Max Verstappen takes the Qatar Grand Prix for a second time in a row, in a race that saw a lot of penalties. Talking of punishments, our 2024 Qatar F1 Grand Prix Result Summary is here for those who want to be punished for not watching the race themselves.
This 2024 Qatar Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings which gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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Latest 2024 F1 Driver Rankings – from Las Vegas GP
2024 Qatar F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Max Verstappen took pole on Saturday, only to be demoted a position on the grid for impeding George Russell who takes the leading gird spot at the Red Bull driver’s expense. Verstappen was penalised for getting in Russell’s way on a warm down lap, even though the Mercedes wasn’t on a flying lap either. The one grid spot penalty is also a bit odd. Behind him the McLarens were 3 and 4 which was about 1 or 2 places behind where they thought they’d be. Indeed they claimed a 1-2 in a reasonably dull Sprint Race on Saturday, where the point of interest was Lando Norris moving over just before the finish line for Oscar Piastri to allow the Australian to win as payback for the opposite in Brazil two races ago. Elsewhere Ferrari are slower than McLaren which doesn’t help keep the constructor’s title alive, Lewis Hamilton admitted he’s slow, and Sergio Perez refuses to admit that he is slow.
GRID (Starting Order) – RUS VER NOR PIA LEC HAM SAI ALO PER MAG
Lap 1 – George Russell gets away OK from his inherited pole and tries to squeeze a fast starting Max Verstappen down the straight into the first corner, but behind those two squabbling Lando Norris is looking for a way past and briefly takes the lead going into the inside of turn one only for Max Verstappen to have the better line for turn two and takes the lead. Oscar Piastri falls behind the two Ferraris but does re-pass one before the Safety Car. Why the Safety Car?
Well Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto have come together stopped on the track. Further around Nico Hulkenberg has damage too. Replays show the German was to blame for the accidents, as he got into Ocon who then ran into Colapinto. About the Argentinian driver, he has quite a number of accidents since being touted as a Red Bull driver, seems no one wants that seat. More replays shows Lance Stroll adding to his 2024 Greatest Hits by tapping Alex Albon into a spin, and then spun himself, which also inconveniences Guanyu Zhou. At least there was no gravel trap for Stroll to get stuck/drive into. This time. Or he didn’t try hard enough. What a shame Adrian Newey is going to Aston Martin. Could be the biggest waste of a fast F1 car since Sergio Perez.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – VER NOR RUS LEC PIA SAI PER ALO HAM TSU
RACE RESUMES
Lap 5 – Max Verstappen makes a clean break for it on the restart, and behind Oscar Piastri makes up for a poor first start by nailing Charles Leclerc into the first corner and robustly defending it into turn two. Further back Liam Lawson has spun and a Sauber maybe involved. Not sure which one, and it doesn’t really matter. Talk about not mattering, Sergio Perez is up to 7th which is a gain on two places from the start, behind him Lewis Hamilton has dropped the same number of places from the start.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA LEC SAI PER HAM TSU MAG
Lap 8 – Max Verstappen sets a fastest lap as he increases his lead to a DRS defying 1.6 seconds. Lance Stroll gets a ten second penalty for his clash with Albon. TV types were saying Aston Martin were going to retire Stroll, but instead he gets new tyres and takes the penalty. Maybe Aston Martin have an eye for entertaining the fans. Na, Aston Martin suck, they retire Stroll the next lap. They were just saving Stroll get a carryover ten seconds for next race. He’ll probably one anyway. At least.
Lap 9 – Announced Lewis Hamilton made a false start, which may explain the drop on the first lap. Replays show it’s tight, radio from Lewis Hamilton is as good as a guilty plea.
Lap 12 – Nice battle raging for the final point and 10th place between Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso and Guanyu Zhou. With Kevin Magnussen ahead in 9th, this is all pretty crucial to the tight battle for 6th in the Constructor’s title battle. Liam Lawson gets a penalty for his clash with Valtteri Bottas, in a busy night for the stewards. Again, that Red Bull curse for ’25 hopefuls…….
Lap 14 – Pierre Gasly and then Fernando Alonso followed by Guanyu Zhou get past Yuki Tsunoda in quick succession, which may prove temporary for Alonso who is under investigation about an unsafe return to track after running wide earlier.
