Luke’s Weekend Review – Qatar GP 2024

On Lap 24 we see George Russell come into the pits from 3^rd and he would have come out in 8^th however his rear right wheel didn’t want to come off and ended up having a long stop and came out in 11^th in the end, this really ruined Russell’s race as he was having a good race so far. His teammate on the same lap asked if the car is broken however the team responded that it was all ok, but the car was just unbalanced. On Lap 27 Hamilton reports the car is turning a bit and the team sees the same. This must have been because the fuel load was starting to go down so the balance was turning a bit. After his pitstop, Russell was also complaining about balance as his balance was now quite messed up.

Back at the front we see Verstappen and Norris trading fastest laps between them as the pair started to leave the rest of the pack as they were quite close to each other with only about 1.8 seconds between them. On Lap 30 we see a wing mirror on the start finish straight as it came off Albon’s car, and we might see a VSC come out but so far, we only have double waved yellows. Later on Lap 33 we see Bottas move out of the way of a Ferrari and ended up driving over the mirror and shattering carbon all over the track. A lap later we see both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz pick up a front left puncture due to debris and both had to limp back home to not get too much damage to their car. They both pit and come out in 10^th and 16^th at this stage while Piastri also pit from 3^rd to come out in 5^th.

Lap 36 we finally see the safety come out to clear the debris and this was 6 laps too late in my opinion as this should have come out sooner as this wouldn’t have messed up Hamilton and Sainz’s race. On the other hand this helped a load of drivers who hadn’t yet pit and they got a cheap stop under the safety car and Leclerc is promoted to 3^rd because of this. Russell questioned his team to ask why the team put hards back on after his stop as he wasn’t feeling comfortable on them, but this could have been due to them not having a set of mediums for him. During the safety car the pack was going through the pitlane to allow Marshalls are allowed to clear the debris from the track. Under the safety car on one lap we see Lando lock up as he thinks Hamilton broke check him, but this was due to Hamilton forgetting to put his limiter on.

Safety car was ending at the end of Lap 39 and at the restart we see Max not catching Lando this time and they go side by side, but Max manages to stay ahead still, Leclerc was also under pressure from Piastri, but Leclerc manages to stay ahead. Safety car immediately comes back out as we see Perez pulling over to the side as he lost drive on his car and pulled to the side while Nico Hulkenberg spun at Turn 9 and went into the gravel due to not enough temperatures in his tyres and lost grip. Pierre Gasly who at the restart was running in 5^th locked up in Turn 1 and dropped to 11^th, again due to not enough temperatures.

Lap 42 the Safety car coming in once again and once again, Verstappen manages to get a good start and stay ahead at Turn 1, Norris was under pressure from Leclerc this time, but Norris manages to hold 2^nd. Cleaner start this time as there was no collisions this time round for anyone, 3^rd time the charm, I guess.

Due to the double waved yellows we hear Verstappen had asked the team to check if Norris lifted in the double waved yellows as he saw that Norris caught up too much in that zone and he was right as later in the race we see Lando get a 10 second stop & go penalty after an investigation. He had to serve this within 3 laps so on Lap 46 we see Norris pit to serve this and we see him going from 2^nd to last, this really ruined his race for the constructors championship as he was on for a 2^nd place or a win here. Hamilton also got a drive through penalty for him speeding in the pitlane when Norris locked up and he comes in on Lap 48 to serve this and also is running last. Hamilton had asked to retire the car, but the team declined his request and after the drive through, they did call him in to retire the car but then Hamilton stayed out.

Towards the closing stages we see Norris now flying on the hards and by lap 52 he was already in 12^th and points were on the horizon for him as he had overtaken Lawson and Tsunoda. On the same lap we see Bottas go wide in Turn 1 attempting to overtake Albon and on Lap 53 Bottas was able to get past him into 10^th and in the points where we see both Saubers driving in the points as Guanyu was driving in 8^th. This was unfortunately short lived for Bottas though as by Lap 54 Norris managed to get past him to get back into the points and Bottas went to 11^th. Albon was announced to get a 10 second penalty for causing a collision earlier with Kevin Magnusen.

In the end we see Max Verstappen take the chequered flag followed by Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Lando Norris form the Top 10. Norris also got the fastest lap while Zhou Guanyu got driver of the day for an amazing drive and getting Sauber their first points this season. Russell got a 5 second penalty for a safety car infringement but this didn’t have any impact on the result as he finished over 5 seconds ahead from Gasly.

Who do you think was the biggest winners and the biggest losers of the Qatar GP? Max Verstappen despite his 4^th Championship is not showing any signs of slowing down, McLaren seem to have missed the opportunity to close off the constructors championship and taking it to the last race which is risky for them. The race overall was a vibe, and the Ferrari as always looked very good in red. We now head to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the 2024 season next week.