[adrotate banner=”10″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.
The F1 2024 Qatar GP was an exhaustive plethora of penalites, retirements and safety cars but above all, Max reclaimed the top position that was taken from him in qualifying. The constructors championship battle will be taken all the way to Abu Dhabi next week after Lando’s race was turned on it’s head. Zhou Guanyu also took home his first points of the season for Sauber.
Lights Out In Lusail:
Verstappen and Russell lined up eagerly in their boxes; keen to create a steady lead. As the lights went out, the front row got equally good starts however Max took the lead into turn one. Starting the race with a bang, the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and the Williams of Franco Colapinto made contact causing a premature safety car. Both drivers were OK but were very much out of the race.
The safety car restart gave Russell another shot to retake his lead after falling back to P3 in the first lap scrap. Lando Norris also had a shot in P2 at taking the lead for those all important constructors points. Unfortunately, this was to no avail and Verstappen kept a comfortable lead. Aston Martin seemed to be displaying their continuous struggles with Alonso reporting over the radio that their speed on the straight was “worrying”.
Penalties, Penalties, Penalties:
To further Aston’s misery, Lance Stroll suffered a ten second time penalty for contact with Alex Albon. By lap ten, the team decided to retire the car. Lewis Hamilton was also penalised by five seconds for a false start. 12 laps in, Verstappen had a comfortable 2.1 second gap to Norris in P2 behind; an effortless feat for the reigning world champion. Ferrari’s stamina was faulting at this point as Leclerc struggled to stay ahead of Piastri. Very telling for the constructors championship battle. Continuing the theme of penalties, Liam Lawson was given a ten second time penalty for a collision with Valtteri Bottas. Leclerc voiced concern over the team radio regarding the state of his tyre pressure. The Ferrari driver had been taking quite a lot of curb during the first 19 laps and expressed that a “puncture is likely”. A common theme around the track in Qatar seemed to be that a lot of drivers were suffering with understeer, especially at the final turn. This caused a lot of drivers to lose time and was detrimental for track position.
A Nightmare For Mercedes:
Russell suffered a slow stop of a whopping seven seconds as a result of the right rear tyre having difficulty. This completely threw off his contention for the top position. Meanwhile like most other sessions this weekend, Hamilton was struggling to show hardly any pace. George exited his pit stop in P11 with a feisty yet slow Fernando Alonso ahead. On his freshly changed hard tyres, the Mercedes driver reported that his car “just won’t turn”, clearly struggling with this newfound lack of balance. By lap 28, they were yet to box Hamilton who still needed to serve his five second penalty. The drama during the F1 2024 Qatar GP was ramping up.
[adrotate banner=”7″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.
Where Was The Safety Car?:
A brief yellow flag came out as Alex Albon’s wing mirror shed on the middle of the main straight; another blow to the William’s garage. However, Albon continues to race as usual. Before the Williams debris could be safely cleared, Bottas’ Sauber took the blow and flung the discarded mirror to the trackside. Additionally, both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both suffered a puncture from the same debris. Four laps too late, the safety car came out. Questions will surely be raised with the FIA post race regarding how this was handled.
To continue the series of unfortunate events, Carlos Sainz had a nightmare pit stop as the pit crew struggled with the jack while trying to mend his puncture. The safety car took to the pitlane while marshalls cleared the main straight. Meanwhile, George Russell protested over the radio over the decision to use the hard tyre. Alonso raced Magnussen wheel to wheel in the pits right down to track re-entry. A hasty safety car restart saw Lando right on the tail of Max Verstappen. Lando took a strong tow from the lead and nearly got ahead of Verstappen but just missed out on P1. Some intense wheel to wheel racing from the top two.
Tragedy For Lando:
Shortly after a dramatic high energy restart, yet another safety car was called for a beached Sergio Perez. RB jumped into the pits for a double stack to bolt on the soft tyre for Tsunoda and Lawson. A brave move from the team. Verstappens earlier suspicions of Lando failing to lift under the yellow flag proved to be true as he went under investigation. For yet another restart, Norris once again failed to take the top position from Verstappen and was instead under threat from Leclerc. Norris unfortunately was given a huge ten second stop/go penalty for his yellow flag speeding. This saw Lando in P15 (last place with other retirements).
The never-ending spiral of penalties persisted as Lewis Hamilton suffered a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. An absolutely miserable weekend for the seven time champion. This struggle took a toll on Lewis and requested that he retire the car. Alas, the team convinced him to power on with under ten laps remaining. A turbulent picture was painted for the future of the constructors championship as the favour swung between McLaren and Ferrari.
After the chequered flag came down for the F1 2024 Qatar GP, George Russell was handed a five second penalty for safety infringement and Zhou Guanyu took home Sauber debut points for 2024 finishing in P8. The podium was secured by Verstappen, Leclerc and Piastri. Colapinto, Perez, Stroll, Ocon and Hulkenberg did not see the finish line. What a dramatic penultimate race!
[adrotate banner=”10″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.