth.

Albon pitted on lap 56 as Hamilton moved into 12th place. George Russell received a five-second time penalty for a safety car infringement but stayed in fourth.

Max Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc in second and Oscar Piastri in third - the constructors' championship heads to Abu Dhabi between McLaren and Ferrari.

1) Max Verstappen
2) Charles Leclerc     +6.031
3) Oscar Piastri          +6.819
4) George Russell      +14.104
5) Pierre Gasly           +16.782
6) Carlos Sainz          +17.476
7) Fernando Alonso   +19.867
8) Zhou Guanyu         +25.360
9) Kevin Magnussen. +32.177
10) Lando Norris        +35.762
11) Valtteri Bottas       +50.243
12) Lewis Hamilton    +56.122
13) Yuki Tsunoda       +61.100
14) Liam Lawson       +62.656
15) Alex Albon            +1 Lap
DNF Nico Hulkenberg
DNF Sergio Perez
DNF Lance Stroll
​DNF Franco Colapinto
​DNF Esteban Ocon

Max Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix for the second year running in the Red Bull, he 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.

“I’m very happy it’s been a long while in the drive and to be this competitive and I’m very proud of everyone in the team to turn it around within a day so they definitely deserve this victory.” On the safety cars: “On the hard tyres there’s very little grip, you just come out of the box and it was already called and immediately we had the safety car and behind the safety car you can’t warm them up.

​“I tried something different out of the last corner where I had no rear grip basically so I just struggled for traction out of the corner and it got a bit spicy into Turn One, but I think that’s great to see and after that we drove it until the end with good pace, so I’m happy to win here.”

​On the potential performance of the last race: “It’s difficult to say, the last three years we’ve always been quite competitive there [Abu Dhabi] so I hope we can be competitive there again but we will pay attention to detail to try and optimise the car and hopefully we can fight for a win there again.”

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

George Russell inherited Pole Position for the Qatar Grand Prix, after Max Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slow on his cool-down lap in qualifying. Max will line up second on the grid with Lando Norris in third.
​
Oscar Piastri will start fourth after his Sprint race win, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Alonso, Perez, and Magnussen, rounding out the top ten.

Earlier, Oscar Piastri won the Qatar Sprint race, followed by Lando Norris in second place and George Russell in third.

Drivers Championship winner Max Verstappen finished the Sprint race in 8th position. In a race that saw McLaren play the team game, Lando Norris kept Oscar Piastri in DRS range for the whole 19 laps to keep George Russell behind them both.

Lando Norris started on pole for the Qatar Sprint race, while further back, Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez both started from the pit lane after setup changes during Parc Ferme.

​The Sprint race was 19 laps with no mandatory pit stops and eight points up for grabs. All the drivers started on the medium compound tyres except Zhou who started on soft tyres.

Lando Norris retained the lead into Turn 1 as Oscar Piastri overtook George Russell at the race start. Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake Charles Leclerc.

Further behind, Max Verstappen dropped back to ninth, and Liam Lawson dropped back from 10th to 16th.

Franco Colapinto overtook Sergio Perez out of the pit lane at the race start after Sergio had a slow start out of the pit lane, in which it seemed he failed to react to the green light.

By lap two, Lando Norris had pulled ahead of his teammate by 1.2s, with George Russell in third, Carlos Sainz in fourth and Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

George Russell closed down and tried to go down the inside of Oscar Piastri in Turn 1, but Piastri retained second place. George Russell stayed with Oscar Piastri, and Lando Norris slowed down to help Piastri stay ahead, giving him DRS.

​Behind the top three, Carlos Sainz was under threat from Lewis Hamilton, who had DRS behind him with 2.5s covering the top five.

Further behind, Verstappen was within DRS range of Pierre Gasly for eight place, but Verstappen managed to overtake Pierre Gasly into Turn 1 on lap eight.

​Zhou on soft tyres was running 3.5s slower than the rest of the field running in 20th and had to pit on lap 11 for medium tyres.

With ten laps to go, the top four were stuck in a DRS train. Hamilton was not that far behind the top four, and Charles Leclerc was within the DRS range of Hamilton in sixth.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton go wheel to wheel for a number of corners, but Leclerc managed to get past Hamilton after finding a way through after some great racing from the both of them.

Piastri found himself under pressure from Russell after losing DRS from Norris, with Sainz closing in on the back of the both of them.

Lando Norris continued to help Oscar with five laps to go but Norris complained about his front tyres.

Sergio Perez pitted on lap 15 to change his front wing and play with his setup in preparation for tomorrow's race after failing to overtake a single car in the race. His teammate Verstappen struggled to close the 1.6-second gap to Hulkenberg in seventh place.

On the final corner, Lando Norris pulled to the inside and slowed out of the final corner, allowing Oscar Piastri to win the Qatar Sprint race by 0.136 seconds as he came past.

Top Eight Finishers
1) Oscar Piastri 
2) Lando Norris           +0.136
3) George Russell       +0.410
4) Carlos Sainz           +1.326
5) Charles Leclerc       +5.073
6) Lewis Hamilton        +5.650
7) Nico Hulkenberg      +8.508
8) Max Verstappen      +10.368

Out In Q1
16) Alex Albon
17) Liam Lawson
18) Nico Hulkenberg
19) Franco Colapinto
20) Esteban Ocon

George Russell was first out on track on a set of medium tyres, scrubbing them for tomorrow's race before changing to soft tyres.

The drivers quickly headed out onto the track in the first qualifying session.

Stroll and Alonso set the fastest laps of the session, followed by Bottas, Colapinto, and Zhou with 13 minutes left in the session, as other drivers had yet to set lap times.

Colapinto, Albon and Magnussen all have track times deleted for track limits as Verstappen sets a lap time of 1m 21.713s, followed by Norris 0.3s behind.

With ten minutes to go, Zhou, Lawson, Colapinto, Gasly, and Ocon were in the bottom five, with George Russell topping the timesheets ahead of Lando Norris by 0.059s.

​Oscar took a little dip into the gravel with one of his tyres, as the times were so close at the bottom of the timesheet.

Norris's lap time was deleted for track limits, but he had the fourth fastest time, so he was safely through to Q2.

George Russell tops the timesheet with a 1m 21.241, with Alex Albon, Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon were out of qualifying.

