Red Bulls Max Verstappen took his ninth win of the season in a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix featuring three safety cars, two punctures both of them potentially the result of debris caused by a stray wing mirror which was, inexplicably, left out on track following an earlier collision and a mass of penalties meted out by the stewards.
Verstappen beat Ferraris Charles Leclerc into second place, with McLarens Oscar Piastri third.
It looked as if Piastris team-mate Lando Norris might challenge Verstappen for the victory for much of the race, and possibly even secure McLaren the constructors championship in the process. But the Briton was given a 10-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags, dropping him to the back of the pack with around 10 laps remaining.
Norris managed to recover to 10th, and also bagged the fastest lap bonus point. But it still allowed Ferrari to claw back ground in the championship. The Scuderia now trail McLaren by 21 points heading to the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend with a maximum of 44 available.
It was unclear whether the punctures suffered by Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Ferraris Carlos Sainz were the result of the debris from Alex Albons wing mirror, or the sharp kerbs.
It was an absolutely miserable weekend for Hamilton, with the seven-time world champion penalised for a false start, complain that his car was broke, suffer the aforementioned puncture, before then being penalised again with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Hamilton, who finished 12th, threatened to park the car during his drive-through, but was told to stay out unless he wanted a five-second penalty at the next race.
In the constructors anyway. That race is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina, a track which has produced improved racing in recent years. McLaren. We will be back for qualifying on Saturday.
Well, as strong as he gets in his traditional, measured engineer-speak. He said that the FIA had lost any sense of proportion and any sense of specificity and that there is an opportunity for them to do much better.
The 24-point gap between Russell and Hamilton means it is almost certain than the former finishes behind the latter. Hamilton needs to win and Russell score no better than 10th and without the fastest lap point for that to happen. Hamilton has never lost to a team-mate over a season more than once.
21 points the gap between McLaren and Ferrari.
You would rather be in McLarens place than Ferraris but 21 points puts the title certainly in play.
The Race are reporting that Esteban Ocon (below), who leaves for Haas in 2025, will step aside for the final round and let Jack Doohan step in. Doohan will line up alongside Gasly next year so it kind of makes sense. That sort of thing has happened before but it is rare. A bad weekend here for Ocon and he was again very distant from his team-mate.
He is now within eight points of Norris.
He is happy about it.
Russell gets a five-second time penalty for the SC infringement but that does not drop him down a slot so he keeps fourth and 12 points. Norris takes the bonus point for fastest lap.
26 points to Ferrari and 17 to McLaren, so Ferrari reduce McLarens lead.
A brilliant drive, really. Nothing much more to say. Was under pressure for a lot of it but it was Norris who slipped up by not slowing under double yellows. And Verstappen was the one who spotted that. Such a quick driver with a smart mind, too.
Leclerc keeps second, Piastri third. Zhou holds on for eighth for his and Saubers first points of the season. He doesnt have a seat for next year so this is some cheer in what will likely be his penultimate F1 race. Well done.
Sainz and Gasly is the battle to watch. Sainz gets DRS down the pit straight but isnt close enough to try a move and I think that will be that.
Not quite. McLaren could do with him overtaking him. They are going to lose points to them today but limiting that would be very helpful. Norris currently has the fastest lap bonus point.
I think 10th is about the limit of his ambitions here. Magnussen is eight seconds up the road. George Russell has been noted for a Safety Car infringement. Not sure what that is all about…
Hamilton is still out there, by the way. In 15th and chasing down Liam Lawson.
But he has Norris behind him on fresh tyres who is likely to be impossible to hold off. Verstappen cruising here. Sainz within DRS range of Gasly. Albon has a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. What a chaotic afternoon this has been. Great, though.
Verstappen 4.6sec ahead of Leclerc in second with Piastri in thied 1.5sec behind Leclerc. Russell 1.5sec behind Piastri and Gasly a distant sixth has Sainz chasing him down, 1.6sec down the road.
Bottas is chasing Albon for the final points position. A double points finish for Sauber?!
Not that it matters much, though it does for McLaren. He is in 13th and is lapping about three or four seconds ahead of his rivals.
Five different cars in the top five and nine different manufacturers in the top 10 by my calculations. Just RB who lack a driver up there.
Hamilton gets his wish to retire the car. Or at least it is granted. I dont think its that unreasonable. You never know what crashes can happen and there are only 15 runners in this race. Well, he keeps going anyway, so not sure what is happening there.
Park the car, he says. I wanna park the car mate, he says. Negative, he is told by his race engineer Peter Bonnington.
Ouch. A disastrous weekend in a poor season. It just seems to get worse for him, really as he comes to the end of his Mercedes career.
Alpine in a fight with RB and Haas for sixth and this will do them the world of good with just one race to go. How much has that penalty cost Norris? Well, he is 12.7sec behind Liam Lawson in last-but-one.
