Official F1 Journal Sunday Round Up - Qatar Grand Prix

28/11/2024

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.

Race Facts

Max Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix
Zhou finishes in P8 gaining Sauber's first points of the season and wins driver of the day!
Pierre Gasly finished in fifth place, gaining valuable points for the team.
Alex Albon's wing mirror fell off on the start/finish straight, causing a puncture for Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz.
Lando Norris received a ten-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under a double yellow flag and finished in tenth.
George Russell started on pole after Max Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty for impeding in qualifying on Saturday.

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.

Race Results

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

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