Out in Q2
11) Pierre Gasly
12) Zhou Guanyu
13) Valtteri Bottas
14) Yuki Tsunoda
15) Lance Stroll

The drivers lined up at the end of the pit lane for Q2, eager to get out on track and avoid traffic.

​George Russell was the first driver to set a lap time in Q2, with a time of 1m 21.161, one-tenth faster than his time from Q1. Piastri went into second place, followed by Leclerc, Sainz, and Hamilton - the only drivers to set a lap time with over 11 minutes to go.

With ten minutes to go, Magnussen, Gasly, Alonso, Stroll, and Tsunoda were in the bottom five, with Verstappen at the top with a lap time of 1m 21.085.

Perez took a trip into the gravel on a flying lap and remained in fifth place.

Sainz was noted and investigated after the session for an unsafe release too close to Hamilton in the pit lane.

With five minutes to go, Bottas, Zhou, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Alonso were in the bottom five. Alonso had no lap time set, as Verstappen went fastest with a 1m 21.049 lap time.

Verstappen goes quickest in Q2 with a 1m 20.687, with Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda and Stroll out in Q2.

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen     1m 20.520
2) George Russell        +0.055
3) Lando Norris            +0.252
4) Oscar Piastri            +0.309
5) Charles Leclerc        +0.332
6) Lewis Hamilton        +0.491
7) Carlos Sainz            +0.521
8) Fernando Alonso     +0.731
9) Sergio Perez            +0.905
10) Kevin Magnussen  +0.980

Red Bull found some pace from the Sprint race, with both Verstappen and Perez making it into Q3.

All drivers except Verstappen and Norris were out at the start of the session.
Perez, Alonso, and Magnussen only had one set of new tyres available for the session, but they were all out on used tyres at the start of the session.

Magnussen was the first to set a lap time on a set of used soft tyres. Alonso's first lap time, which was third on the timesheet, was deleted for track limits.

George Russell set a lap time of 1m 20.575 to top the timesheet, with Norris heading slightly into the gravel on his first flying lap.

With five minutes to go, Verstappen goes second fastest behind George Russell, with Leclerc in third place.

Norris had yet to set a lap time with just over three minutes to go in the session.

Carlos Sainz was the first to cross the line with the checkered flag but only managed fourth. Leclerc went fifth, Lando Norris only managed third, and Verstappen went fastest with a lap time of 1m 20.520.

An incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell was investigated after the race and Max received a one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly around the track, giving pole position to George Russell.

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

Lando Norris will start on Pole for tomorrow's Sprint race, followed by George Russell in P2 and Oscar Piastri in P3.

Sainz will start the Sprint race in fourth, followed by Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Gasly, Hulkenberg and Lawson rounding out the top ten.

Sergio Perez and Tsunoda failed to make it out of SQ1. Aston Martins, Valtteri Bottas, and Alex Albon also failed to make it through to SQ3.

Charles Leclerc topped the only Free Practice of the weekend in an uneventful Free Practice One session.

Top 10 Results
1) Charles Leclerc           1m 21.953
2) Lando Norris                 +0.425
3) Oscar Piastri                 +0.472
4) Carlos Sainz                 +0.582
5) Yuki Tsunoda                +1.091
6) Valtteri Bottas               +1.111
7) Lance Stroll                   +1.146
8) George Russell             +1.207
9) Alex Albon                     +1.208
10) Lewis Hamilton           +1.235

With the Qatar Grand Prix being a Sprint weekend, Free Practice One is the only practice session of the weekend.

The temperature and track temperature were much cooler than last year's hot and humid race.

The session started with most drivers on track, making the most of the limited running time during the weekend. The drivers took to the track on a mixture of hard and medium tyre compounds.

A third of the way into the session, Charles Leclerc set a time of 1m 23.702s on a set of hard tyres, putting him a couple of tenths clear of Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and George Russell.

A few runs later, Lando Norris was on a very fast lap on a set of medium tyres but had an unfortunate slide into Turn 10, and Piastri also had a moment at Turn 15.

With ten minutes to go, the drivers headed out on the soft compound tyres, with all changes at the top of the leaderboard. However, Leclerc remained at the top with a 1m 21.953s lap, ahead of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Alex Albon, and Lewis Hamilton, rounding out the top ten.

Out In SQ1
16) Sergio Perez
17) Yuki Tsunoda
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Zhou Guanyu
20) Franco Colapinto

The Ferrari, Haas, Williams, Alpine, Verstappen and Sauber drivers were first out on track for SQ1. All the drivers were running medium tyre compounds as required for the first session.

Norris set his first lap time and went immediately to the top of the timesheet with a lap time of 1m 22.785, followed by George Russell, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

With five minutes to go Ocon, Albon, Perez, Colapinto and Lawson were in the bottom three.

Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen were in the top three with three and half minutes to go, but with two minutes to go it was all change at the top and the bottom.

Lando Norris tops the timesheets for SQ1, followed by Sainz and Russell.​ Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto were knocked out in SQ1.

Out In SQ2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Alex Albon
13) Valtteri Bottas
14) Lance Stroll
15) Kevin Magnussen

Both Haas, McLaren, Aston Martin and RB drivers Lawson and Alex Albon were all out on the track at the very start of SQ2, running once again on medium tyres.

Verstappen set an early fastest lap time with a time of 1m 22.188s, but it was quickly beaten by Charles Leclerc by 0.058s.

With five minutes to go, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, and Valtteri Bottas had yet to set a lap time and were in the bottom five, along with Liam Lawson.

George Russell heads to the top of the timesheet with a 1m 21.488 as Oscar Piastri gets a lap time deleted for track limits. Lando Norris takes the lead with a lap time of 1m 21.231 with two minutes to go in SQ2.

With less than two minutes to go, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Piastri, and Magnussen were in the bottom five.

​Lando Norris tops the timesheets for the second session in a row, followed by Russell and Piastri. Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll and Magnussen get knocked out in SQ2.

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Lando Norris      1m 21.012
2) George Russell    +0.063
3) Oscar Piastri        +0.159
4) Carlos Sainz        +0.269
5) Charles Leclerc    +0.296
6) Max Verstappen    +0.303
7) Lewis Hamilton     +0.462
8) Pierre Gasly          +0.966
9) Nico Hulkenberg   +1.076
10) Liam Lawson      +1.565

With a mix of drivers opting to stay in the garage and heading out onto the track at the start of the session, with Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly and Lawson heading out onto the track first.