I think Norris was the only driver who had the chance to beat Verstappen here and that has now been taken away from him.
Hamilton gets a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane! Not a good day for the British drivers so far.
Zhou Guanyu is in eighth for Sauber, a team who have scored zero points all season.
That drops him back to last and is in effect a 35-second penalty. He is a little perplexed on the team radio…
Its a 10-second stop/go penalty for Lando Norris for failing to slow under yellow flags. That is the biggest penalty you can get short of disqualification.
That is massive and will drop him back to the back of the pack as it stands. That is not good news for McLarens championship hopes. He needs to serve that in the next three laps.
Its a much better restart for Verstappen and Norris has to worry about Leclerc behind and not look in front! He keeps second, though, as Verstappen bolts. Piastri concerned about the front left as he can see sparks coming from it. Russell runs wide but nothing too much to worry about.
Verstappen leads Norris by 0.7sec with Leclerc 1.4sec behind the lead McLaren.
Hamilton is told he is in 12th. Guys, the cars is messed up mate, he says. Will Verstappen make a better effort of this restart?
Not sure if Perez was hit before he stopped but he definitely lost power afterwards.
Heres the order:
Verstappen backs the pack up, Norris is right behind him waiting for him to gun it. Verstappen made a bit of a mess of that one, losing his rear end for a moment which means Norris is right on his rear wing down the pit straight!
Norris tries to take the lead at turn one but Verstappen keeps it with some robust defending… Norris attempted to stick it out around the outside but couldnt make the move. Nothing too dodgy there from Max.
But Sergio Perez has stopped at turn 15! He is moving again I think, but very slowly? Nope. I think hes stuck with no power. Its a Virtual Safety Car… and now Nico Hulkenberg is in the gravel! Not sure why or how…
That means its a full Safety Car…
Verstappen asked about Norris not lifting under the SC again a few laps ago and Red Bull told him that they were in conversations with the FIA about it. No word on whether Norris has been noted for it yet, though. That sort of thing requires quite careful analysis.
So lets do a quick constructors championship maths check.
McLaren on course to score 18 points for Norris and 12 for Piastri, so 30. Ferrari scoring 15 with Leclerc and four with Sainz so 19. A gap of 11, which is not enough for them to win the constructors here in Qatar.
Hamilton is between Verstappen and Norris currently but may be allowed to unlap himself. Norris thinks Hamilton brake-tested him as they headed through the pit-lane.
Next lap the SC will use the start finish straight. Bottas and Hamilton have now been allowed to unlap themselves.
He has stopped again and gone ontot he hard tyres. He did not have any fresh mediums. Why have we put hards on? Why have we put the f—– hards back on?! Theyre s—! he says, furiously.
The SC is for the debris caused by Bottas running over the mirror on the straight. SC will go through the pit lane so that the debris can be swept away.
Sainz comes out of the pits, Hamilton makes it to the pits and a Safety Car is finally called.
Just trust me to have this luck, man Hamilton says. Verstappen pits and laps Hamilton in the process. Norris stops also, both the lead drivers – and Leclerc – get a cheap stop there.
Verstappen has found some extra pace from somewhere.
And Hamilton has a puncture! Has he picked that up from the wing mirror? I am not sure Hamilton will make it back to the pits here. I think Sainz is also in trouble here, dropping well back. Both cars have a front-left puncture…
Piastri now 9.1sec adrift of Norris. Replays confirm that Norris did not lift on the straight under yellow flags. Norris has now dropped half a secodn to Verstappen over the last lap or so… I am not sure why or where?
The Red Bull driver tells his team to check if he lifted on the straight and seems to suggest that is why Norris closed up. He did not lift, Verstappen is told. 1.7sec the gap again.
Will we see a safety car?
The wing mirror is still in the middle of the track.
Magnussen was going slowly, I think. Theres a wing mirror in the middle of the pit straight. Could this be a VSC? Norris has gained a bit in that Bottas lapping period as Verstappens lead is now down to 1.3sec.
He comes out behind Liam Lawson and in 16th. Norris matches Verstappen in the first sector, which is where the Red Bull has been strongest. Loses time in the final sector, which is where the McLaren has been strongest. I think he might just be starting to feel the effect of the dirty air. They are coming up to lap Bottas, though, so that might give him an opportunity.
That is the most since they began, I think. Verstappen isnt in traffic so maybe his tyres have gone off a little. But lets see. Id say that was a little premature. Russell says the car isnt turning on fresh hard tyres.
How much is the undercut worth? Hard to know Russells true pace because he came out in dirty air. He would not have done so had the stop been a normal-length one.
Status quo at the front, pretty much though Norris was marginally quicker the last time around. Hamilton has dropped a second to Perez in the last seven or eight laps.