Lap 15 – Out in front Max Verstappen is maintaining a gap just under two seconds as Lando Norris ups the pace with a fastest lap. The other McLaren is right on George Russell’s tail but he is unable to get past. Behind them, the two Ferraris are circulating together which would make both Ferrari and the FIA nervous. One for team tension, the other for potential swearing on the radio.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA LEC SAI PER HAM MAG GAS
Lap 20 – Talk of tyre strategy creeping into the race, which is code for there’s not very much happening in terms of racing, which is true. It is also unfair on Valtteri Bottas who passes Yuki Tsunoda for 14th. The RB driver is going very tslow at the moment.
Lap 23 – Oscar Piastri is still behind George Russell for third place, within DRS but unable to do anything. The Mercedes is nearly nine second behind Norris in second. This leads to the first pit stop of the race for tyres. It’s a long one, seven seconds, which then puts him behind Fernando Alonso. That’s his race done then.
Lap 30 – To break up the boredom of passing the halfway mark, there’s someone’s mirror on the inside line of the pit straight. That’s not good for those who want to overtake on the main place to overtake. And it could bring out a Virtual Safety Car to retrieve it. Right when the front runners are due to pit. Nice to have a bit of tension back. The mirror belonged to Magnussen by the looks of replays. May as well do an order before the main cars pit then.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC SAI PER HAM GAS ALO RUS
Lap 34 – Lewis Hamilton has a puncture as the TV shows the Mercedes in a shower of sparks. Carlos Sainz too has the same problem. There’s two of the front runners now crawling around to the pits. It could be from the debris caused by all the brain fades into turn one. Oscar Piastri pits for a regular tyre stop.
Lap 36 – SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
With the high profile punctures they decide to bring out the Safety Car to clean it all up and maybe retrieve that mirror if they haven’t already. Replays show that Valtteri Bottas was the one to clean up the mirror, and likely that the shards of glass that exploded from that impact caused the punctures. Maybe they should have cleaned that up with a Virtual Safety Car then.
It leads to a flurry of tyre stops. The Safety Car has worked out for some. Charles Leclerc has jumped Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly is up to sixth. Zhou is in the points for Sauber, if he stays there, it will be the team’s first of the season. George Russell was a loser as his team pitted him again, and then put him on the harder tyres again, where he could have gone softer and taken advantage of the early stop.
The cars are going through the pit lane as the marshalls clean up the track. During one tour Lando Norris nearly ran into the back of Lewis Hamilton.
ORDER – VER NPR LEC PIA PER GAS RUS SAI ZHO ALO
Lap 40 – RACE RESUMES
But not before Sergio Perez spins off before the race resumes…..
The racing explodes as the race restarts with cars jinking and overtaking everywhere. Verstappen and Norris vigorously argue over first place and both run widish into turn one. Behind them Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc battle over third place. Pierre Gasly outbrakes himself and runs wide at turn one leaving George Russell and Carlos Sainz to scrap for fifth place. Behind that there’s cars shaping up for all kinds of moves.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Then there’s the TV panning to Nico Hulkenberg in the gravel…….
FULL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA RUS GAS SAI ALO ZHO MAG
Stewards announce they are looking into a penalty for Lando Norris, for failing to slow down enough under yellow flags before the first Safety Car. That was flagged by Verstappen on radio earlier, which we’re sure Norris will be very thankful for.
Lap 42 – RACE RESUMES
Max Verstappen makes a great restart as Lando Norris is under immense pressure from Charles Leclerc.
Lap 44 – Ten second penalty for Lando Norris…….That will drop him to the tail of the field and he has three laps to serve it. Race over then for him. He serves it and drops to the back.
Lap 48 – Lewis Hamilton serve a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He wants to retire the car after spending the second half of the race complaining about how bad it is. His team disagree. He falls behind Lando Norris who just set fastest lap.
Lap 50 – Guanyu Zhou is currently running in 8th place, and comfortably ahead of Magnussen in ninth. Bottas is catching Albon for 10th on softer tyres too. Could it be double points for Sauber. Probably not, as Norris is flying at the back of the pack and looks fast enough to catch at least 10th.
ORDER – VER LEC PIA RUS GAS SAI ALO ZHO MAG ALB
Lap 54 – Lando Norris is up to 10th after slicing through the midfield with fastest laps.
Lap 55 – George Russell announced he is under investigation for a Safety Car error. Maybe more penalties coming. Yes, he gets five seconds post-race, but it doesn’t change his position.
FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen cruises six second in front to win the Qatar Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri continues to fail to get past Charles Leclerc, which sums up his race. Pierre Gasly hangs on for fifth place after resisting laps of pressure from Carlos Sainz. Guanyu Zhou scores points for Sauber in 8th. Lando Norris takes 10th after an inspiring post-penalty stint.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER LEC PIA RUS GAS RUS ALO ZHO MAG NOR
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – GUANYU ZHOU
Qualified well enough in Q2 but then drive a strong race to score Sauber’s first points of the season.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Wins as he pleases at the front, survived pressure at the restarts but not really troubled after that.
LANDO NORRIS – On another day would have won this race. And on another day may not have gone so fast through yellow flags. Great last stint full of fastest laps and one point.
PIERRE GASLY – After being robbed by car failure in LAs Vegas after qualifying third, the Alpine driver gets a solid haul of point for fifth, and no less deserved after a great recent run.
CHARLES LECLERC – Gets second despite having a car slower than the McLarens in general in Qatar. Keeps the team battle alive.
THE GRAPE-EST – NICO HULKENBERG
Took out two competitors at the first corner but unlike the victims was able to continue, albeit at the back of the pack, behind Saubers. Qualified behind team mate Kevin Magnussen too. Then eventually ended his race in the gravel after one of the restarts.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
ESTEBAN OCON – Qualified last, taken out at the first corner. Given current form, and compared to team mate Pierre Gasly, it was probably a relief.
FRANCO COLAPINTO – The more he gets talked about as a Red Bull driver the worse his luck gets or the more accidents he’s involved in. This time was an innocent by stander, but that happens when you qualify second last.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Admitted over the radio at just being slow in qualifying, and then made a false start in the race, and was off the pace and behind Sergio Perez on the Sunday too. Then got a penalty for pitlane speeding, which made all the previous problems seem worse. That Ferrari can’t come quick enough.
SERGIO PEREZ – Eliminated in Q1 of Sprint Qualifying, which made his P9 in real qualifying look better. Made a good start and raced in the mid-lower points places throughout the race. But it is still not quite good enough for that car is it? Not for 2025 anyway. But then spoils all the above by spinning off just before a Safety Car restart.
LANCE STROLL – Retired due to usual buffoonery and will no doubt blame someone else.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10
It was an action-packed start, and then driver penalties were of mild interest in the duller middle part of the race. A loose rear vision mirror was the hero as it added loads of action. It caused random punctures, which led to Safety Cars, which led to restart chaos, which led to more Safety Cars, which also led to a race ruining penalty for second fastest Lando Norris.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
Mid race penalties popping up surprised. Gasly running fifth, points for Sauber, Lando Norris’ penalty dropping him to last.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5
The penalty for Lando Norris massively affected the constructor’s title as he was clearly second fastest and on track for a big haul of points. The penalty dropped him to the back of the field, so instead of getting close to sealing the title it has opened up for the last race. And the race for 6th place in the teams battle tightened up heading into the final race. But it is still only the team’s title.
ENDING 5 / 10
Whilst nothing much was happening at the front with Max Verstappen cruising, there was loads of fun in the midfield as Saubers threatened to take points, and Lando Norris sliced through the field back into the points.
OVERALL RATING 19 / 30
A good enough race that was livened up by a loose mirror and loads of penalties.
2024 F1 Race Rankings
R22 – Las Vegas Grand Prix.…23/30
R21 – Brazilian Grand Prix.…23/30
R20 – Mexican Grand Prix….24/30
R19 – US Grand Prix….23/30
R18 – Singapore Grand Prix…10/30
R17 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix…25/30
R16 – Italian Grand Prix…21/30
R15 – Dutch Grand Prix…15/30
R14 – Belgian Grand Prix…23/30
R13 – Hungarian Grand Prix…19/30
R12 – British Grand Prix…25/30
R11 – Austrian Grand Prix…27/30
R10 – Spanish Grand Prix…19/30
R09 – Canadian Grand Prix…22/30
R08 – Monaco Grand Prix…17/30
R07 – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix…23/30
R06 – Miami Grand Prix…23/30
R05 – Chinese Grand Prix…15/30
R04 – Japanese Grand Prix…18/30
R03 – Australian Grand Prix…23/30
R02 – Saudi Arabia Grand Prix…9/30
R01 – Bahrain Grand Prix…13/30
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Ratings
Or our 2024 F1 Half Season Report.