Leclerc was the first to set a lapt time with a time of 1m 21.705s, followed by Gasly, Lawson, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen and Sainz.

The ten drivers were all out on track for the whole session, with just quick pit stops of wing adjustments or to make space on track.

Lando Norris aborts his final lap heading into the pits but he was on provisional pole at the time.

Lando Norris take Pole Position for the Qatar Sprint race, followed by George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Lando Norris, who secured sprint pole said: "It is tough here because it is so quick. It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. The final sector feels like you are hanging on.

"But great qualifying today, especially to bounce back from where we were in Vegas.

"We came here to get pole and we got that so job done for today."

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

The Qatar Grand Prix is back for its third Grand Prix, this time as the penultimate race of the season, moved until the end of November/December to reduce the temperature for the drivers on track after last year's race.

Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive Drivers World Championship last weekend in Las Vegas after having won the title in the Qatar Sprint race last year.

With the Drivers Championship title sealed this weekend is all about the Constructions Championship title, with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all in the battle for the top three places.

The Qatar Grand Prix is holding the last Sprint race of the season, with even more points up for grabs than usual.

F2 and F1 Academy are also both racing at Lusail this weekend. 

Friday
F1 Academy
Free Practice One     10:00 (GMT)
Free Practice Two     15:00 (GMT)
​
F2 
Free Practice              11:05 (GMT)
Qualifying                   16:10 (GMT)

F1
Free Practice One       13:30 (GMT)
Sprint Qualifying          17:30 (GMT)

Saturday
F1 Academy
Qualifying                   12:20 (GMT)
Race One                   20:05 (GMT)

F2
Sprint Race                16:20 (GMT)

F1
Sprint Race                 14:00 (GMT)
Qualifying                    18:00 (GMT)

Sunday
F1 Academy
Race Two                    11:00 (GMT)

F2
Feature Race              12:20 (GMT)  

F1
Race                           16:00 ​(GMT)

2021
Qualifying - 
                 1 HAM 1.20.827
                 2 VER 1.21.424
                 3 BOT 1.21.478
Race Result - 
                    1 HAM (2 stop)
                    2 VER (3 stop)
                    3 ALO (1 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1.23.196  Verstappen Lap 57   
     
2023
Qualifying -
                  1 VER 1.23.778
                  2 RUS 1.24.219
                  3 HAM 1.24.305
Race -
                 1 VER (3 stop)
                 2 PIA (3 stop)
                 3 NOR (3 stop) 
Fastest Lap - 1.24.319 Verstappen Lap 56

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

George Russell wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton in second and Carlos Sainz in third.

Max Verstappen wins his fourth consecutive Drivers World Championship finishing ahead of Lando Norris in fifth place.

In a race filled with overtakes, two pit stops and two cars retiring with power unit issues, the Las Vegas Grand Prix had a bit of everything.

George Russell started on Pole for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

At the start of the race, all the drivers started on medium tyres, except Alonso, who started on soft tyres, and Perez, Bottas, and Colapinto, who started on hard tyres.

George Russell managed to hold the race lead into Turn 1 after a very short run up to the first corner, as Leclerc got past Sainz and moved into second place, dropping Sainz to third.

On the first lap, Lawson and Magnussen battled side by side for the majority of the lap. Verstappen used DRS to pass Gasly and put a car between him and Lando Norris.

Leclerc and Russell battle for the race lead on lap five, almost coming together, but Russell held onto the lead.

Alonso pitted first on lap five, switching from his soft tyres to hard tyres, a bold choice of tyre for the start from Aston Martin. Maybe they hoped for an early safety car.

Oscar Piastri was noted for a false start, then investigated and given a five-second time penalty.

Leclerc battled Russell for the race lead, but by lap nine, he had been overtaken by his teammate Sainz and Verstappen. Leclerc dropped to fourth, perhaps overcooking his tyres battling Russell. Norris overtakes Gasly and moves into fifth.

​Leclerc pits on lap nine and returns as Norris, Stroll, and Albon pit for hard tyres. Leclerc comes back out in 16th, with Norris in 17th.

Piastri, Sainz, Gssly, and Tsunoda also pitted on lap 11. Piastri served his five-second time penalty. Verstappen came into the pits on lap 11 and came back out in sixth, in front of Sainz, Leclerc, and Norris.

Russell was still in the lead of the Grand Prix, followed by Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Perez, and Magnussen. Russell had a 15-second gap over the rest of the field as he pitted on lap 13. Coming back out in second, Russell gave Hamilton the race lead by over five seconds.

​Ocon pitted but missed his pit box. He had to leave the pit lane and do another racing lap before pitting again, as Tsunoda hit a bollard at the end of the pit lane.

After all the pit stops, on lap 15, Russell was leading the race with a 5.6-second gap to Perez, who hadn't pitted but started on hard tyres. Verstappen was racing in fourth, followed by Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Gasly, Alonso, Piastri, Albon, Hulkenberg, Zhou, Lawson, Ocon, and Stroll.

On lap 16, Gasly's car started smoking after he reported no power. He managed to get back to the pit lane but had to retire his car.

Verstappen and Sainz overtook Perez, just as Hamilton set the fastest lap and overtook Norris for sixth. Perez pitted from his hard tyres to medium tyres, not giving good signs for the rest of the field after not even 20 laps on his hard tyres.

​On lap 22, Russell held the lap from Verstappen by almost ten seconds, with Sainz two seconds behind Verstappen and Leclerc two seconds behind him. Hamilton was all over the back of Leclerc's gearbox, waiting for an opportunity as Hamilton continued to set the fastest laps.

Norris and Piastri were both struggling, with Norris sitting in six and Piastri in eight, both complaining about lack of speed and wanting to pit again.

Further behind, Hulkenberg overtook Albon on lap 23 for ninth place, with Zhou overtaking Alonso and moving up into 11th. Perez and Lawson meet again on track, but this time, Perez has the upper hand and easily overtakes Lawson, moving up into 12th place.

Piastri pitted again on lap 26 for another set of hard tyres, as Albon is called into the pits to retire his car due to a power unit issue.