Just underbalanced, he is told. Not sure how many positions Russell will lose with that slow stop, possibly even more than one to Piastri. The Ferraris might be ahead after they step.
A smidgen over two seconds here. Piastri is closing in on Russell but Russell has been todl to pit to, I assume, avoid the Piastri undercut.
Unfortunately it is a painfully slow stop which will almost certainly hand the position to Piastri. Seven seconds he was stationary… ouch.
Norris would score 26 and Piastri 15 if they gain a position, taking McLaren to 41 for the day with the fastest lap bonus point to Norris. Leclerc is in fifth which is 10 points and Sainz sixth which is eight points, so Ferraris total would be 18 points. 18 points to 41 is a 13-point gap today which takes their overall lead to 43, which isnt quite what McLaren need by my calculations. Its close though.
Still he cannot break into within 1.7sec of Verstappen. Russell has dropped well back now so this race is becoming a two-horse race, it seems. Bottas gets Tsunoda for 13th. Zhou is the next man up the road, his team-mate.
A difficult race for him.
But the gap is still around 1.7-1.8sec. Verstappen looks to have it in hand though it is difficult to know how much Norris is pushing. Russell has dropped back to 3.8sec off Norris whilst Piastri 1.7sec behind Russell. Hamiltons five second penalty does not currently lose him any places as Magnussen is more than nine seconds behind.
Norris sets the fastest lap of the race again, but Verstappen then responds with the fastest first sector. Norris is then marginally faster in the middle sector, though, and it has normally been faster in the final sector. That is the case this lap too as Norris takes nearly two tenths out of Verstappen there and sets the fastest lap of the race again.
Might we have a fight emerging for the lead? There isnt much in it, it could come down to strategy. Probably will to some degree.
2.6sec the gap between him and Norris as Piastri is staying within DRS range but is unable to get by. Norris just staying around two seconds behind Verstappen. Is he biding his time and not getting too close, hoping for a tyre advantage? Normally you would expect him to perhaps drop back if he doesnt have the pace, though two seconds may just be about enough to save his tyres and stay in touch.
Hmmm. Another black mark in a difficult year for the seven-time champion.
It has been the trend that the longer the stint the better the McLaren is, relative to its rivals. But lets see, Verstappen is the one in clean air and that is a great help for tyre life.
And another tenth or so at the end of this lap in Norriss favour, with the fastest lap of the race.
Piastri is within DRS range of Russell and Sainz is within DRS range of Leclerc ahead. Verstappen extends his lead over Verstappen to 2.2sec with the fastest race lap.
It was, however, just 0.001sec faster than Verstappen before you get too excited about a battle for the lead.
Doesnt look obvious to me but Hamilton did apologise to his team.
Norris trails by nearly two seconds. Russell is 1.2sec behind him with Piastri on his rear-wing.
Russell nearly within DRS range of Norris now…
Stroll looks to be coming into the pit lane to retire with a car too damaged to continue. He picked up a 10-second time penalty for that Albon incident. A poor race in a poor season for the Aston Martin driver. Verstappen is flying in the first sector, as has been the case the last few laps.
He did pull a couple of tenths back in the final sector. Piastri within DRS range of Russell for third, though.
Alonso loses places, whilst Hamilton is up to eighth behind Perez. Verstappen leads Norris by 1.3sec as they head into turn 12. Alonso going backwards, into 12th and complains about worrying speed on the straights.
Verstappen was never under any threat from Norris there. Piastri had the Ferrari of Leclerc right on his rear wing. Lawson and Stroll have dropped back after running wide and possibly colliding. Norris comes back a bit on Verstappen towards the end of the lap but there is no DRS yet.
Can Norris make a move? Probably not because he gets a bit twitchy at the final corner and finds himself under more pressure from Russell than he pressures Verstappen ahead.
I do not think we are far off a restart, though. Replays from an onboard on Verstappens car, ensured that he had the inside line. Russell did not want to risk a collision and, really, it was Verstappens corner at that point.
Albon around the outside, Stroll on the inside. Not sure if that will be a penalty for stroll.
Some questions over whether Hamilton has jumped the start though nothing has been noted so far. He is down in ninth from sixth, so not a good start however you look at it.
Here is the top 10:
It was a great start from Verstappen and he had the ability, grip and bravado to take and keep the lead. He took the inside line and then kept it. It looked like Norris was going to hang it around the outside at turn two but he backs off.
Hulkenberg cannoned into Ocon who then crashed into Colapinto. Hulkenbergs fault, certainly. He went too deep on the hard tyres and lost the rear end. Another crash for Williams.
Verstappen points his car on second towards Russell and the racing line. They get away and its Russell with the marginally better start but the second stage of the start is better for Verstappen and he takes the lead!