Russell was still out in front leading but over 11 seconds, with Leclerc, Sainz and Hamilton further behind only covered by just two seconds.

Verstappen was called to pit on lap 27, but called it off at the last moment leaving the Championship leader out in second.

Verstappen and Hamilton both pit on lap 28, coming back out in fifth and sixth, with Sainz going over the solid white line of the pit entry before Ferrari made a very late call and he stayed out. Sainz pits on lap 29 and this time his team were ready, he returned to the track three seconds behind Hamilton.

Russell was leading by over 15 seconds on lap 30, with Leclerc in second, Norris in third, 12 seconds behind them, and Verstappen having to defend from Hamilton behind in fourth.

Ocon came over the radio and said he got hit by Lawson. Norris pits for a second time on lap 31 and rejoins the track in seventh, over six seconds behind Hulkenberg.

Lewis Hamilton overtook Verstappen on the back straight moving into second for a Mercedes 1-2, as Leclerc pitted for a second time, coming back out in fifth place.

George Russell with a 32 second gap, pitted on lap 33 and stays in the lead of the race over his teammate by 12 seconds. Perez pitted for the third time and rejoins the track in 15th place.

Franco Colapinto passes Bottas for 16th place after his 50G crash in qualifying. Hulkenberg pitted on lap 34 from sixth place on the grid with a great tyre offset from the cars around him, rejoining in 12th.

Hamilton took a second out of George Russell's lead on one lap closing the gap to nine seconds. With Verstappen in third, Sainz in fourth, Leclerc in fifth, Norris in sixth, Piastri in seventh, Tsunoda in eight, Ocon in ninth and Lawson in tenth.

Perez moved up into 12th place, overtaking Lawson and Magnussen on the corner of Turn 14, somehow they all got through cleanly.

With ten laps to go Russell was leading the race with Hamilton just over seven seconds behind him. Verstappen was running in third, but was under pressure from not one but two Ferraris behind him, with Sainz being within DRS range of Verstappen.

Norris was running thirteen seconds behind Leclerc and Piastri fourteen seconds behind him in seventh.

​Sainz overtook Verstappen on lap 42 but Verstappen was quickly under pressure from Leclerc. Hamilton was down to 5.8 seconds behind Russell, taking out a good chunk of time from his team mate.

​With five laps to go Russell was in the lead of the race, with Hamilton 5.2 seconds behind, Sainz nine seconds behind them, Verstappen with DRS range of Sainz. Leclerc within DRS range of him, Norris was ten seconds behind them in sixth, with Piastri a further 19 seconds behind him.

Followed by Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Alonso rounding out the top ten and the points places. Perez was running in eleventh, with Magnussen, Colapinto, Ocon, Zhou, Lawson and Bottas rounding out the drivers still running in the race.

Hulkenberg overtook Tsunoda for eight at Turn 14, crucial for the Constructors Championship fight.

Leclerc overtook Verstappen for fourth place on lap 47, with Norris ten seconds behind him in sixth.

Hamilton cuts the corner and drops to six seconds behind Russell, as he complains his tyres have gone.

With Verstappen just three seconds away from becoming a four-time world champion, Norris pits for fastest lap moving onto soft tyres.

George Russell wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton making it a Mercedes 1-2. Carlos Sainz finishes in third and Lando Norris takes the point for the fastest lap.

Max Verstappen wins his fourth Drivers Championship in row with Red Bull!

Mercedes’ George Russell wins his third race of his career, he said: “It’s going to be a good party, I was planning on flying in a couple of hours but I’m definitely not getting on that flight. I’m going to enjoy this evening with all my team.

“It’s been a dream of a weekend I don’t know how we’ve been so quick but I’m just riding this wave right now.”

On driving at night in Las Vegas: “Vegas is just crazy place and when you’re driving and you see all of this in the background, I can’t describe this place and to get victory here, pole position and a dominant weekend, one-two with Lewis as well, we couldn’t have chosen a better place to make this happen.”

On the race itself: “I was just waiting for something to happen, the two races I’ve been on pole before it’s always been chaos, rain, dry, always something happening, last race in Brazil with the red flag there is always something happening. “I was feeling confident and I had a good gap but I was just waiting for something to happen and it didn’t, so I guess luck has turned and I’m so happy right now.”
​
Max Verstappen on winning his fourth consecutive world championship: "It’s been a long season, we start off amazing and we were cruising but then we had a tough run as a team but we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone what they have done for me.

​"To stand here as a four-time world champion is something I never thought was possible. At the moment I’m feeling relieved but also very proud.”

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

George Russell takes Pole Position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix with his third Pole Position of the season. George is followed by Carlos Sainz in P2 and Pierre Gasly in P3.

Charles Leclerc will start ahead of both Red Bulls and McLarens, with the potential for Ferrari to come away with a good number of Constructor Championship points.

In the Drivers Championship points, crucially, Max Verstappen will start P5, with Lando Norris just behind him in P6.

​Max Verstappen will take the Drivers Championship win if he finishes above Norris this weekend or if both drivers fail to score a point. Verstappen would also be crowned the 2024 drivers champion if Norris doesn't outscore him by more than two points.

Sergio Perez will start the race in P16 after failing to make it out of Q1, as Zhou and Colapinto both made it through to Q2.

Franco Colapinto had a huge crash on his final flying lap of Q2, causing a delay in Q3 and more damage and repair work for the Williams Team.​

Top 10 Results
1) George Russell       1:33.570
2) Oscar Piastri            +0.215
3) Carlos Sainz            +0.348
4) Lando Norris            +0.438
5) Max Verstappen       +0.567
6) Lewis Hamilton         +0.771
7) Alex Albon                 +0.837
8) Franco Colapinto       +1.153
9) Kevin Magnussen     +1.313
10) Pierre Gasly            +1.355

With slippery and cold conditions, drivers were quick to emerge on the track and get some track running in.

​Twenty minutes into the session, only Perez and Verstappen had set times on the medium tyres, but that didn't last long as Norris and Piastri changed onto soft tyres and headed to the top.

With 30 minutes to go, every driver had set times on soft tyres, except Verstappen and Perez, with Magnussen topping the timesheet with a 1:34.883 lap time.

Mercedes went for another soft tyre run to the top of the timesheets with a 1:34.475 for Russell and 1:34.341. Verstappen put on a set of soft tyres and set a lap time of 1:34.137.

With seven minutes to go, Lance Stroll's car stopped on track due to a power issue, bringing out the Red Flag and ending the session early.

Out in Q1
16) Sergio Perez
17) Fernando Alonso
18) Alex Albon
19) Valtteri Bottas
20) Lance Stroll

Aston Martin was still working on Lance Stroll's car during Q1 after his car stopped at the end of Free Practice Three. He made it out onto the track with less than two minutes to go.

Russell was the first driver out on the track on the medium tyre but only to scrub them, followed by ten other drivers with lots of preparation laps.

The Saubers and Perez were the first to set timed laps. McLaren was the first to set timed laps ahead of Mercedes by 0.180. Verstappen could only manage fifth in his first flying lap three tenths off the pace.

Magnussen and Hulkenberg only joined the other drivers on track with seven and a half minutes to go.

With two minutes to go, Verstappen topped the timesheet. Meanwhile, his teammate was down in the drop zone in P18, along with Bottas, Colapinto, Lawson, and Stroll.

​Both Colapinto and Zhou make it through to Q2.

Out in Q2
11) Esteban Ocon
12) Kevin Magnussen
13) Zhou Guanyu
14) Franco Colapinto
15) Liam Lawson

Verstappen was the first out on track for Q2, followed by the Mercedes drivers.

A fired-up Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet with ten minutes to go, and a lap of 1:33.136 was followed by Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.

With seven minutes to go, Ocon, Lawson, Zhou, Sainz, and Leclerc, with both Ferraris, still needed to set a time.

Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton battle it out of the top of the sheet, with Leclerc going third fastest in his first flying lap.

​With two minutes to go, Gasly, Colapinto, Ocon, Lawson, and Zhou were in the bottom five.

​Colapinto clipped the wall on the inside and had a huge crash at Turn 16 of his flying lap, ending the session and causing more damage for the Williams Team.

Starting Top 10
1) George Russell       1:32.312
2) Carlos Sainz             +0.098
3) Pierre Gasly              +0.352
4) Charles Leclerc         +0.471
5) Max Verstappen        +0.485
6) Lando Norris             +0.696
7) Yuki Tsunoda             +0.717
8) Oscar Piastri              +0.721
9) Nico Hulkenberg        +0.750
10) Lewis Hamilton        +15.794

The start of Q3 was delayed after Franco Colapinto crashed at the end of Q2.

Drivers started lining up at the end of the pit lane as the countdown began to the start of the session, with Verstappen leading the drivers out.

Oscar Piastri was the first to set a lap time but was quickly beaten by Norris with a 1:33.237, but doesn't last long with Sainz posting a 1:33.022 lap time. George Russell increased the lead even further with a 1:32.811.

Lewis Hamilton locks up and abandons his first flying lap after locking up and headed back into the garage.

Gasly brushed the wall but his car was checked over and was deemed ok., as George Russell does the same thing and the team changed his front wing.

George Russell takes Pole Position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz in second, Pierre Gasly in third, followed by Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen rounding out the top five.

​​George Russell takes his third pole of the season in his Mercedes, he said: “Honestly absolutely not [think we would have that pace], it’s incredible to be back on pole, we’ve been so quick all weekend and I just knew coming in to the last Q3 lap it’s going to be the one that counts, it doesn’t matter what has happened before then.

​“I had a bit of a moment in my first run and we had to change the front wing so for a moment I didn’t think we were going to make the flag but I’m just so happy. We’ve got to do some deep dive to understand why it’s been so quick so far this weekend because it’s a real surprise.”

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets for Free Practice One and Two in Las Vegas on Thursday night. George Russell and Lando Norris finished second and third in both sessions, just switching the order - for the second all-British top three of the day.

Drivers used both sessions to get a feel of the cool and slippery track, with numerous drivers going wide on the corners and briefly leaving the track.

Alex Albon brought out the only Red Flag of the two sessions after a previous fuel system problem left him in the garage for a considerable time in Free Practice Two. When he did get back on track, his Williams stopped and had to be removed.

Meanwhile, further back in the field, Valtteri Bottas will receive a five-place grid penalty for a new power unit component.

Top 10 Results
1) Lewis Hamilton     1:35.001
2) George Russell      +0.396
3) Lando Norris          +0.953
4) Charles Leclerc      +1.006
5) Max Verstappen     +1.037
6) Carlos Sainz           +1.217
7) Fernando Alonso    +1.262
8) Oscar Piastri           +1.450
9) Pierre Gasly           +1.477
10) Sergio Perez         +1.535

Free Practice One started at 18:30 Las Vegas time on Thursday evening, with drivers heading out onto the track immediately to feel the track's grip levels.

The first part of the session brought plenty of slips and slides in the cool and slippery track conditions. Drivers struggled to stay on track, especially at Turn 14, with both Verstappen and Norris taking to the run-off area early in the session.

Drivers struggled to see the white line at the pit entry, with lots of other lines and dirt on the track. Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were both noted for failing to follow the Race Director's instructions and for crossing the white line at the pit entry.

At the halfway point, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet ahead of his teammate Russell and Norris in third. Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Piastri and Gasly followed this.

Hamilton increased his lead with a lap time 1:35.001 to finish four-tenths ahead of Russell in second, with Norris rounding out the top three.

Top 10 Results
1) Lewis Hamilton       1:33.825
2) Lando Norris             +0.011
3) George Russell         +0.190
4) Carlos Sainz              +0.280
5) Charles Leclerc         +0.488
6) Pierre Gasly              +0.826
7) Kevin Magnussen     +0.861
8) Oscar Piastri              +0.973
9) Nico Hulkenberg       +0.993
10) Yuki Tsunoda          +1.172

Starting at 22:00 Thursday night, Las Vegas time, Free Practice Two again saw drivers leaving the track and briefly raising yellow flags as the even colder conditions got the better of their breaks with the long Las Vegas Strip straight.

Lewis Hamilton again topped the session with a 1:33.825 lap on soft tyres, followed by Lando Norris and George Russell for the second all-British top three of the day.