Russell runs wide and Norris tries to come back in the second and third corners but Verstappen keeps the lead!
Theres a three-car crash, at least, at the back involving Hulkenberg and Ocon and Colapinto. The latter of two are out with significant damage. Hulkenberg keeps going, though. This will almost certainly be a Safety Car.
Everyone on mediums apart from Nico Hulkenberg in 18th. Some new, though, like Verstappen. Russell is on used mediums.
Predictions? Here is my top six:
Pirelli predict that it will likely be a one-stop race with a medium to hard switch between lap 19-25. But a two-stop race is also possible going medium-hard-hard. Tyre degradation was a big issue last year but not so much this year.
The thing is Max Verstappen being fired up is often when hes at his angriest. And weve seen that a few times this season. Pole sitter George Russell says yes:
They did everything to talk down their chances this weekend but I dont think they have been quite as bad as they were making out. Leclerc starts fifth and Sainz is in seventh. I think their race pace will be better than their qualifying pace but they might struggle to make inroads.
A little rejig since the end of qualifying yesterday, but here is how they all line up today:
1. RUS 2. VER3. NOR 4. PIA5. LEC 6. HAM7. SAI 8. ALO9. PER 10. MAG11. GAS 12. ZHO13. BOT 14. TSU15. STR 16. ALB17. LAW 18. HUL19. COL 20. OCO
Again it will be a 24-race season with six sprint races. Is 25 possible? F1 is really on the limit at the moment, but I would not be surprised to see that happen. We would need more structured and prolonged breaks, though, even if that means an extended season. Whilst we had an extended autumn break n addition to the usual summer break this year, next year there it is not there.
Things do ease up a little once we get into July with two weekends with no racing between the British and Belgian races before the summer break (three weekends without racing).
Another two points for Nico Hulkenberg takes him to 37 points for the season. In their entire history in F1 only once has a Haas driver scored more points than that over a season.
For this, basically.
The critical reason was that he was over the maximum delta time on this lap, which alerted the FIA stewards to it. That he got in the way of Russell was arguably why he was given a penalty and not just a reprimand. In fact, below is the FIAs full verdict.
44 points is the maximum any team can score at the next round in Abu Dhabi so 45 points is the gap McLaren need to win the title this weekend with one round to spare. They currently lead Ferrari by 30 points so would need to increase that by 15.
A 1-2 would give them 43 points which makes the best Ferrari could do 28 points for third and fourth, plus the fastest lap bonus point. 43 minus 28 is 15, so a 1-2 finish would secure it whatever Ferrari do.
Read Tom Carys full feature here.
For perspective, before this season Hamilton had only been out-qualified over a season by a team-mate once, in 2014 against Nico Rosberg. And that was 7-12 in the Germans favour. Hamilton hasnt yet reached seven after 29 qualifying sessions…
Drivers who have a worse qualifying record against their team-mate than Hamilton: Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu. It is now 22-6 to Russell across main and sprint qualifying. Next year Hamilton goes up against Charles Leclerc who is renowned as one of the masters over one lap. Mind you, that was the case for Hamilton until this season…
Welcome to our coverage for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the 2024 Formula One season. Max Verstappen wrapped up the drivers championship in Las Vegas last weekend but there is still the small matter of the constructors championship to be decided. That could happen this weekend if McLaren leave Qatar with a 45-point advantage over Ferrari.
The Scuderia currently trail McLaren by 30 points after the Woking squads 1-2 in the sprint race yesterday. A 1-2 finish in the race today would secure them the championship, which would be their first constructors championship since 1998, when Mika Hakkinen won his first drivers title.
Will that happen? Well, it looks unlikely. McLaren did look in strong form in qualifying and the race for the sprint but they could only qualify third and fourth yesterday. That was better than Ferraris fifth and seventh but it does not suggest they will be running away with this one.
Elsewhere in qualifying, Max Verstappen thought he had taken his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix back in June after a superb, and unexpectedly quick, lap in the final part of qualifying. In the end, though, he picked up a highly unusual (and possibly unprecedented) one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly during Q3, an incident in which he got in the way of George Russell, whose best lap was 0.055sec off pole.
The stewards decided that because neither driver was on a hot lap, but that Russells hot lap was likely affected by this incident, then a one-place grid penalty was appropriate. It is slightly odd but does not feel like a terrible outcome. Is it a terrible precedent? We will have to wait and see the implications of drivers getting in the way of one another on preparation laps, then.
As it turned out it means the front row is swapped round and Russell scores his fifth career pole position as he attempts to win his third race of the year and second in a row. He has looked rapid all weekend in fairness, but you wonder whether McLaren might come back into it over a race distance and, indeed, how much of a thorn Verstappen might be.
The race begins at 4pm under lights in Qatar and we will be here for all of the build-up, live race updates and reaction from the race.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.