Alex Albon briefly brought out the only Red Flag of the session after a previous fuel system problem left him in the garage for a considerable time. When he did get back on track, his Williams stopped and had to be removed, and he didn't participate in the session further.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc also had a number of runs on soft tyres and finished the session in fourth and fifth place behind the Brits. Pierre Gasly finished in sixth place after a great session for Alpine.

Haas drivers also ended the session in the top ten, as did Yuki Tsunoda in his RB. Further back, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished the session in 17th and 19th after the Red Flag interrupted their soft tyre compound running.

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

The Las Vegas Grand Prix is back for its second running. After last year's drama during the practice sessions, organisers hope improvements have been made for smoother running this year.

Filled with glitz, glamour, celebrities, and everything Las Vegas, this year's Grand Prix could be the race in which Max Verstappen wins the championship for a fourth time, with just 86 points between him and Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen will take the championship if he finishes above Norris this weekend or if both drivers fail to score a point. Verstappen would also be crowned the 2024 drivers champion if Norris doesn't outscore him by more than two points.

This weekend, the race takes place on Saturday night (Las Vegas time) at 6am GMT. This means that Free Practice One and Two will take place on Thursday in Vegas, and Free Practice Three and Qualifying will take place on Friday.

Stars and celebrities are expected to be out in full force with the city, hotels and teams holding events and activations all around the city.

Alpine, RB and Sauber have all launched special liveries for the weekend.

Friday
Free Practice One       02:30am (GMT)
Free Practice Two.      06:00am (GMT)

Saturday
Free Practice Three    02:30am (GMT)
Qualifying                    06:00am (GMT)

Sunday
Race                           06:00am ​(GMT)

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

Sauber have announced on Wednesday, that Brazilian Formula 2 driver, Gabriel Bortoleto, has signed with the team to join them from the 2025 Formula 1 season onwards.

Brotoleto will graduate from Formula 2, a championship he is currently leading with two rounds to go, and will partner Nico Hulkenberg in 2025 and 2026 when Sauber transitions into becoming the Audi F1 Team from 2026, when the new regulations are set to come in.

The 20-year old will become the first Brazilian full-time Formula 1 driver since Felipe Massa in 2017, as he would end his career that season with the Williams Racing outfit. In 2025, that will put an end to the seven-year drought.

Bortoleto has joined Jack Doohan, Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in being confirmed rookies for 2025 with Liam Lawson the favourite to make it five rookies at Visa RB next year. There is a possibility that the rookies on the 2025 grid could rise to six if Red Bull feel they must let already contracted Sergio Perez go. The door could open for Isack Hadjar, with Lawson likely to be Perez's replacement should he be let go by the Milton-Keynes based team.

Hadjar and Bortoleto are the two front runners for the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship title with Bortoleto having the championship lead by 4.5 points ahead of the two final rounds of the season.

Speaking to Sauber's media, in the announcement article of his signing, Bortoleto said: "This is one of the most exciting prospects in motorsport, if not in all of sports. Joining a team that combines the rich motorsport history of Sauber and Audi is a true honour. 

"Beyond simply being a member, I am to grow with this ambitious project and reach the pinnacle of motorsport. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity given to me by the team and be given the chance to work alongside an experienced driver like Nico [Hulkenberg]."

Kick Sauber and Formula 1 announced the signing of Bortoleto on Wednesday morning, which would also signify the end of Valtteri Bottas' and Zhou Guanyu's tenure with the team having both had three full seasons there each.

Bottas is without a seat for the first time since he made his Formula 1 debut back in march 2013 and he has had quite the Formula career to date. Hi teammate Zhou Guanyu will also be without a drive for 2025 as he bows out after three seasons. In that time, Zhou made history as he became the first ever Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix driver.

Prior to announcing the signing of Bortoleto, Kick Sauber would confirm Bottas and Zhou would be parting ways with the team at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season. 

On social media, Sauber said: "After open and constructive discussions with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, we mutually concluded that conditions to continue together would not be met so we agreed that it is time to part ways.

"We would like to thank both for the contribution they have made to the team in the last three years. They have been the embodiment of professionalism, using their experience and enthusiasm to support our growth."

Bortoleto is a driver who has come on leaps and bounds in previous years gone by and in 2023 won the FIA Formula 3 Championship and in 2024, he has a slim margin in the lead of the FIA Formula 2 Championship with his racecraft having really shone as well as his consistency.

Bortoleto will partner Hulkenberg for 2025 and 2026 with his debut Formula 1 Grand Prix set to come for him at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, which is the opening round of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

He will become the first Brazilian driver since Felipe Massa in 2017 to be a full-time member of the Formula 1 grid.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

In what could be a championship-defining drive, from Max Verstappen as he won a rain-soaked 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid - on Sunday afternoon.

It was a rain-soaked race that saw five retirements, a red flag, a safety car and a virtual safety car which presented many strategical challenges for teams and drivers as they had to try and adapt and suffer set backs.

Verstappen was a class above the rest and was able to take victory by almost 20 seconds by the time he took the chequered flag. The reigning world champion and championship leader won with red Bull ahead of the two Alpine drivers in a stunning drive from their lineup.

Esteban Ocon would finish second after leading a large portion of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with his teammate Pierre Gasly coming home in third for Alpine. The Endstone-based Alpine team have scored a double podium and have managed to leap from ninth in the Constructors championship to sixth, which could give them $50 million dollars worth of extra cash, which could help them a tonne.

Lando Norris would end up finishing sixth in the provisional classification after a nightmare with strategy and after losing the race start at the very start to George Russell. Norris could be penalised after the Grand Prix following an aborted start infringement.

Lance Stroll caused the aborted start after crashing and then beaching the car on the first of three formation laps. Alex Albon was withdrawn after too much damage was sustained in qualifying. Elsewhere, Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz also retired from the race after crashing while Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified.

The gap in the championship has gained by 18 and therefore Verstappen has a 62-point lead in the championship over Lando Norris whose championship chances have been significantly disrupted following on the points haul in Verstappen's favour.

Grand Prix Sunday was greeted with a wet Interlagos circuit for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and round 21 of the championship in what had already been a very busy day for the teams and drivers and therefore the pressure was high. 

Qualifying took place on Sunday morning instead of the originally scheduled Saturday afternoon as the session was postponed due to extreme wet weather that made the track very unsafe and therefore the session would be re-scheduled.

It was a wet qualifying but the track conditions were nowhere near as bad as they were on Saturday afternoon. Due to the wet circuit, it was a qualifying that produced many shocks and surprises as well as five red flags across the three sessions.

Lewis Hamilton would be knocked out in Q1 for the second Grand Prix in the last three and Max Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 alongside teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz who crashed in that session.

Verstappen would qualify 12th would take a five-place grid penalty for an engine change and would therefore start 17th, whereas Carlos Sainz would have to take on new components to his engine in addition to a new gearbox and therefore would be forced to start from the pit lane.

Franco Colapinto, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso would all crash during qualifying and would bring out red flags in addition to Carlos Sainz. Also crashing would be Alex Albon but the Thai driver of Williams would have the biggest shunt of all the incidents into turn 1 and thankfully he was okay.

The damage to the Williams car of Albon was too much to be repaired in the short time frame before the Grand Prix and therefore he would not take the start and would withdraw from the event. This would leave Franco Colapinto as the sole Williams and just 19 cars competing and 18 on the grid.

As for the top end of qualifying, Lando Norris would not be a hugely surprising pole sitter as the McLaren driver would have to make good use of Max Verstappen being so far down the grid and would be hoping to make a hugely significant points gain on the championship leader Verstappen.

It would be a British 1-2 as George Russell of Mercedes would qualify second and it would be the British pair who graduated from Formula 2 together in 2018 that would share the front row. In a surprising third place would be the Visa RB of Yuki Tsunoda and these three would share the top three grid spots with Esteban Ocon in fourth.

Liam Lawson in his first Sao Paulo Grand Prix would also achieve his highest qualifying position of fifth.

With all pre-race rituals completed it would be time for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

On the formation lap, there was drama before the race as Lance Stroll spun as he out-braked himself on Intermediate tyres and as he tried to get back going and rejoin at turn 4, he got himself beached. 

This would lead to an aborted start and before the green light on the second formation lap Lando Norris would set off and a lot of the cars would continue on their second formation lap apart from the back markers.

​Due to this, the pole sitter would be put under investigation while the Stewards would take a look at exactly what went on in a truly bizarre incident. There would then be a 10-minute delay to the actual start of the next formation lap and therefore it would be a case of waiting around.

There would also be an additional investigation after the race involving both Mercedes cars, which were George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes would have their drivers under investigation as the team ended up adjusting tyre pressures in between the initial formation laps and the end of the delay to the start of the Grand Prix.

Sure enough at 12:47 local time, the third formation lap would be underway and the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix was about to begin.

The lights would go out and it would be a great start from George Russell who took the lead into turn 1 and overtook pole sitter Lando Norris and the Mercedes driver would lead while the two RB drivers and Alpine's Esteban Ocon would be battling through the Senna's which would leave Lawson squeezed out and that would allow Charles Leclerc through.

Also on the first lap, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen would be making their way up a few positions and they would be 10th and 11th at the end of the first lap. Verstappen's Red Bull would be keeping the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez would have drama in the latter stages of the first lap as he would spin and fall completely down the order and to last out of the 18 drivers that were remaining.

Onto the second lap and Max Verstappen would find it easy and pretty comfortably would make a move down the inside of Hamilton and would be up into 10th place with a fantastic pass that was clean but it would have been more difficult than had he made that move in the dry due to the slippery track condition.

Verstappen was impressing in the early stages and just a couple of laps later he would make the move into ninth place with a move on Pierre Gasly of Alpine and on lap six it would be a move for Verstappen on Fernando Alonso, which would be eighth place for the reigning world champion.

Oliver Bearman would be running in 12th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg his Haas teammate but would end up falling down the order following an incident with Franco Colapinto of Williams and the incident would be under investigation for causing a collision.

Bearman would receive a 10-second time penalty for the causing of a collision. He had dropped down to 16th overall and now the Brit, who would be racing for Haas in 2025, would have a penalty to go alongside.

Also being looked at by race control would be a starting procedure infringement by George Russell and the two RB drivers who are Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. They were not under investigation by lap 7 but they could have been.

Verstappen had made great progression and was in possession of the fastest lap of the Grand Prix and in eighth place at the end of lap nine he would make a move on the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who was not expecting the Dutchman to make a move.

The championship leader would send a lunge to the inside of Oscar Piastri and at the start of lap 10 and would be up into seventh place and very shortly Verstappen would be up into sixth as he made a pass on Liam Lawson. Verstappen was in a very good position with only 11 laps completed.

A moment would then arise for Lewis Hamilton as the Mercedes man would lock the brakes into turn 12 and he would go onto the grass and would rejoin in 12th place, behind Nico Hulkenberg and as he was offset and had so much lesser grip, Franco Colapinto would be able to get a pass completed and would be into 12th with Lewis Hamilton up into 13th.

Lap 15 and Lando Norris had been catching up to George Russell. The British pair as well as Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson would be investigated after the race for a starting procedure infringement. The FIA needing to assess everything properly by speaking to different individuals.


Lewis Hamilton would have another moment as he would go onto the white painted line on the edge of the track and this would lose him traction. He would be immediately overtaken by Carlos Sainz and before long he would be overtaken by the Haas of Oliver Bearman.

Charles Leclerc would now be under pressure from Max Verstappen as he had a bit of over-steer and the Ferrari would have to defend to the inside with Verstappen unable to get through as a bit of squeezing was done by Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz would have a moment himself a few laps later and would fall behind Bearman and Hamilton. A nightmare for the Ferrari driver as rain was looming in the air and starting to fall, it was a heavy shower that was to be expected too.

Liam Lawson would have a spin for Visa RB and that would be down to Oscar Piastri in the McLaren colliding with him in an overly-ambitious move from Piastri. Lawson's race would be ruined. This would bring about a 10-second penalty for Piastri which would go against his race time. The incident would fall on lap 26.

A tonne of pit stops were soon to be undertaken as the rain had got extremely worse and some drivers had burnt their intermediate rubber as they were racing hard and trying to make progress. Charles Leclerc would be the first driver to bolt onto change the tyres and this would also see Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman would also find their ways into the pits.

Leclerc would do it under green flag conditions but Hamilton and Bearman would pit under a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period 

The rain was continuing to fall and it was falling harder and there was a lack of visibility on circuit but they were continuing on in the race and Nico Hulkenberg would go off at turn 1 and he would receive assistance from trackside marshals. Hulkenberg's stationary car would cause the VSC and would continue on.

George Russell and Lando Norris would come into the pit lane as the virtual safety car would end and therefore they would be serving a large section of their pit stop in green flag conditions. This would drop them down to fourth and fifth as Esteban Ocon would take the lead as he overtook Yuki Tsunoda.

The rain would be continuous and it would be heavy too and the Visa RB cars would eventually both pit for the full wet tyre compound as they felt the wet weather was too bad to use intermediates.

George Russell would be under pressure since he left the pits and would be overtaken by Lando Norris but Norris would only be in fourth place behind Yuki Tsunoda who had changed onto the full wet tyre compound as well as his teammate Liam Lawson who was running in 10th.

The safety car would be deployed though as the surface would be too wet to leave the race under green flag conditions and therefore the race would be neutralised. However, it would not be long before the red flag would be brought out but this would be enforced.

Franco Colpainto would find the wall under the safety car in a heavy crash and therefore he would be out of the race and this would cause the red flag due to the car and a lot of debris in the middle of the track.

It would take a while for the race to get back going again and the race restart would be a rolling start as that was the safest way Niels Wittich, the FIA race director would decide to go back racing once again.

Once the race would restart, Esteban Ocon would get away well and would maintain the lead from the charging Red Bull of Max Verstappen from behind and would keep the car going at a decent point. 

Meanwhile, Lando Norris would have a nightmare of  restart as he would go off at turn 4 and would end up losing fourth to George Russell. A nightmare for Lando Norris as his championship rival was ahead of him and would gain nine points if the positions were to stay the same as Verstappen had hold of the fastest lap.

At the end of the restart lap of the 34, Lewis Hamilton would find his way up into ninth place as he would make a move on Fernando Alonso and make his way into ninth place. 

Oliver Bearman would be hounding Carlos Sainz and the young Brit was having a rather eventful race for Haas, standing in for Kevin Magnussen who was sidelined with food poisoning. however, disaster would strike for Bearman as he would spin round and collide with the barrier damaging his front wing and would continue.

Bearman would have another off moments later but would be nothing race-ending for the Haas driver and he would carry on but in 16th place and last of the current runners.

16th would become 15th for Oliver Bearman as Carlos Sainz himself would have an off at turn 7 in the same area where Bearman had his off but this time for Sainz it was race-ending and the Spaniard would spin and make contact with the barriers. 

Extensive damage was to Sainz's Ferrari and the safety car was deployed.

At the end of lap 42, the safety car was brought back into the pit lane and the restart was far from as good as the initial restart after the red flag and Verstappen would take his opportunity and would take the lead of the Brazilian Grand Prix after starting 17th on the grid!

Meanwhile Lando Norris would have another poor restart and would go down the runoff at turn 1 incredibly so and the McLaren driver would drop down the order to behind his teammate Oscar Piastri, all the way into seventh!

A race where Lando Norris needed to capitalise and he would be about to lose a huge amount of points to Verstappen, which he could not afford if he wanted a realistic chance of taking the title.

George Russell had found pace and in the early restart laps he would find a way through Charles Leclerc and would progress into fourth with a brilliant overtake from the Mercedes driver and he would be setting his sights on Pierre Gasly.

​Verstappen was taking charge out in front and he was pulling away from Esteban Ocon with the fastest lap. It was really turning into a champions' drive from Max Verstappen and he was showing incredible pace.

Oscar Piastri would have a moment in the first part of the final sector and would be under pressure from Yuki Tsunoda and Tsunoda sensed a way through. Piastri though managed to keep ahead of Tsunoda and he would keep seventh.

At the other side of the RB garage, Liam Lawson was under pressure from Sergio Perez and just one week on from the pair coming together in a fiery battle back in Mexico, the two drivers were back in battle again and would touch.

Lawson would keep ninth and into turn 4 Perez would make an error and he would lose a place to Lewis Hamilton at turn 4. It was turning into another nightmare of a Grand Prix for Sergio Perez especially in comparison to the RB of Lawson who is linked with the Red Bull seat in 2025.

Into the final 10 laps of the Grand Prix and Verstappen was so comfortable out in front for Red Bull. He would surpass Fernando Alonso on the current grid as the driver to have won from the furthest back grid position. He would become just the fifth driver in Formula 1 history to win from 17th on the grid.

In the battle for third, Pierre Gasly was under pressure from George Russell. As it would finish it would be a double podium for the Alpine cars and this would be hugely significant for them in their Constructors Championship battle with the midfield team.

A stunning drive from Max Verstappen was really something that should be admired by all young aspiring racing drivers of how to race in wet weather conditions. When so many drivers were struggling out on track, Verstappen prevailed. One of the drivers struggling was his championship rival Lando Norris.

A strategy which saw Max Verstappen gain a free pit stop under the red flag on Lando Norris as Norris had come into the pit lane as the VSC had ended and therefore served his pit stop in green flag racing conditions.

With Verstappen accumulating 26 points and Norris accumulating just eight, that is an 18-point gain from the reigning world champion and with those points added, Verstappen could clinch the championship at Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the next Grand Prix but that will come in a couple of weeks before the triple header and the final three races of the season. Action begins with free practice 1 on November 21.

1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull Racing)
2. Esteban Ocon (France, Alpine F1 Team)
3. Pierre Gasly (France, Alpine F1 Team)
4. George Russell (Great Britain, Mercedes)
5. Charles Leclerc (Monaco, Scuderia Ferrari)
6. Lando Norris (Great Britain, McLaren)
7. Yuki Tsunoda (Japan, Visa Cash App RB)
8. Oscar Piastri (Australia, McLaren)
9. Liam Lawson (New Zealand, Visa Cash App RB)
10. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes)
11. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Red Bull Racing)
12. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain, Haas F1 Team)
13. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Kick Sauber)
14. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Aston Martin)
15. Zhou Guanyu (China, Kick Sauber)

 DNF. Carlos Sainz (Spain, Scuderia Ferrari)
 DNF. Franco Colapinto (Argentina, Williams Racing)
 DSQ. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Haas F1 Team)
 DNS. Lance Stroll (Canada, Aston Martin)
 DNS. Alexander Albon (Thailand, Williams Racing)

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal