The Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix will be remembered for its action-packed and controversial moments. Behind Max Verstappen, drivers either excelled or buckled under the pressure as the end-of-season stakes ramped up. Here are the winners and losers of the chaotic 2024 Qatar GP.
Max Verstappen: 10
Grid Position P2, Race Result P1
Verstappen took to the grid in Qatar, wanting revenge for what he saw as a deliberate attempt to disadvantage him in qualifying. Delivering on his promise, he took the lead into the first corner and never relinquished it. His victory was flawless, and his trademark aggression returned as he got his elbows defending from an eager Lando Norris. His moves were hard but fair, turning the page on his Mexico misdemeanours.
All great World Champions can ride out a challenging race, and the Dutchman navigated the malaise others suffered with complete ease, having the foresight to notice that Norris had not slowed under double-waved yellow flags on Lap 31. A mature race from Verstappen, this is the kind of race the newly crowned four-time World Champion is known for.
The difference in driveability between the sprint and Grand Prix showcased how quickly fortunes can turn around in F1, his RB20 looking a different car on Sunday compared to Saturday. With one round left, Verstappen has the car to sign off another successful year in considerable style next weekend.
Sergio Perez: 3
Grid Position P9, Race Result DNF
Perez sunk to new lows in Qatar. His Sprint Race start faux pas should have been the bottom of the barrel, but his retirement behind the Safety Car on Lap 40 rounded off the weekend that may have finally killed his career.
Before his mysterious retirement, Perez enjoyed a competitive race by his below-par standards in 2024, running in the top six and looked set for his best result since the start of the year. However, his forlorn radio message indicates he dropped the car himself before losing drive. Whether self-induced or a mechanical failure, Perez will be praying for a better overall weekend in what looks set to be his final race for Red Bull after a torrid year.
Pressure is mounting on Perez to announce his retirement without forcing Red Bull’s hand, but this is as likely as the Mexican taking part in a performance of The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall.
Charles Leclerc: 9
Grid Position P5, Race Result P2
With his inspired drive in Qatar, Leclerc’s performance has kept Ferrari’s Constructors’ Championship aspirations alive. Moving past the McLaren of Oscar Piastri on the first lap, he battled with the Australian for much of the opening stages.
Passing the McLaren in the pits on Lap 36 under the Safety Car, he saw off a challenge from the McLaren at the restart and now primed to take advantage of any issues for the leading pair of Verstappen and Norris.
When Norris seemingly forgot where his brake pedal was, Leclerc stormed into second place at the chequered flag when the McLaren pitted for his penalty. Leclerc extracted the maximum from his car as he chases down the runner-up spot in the Drivers’ Championship.
Carlos Sainz: 6.5
Grid Position P7, Race Result P6
Sainz’s main achievement in Qatar was running over the mirror of Alex Albon. Mostly absent from the afternoon’s action, the Spaniard failed to make any real impression on the race while his team-mate shined under the lights.
Whilst bad luck contributed to the puncture that followed the contact with the detached mirror, his pace afterwards completely fell away, leading to the embarrassing loss of position to Pierre Gasly in the latter stages of the race, which he never recovered.
On a day where the gap to McLaren could have been reduced significantly, Sainz’s average performance will not have gone down well with the Scuderia. Hauling in the 21 points to McLaren in one race is a big ask, and needs both drivers to achieve this. While Sainz did indeed turn up in Qatar, the Spaniard appeared to miss the team memo about fighting at the front.
Oscar Piastri: 8.5
Grid Position P4, Race Result P3
While not at the same pace as team-mate Norris, Piastri’s performance in Qatar was strong. McLaren and Ferrari were closely matched in the race, and the epic battle between the Australian and Leclerc showcased the stakes in the championship. Although losing out to the Monegasque thanks to being on the wrong end of a Safety Car deployment, his consistent speed and drama-free race secured the final spot on the podium and played a significant part in keeping the gap to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship above 20 points.
Lando Norris: 5
Grid Position P3 Race Result P9
Norris threw away his best chance at victory in several races in Qatar. Initially, he looked set for a strong result to put to bed whispers that he lacked the behaviours to challenge Max. Pulling off a bold move at the start on George Russell, he almost took the lead but backed out, opting to avoid a potential collision.
Caution was the name of the game for Norris, as he got dicey with Verstappen several times but never found a way past the Red Bull. Suffering from tunnel vision, his sole focus on passing Verstappen led to a lapse in concentration and forgetting how his brake pedal worked as he failed to slow down under yellow flags. The stewards’ punishment of a 10-second stop-and-go penalty destroyed his afternoon and will have hit his confidence.
He recovered to get back into the points but ultimately, Qatar became another example of Norris failing to maximise results in a strong car.
George Russell: 6.5
Grid Position P1 Race Result P4
Russell’s performance at Lusail was underwhelming at best and poor at its worst. Focused entirely on his increasingly volatile rivalry with Verstappen, Russell lost the lead at the first corner, with Norris steaming by to rub salt in the wound. Unable to keep up with the top two, he fell behind at a spectacular rate; his trademark complaints of grip once again shone as brightly as the lack of speed in his W15.
His team shares the blame for a below-par Sunday after bodging his pit stop, relegating him behind Piastri’s McLaren, with no hope of moving forward afterwards. Finishing just two seconds ahead of Gasly’s Alpine, the victory of Las Vegas will now be a distant memory.
Lewis Hamilton: 3
Grid Position P6 Race Result P12
Hamilton’s Mercedes career is ending in just one race’s time, with the motivation of the seven-time world champion called into question as his results continue to underwhelm. Admitting he fears his speed is terminally disappearing, his performance in Qatar will do nothing to quell those voicing concerns. His W15 spent the race going backwards without speed, downforce, and balance.
Combined with picking up a puncture after running over the debris caused by Albon’s mirror, a five-second penalty for a false start, and a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, it is easy to see why Hamilton had to be supposedly convinced to complete the race. Lack of motivation and a competitive car are leading to terrible performances for Hamilton, and he must improve before his switch to Ferrari.
Pierre Gasly: 9.5
Grid Position P11 Race Result P5
On an afternoon where a driver’s ability to keep their head could lead to a substantial points haul, Gasly’s performance was near flawless. Initially not able to move up the order, the Frenchman spent the first phase of the race on the fringes of the points. But as the pit stops approached, he found himself in eighth after stunning overtakes and in a position where he could capitalise on the chaos caused by Albon’s detached mirror. Battling hard with Sainz’s Ferrari, he forced an error from the Spaniard, leading to well-deserved fifth place at the finish.
Gasly looks rejuvenated as Alpine’s upgrades begin to pay dividends, and the potential of his alliance with the French team is at last showing its full potential.
Esteban Ocon: N/A
Grid Position P20 Race Result DNF
Ocon was an innocent victim in the first-corner clash between himself, Franco Colapinto and Nico Hulkenberg in what turned out to be his last race for Alpine. His subsequent release by the team with one race still left on his contract speaks volumes about the situation at Enstone and Ocon’s attitude. While team-mate Gasly enjoyed a strong weekend and a brilliant top-five finish, Ocon made life exceptionally difficult for himself by starting in 20th, with a challenging race the best he could hope for. His mindset will have fully switched to his Haas debut after Abu Dhabi.
Fernando Alonso: 8
Grid Position P8 Race Result P7
The Qatar GP showcased Alonso’s experience and raw speed once again as he wrestled his draggy AMR24 to a points finish. Although dropping down the order in the opening laps, he too took advantage of the chaos induced by race control’s failure to deploy a Virtual Safety car to deal with Albon’s mirror. Using all his experience and dogged determination, seventh place at the chequered flag was a good result for a car that has rapidly fallen down the competitive order.
Lance Stroll: 2
Grid Position P15 Race Result DNF
Stroll’s race was nothing short of an embarrassment. Albon was left far from impressed as the Canadian understeered into him on the first lap. Zhou Guanyu, watching the action from behind, also appeared unimpressed by Stroll’s antics. Unlike in previous races, Stroll survived the incident but was awarded a 10-second stop/go penalty for the collision. However, this hardly mattered in the long run as he retired on lap 10. This is yet another race with only one Aston Martin scoring points and driving at an acceptable level for F1.
Zhou Guanyu: 10
Grid Position P12 Race Result P8
Zhou is a driver reborn in recent races, with the Qatar GP, demonstrating the driver hidden inside the nadir of Sauber’s 2024 season. Aggressive from the start, the Chinese driver battled hard to move up the order, rewarded with a thoroughly deserved four points at the chequered flag. His spectacular move on Yuki Tsuonda on lap 15 underlined his credentials. When the chaos started later in the race, he kept his cool and his position on merit, finishing comfortably ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. He may have finished lower down the order, but Zhou put in a flawless drive.
Valtteri Bottas: 6.5
Grid Position P13 Race Result P11
That Bottas finished 15 seconds away from the points masks the struggles the Finn endured during the race. Hit by Liam Lawson’s RB early on, Bottas raced with a damaged floor, which cost him precious performance. That he was able to overtake the likes of Tsunoda and, en route to 11th at the chequered flag, shows the consistency and dependability that has defined his career.
Kevin Magnussen: 8
Grid Position P10 Race Result P9
Magnussen’s performance has kept Haas in the running for sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship. Pulling off thrilling overtakes on Tsunoda and the wounded Albon, he, too, took advantage of Norris’s penalty. Although ultimately losing out to Zhou, Magnussen showed that he can still cut it with the best on his day. If he replicates this pace next weekend, he will leave Haas on a high.
Nico Hulkenberg: 3
Grid Position P18 Race Result DNF
Hulkenberg did not feature in the Qatar GP after his first-lap clash with Colapinto and Ocon. Although he continued, the German trundled around in the lower part of the order until an embarrassing spin on lap 40 ahead of the final Safety Car restart resulted in him beaching his Haas in the gravel. With such high stakes for the team at the finale, Hulkenberg must avoid a repeat performance in Abu Dhabi.
Yuki Tsunoda: 5
Grid Position P14 Race Result P13
Tsunoda had no pace in Lusail, his car unable to challenge for points after losing multiple positions at the start. Even fitting the soft tyres at the final Safety Car failed to help the Japanese driver move forward. That said, he used the machinery at his disposal to the best of his abilities, extracting the absolute maximum from his car. The same cannot be said of his team-mate or the driver he aims to replace at Red Bull next season.
Liam Lawson: 2.5
Grid Position P14 Race Result P14
Lawson’s chances of securing the 2025 seat took a severe hit in Qatar. Hitting Bottas and spinning off at the first restart, he spent the evening consigned to the back of the pack, unable to move forward, spending the majority of his race needing incidents to bring him back into contention. With no pace, poor overtaking execution, and underperformance, Lawson’s stock has taken a nosedive matched only by the most extreme near-vertical rollercoaster. Sadly, Lawson cannot get off his ride of terror and needs to stabilise his position if he is to move to Milton Keynes in 2025.
Alex Albon: 2
Grid Position P16 Race Result P15
Very much in the wars from the first lap, Albon’s race was nothing short of a disaster. Hit by Stroll on the first lap, losing his mirror at the halfway stage, and receiving a 10 second time penalty in the final few laps, Albon is unrecognisable compared to the start of the season. Gone is the consistent driver of old, replaced by one so cautious that it almost equates to inaction. The end of the season will act as a much-needed reset, as Sainz will test him every second of every weekend when he arrives at Williams, and right now, he is already floundering.
Franco Colapinto: N/A
Grid Position P19 Race Result DNF
While Albon can be accused of inaction, Colapinto was just a bystander in his short race in Qatar. Williams’s sixteenth crash of 2024 had the team in justifiable agony as another potential result slipped away. Rumours continue to persist Colapinto will be in an RB next season; the young Argentinian will be hoping his poor run of form in recent races has not impacted the possibility.
Race Control: 4
After the chaos caused by the inability to deploy a Safety Car for four laps, Race Control needs to be mentioned on this list. Two drivers had their races ruined due to inaction over a piece of debris, with the competency of the officials called into question once again.
Deploying a Virtual Safety Car at the very least so a marshal could retrieve Albon’s mirror would have efficiently removed the situation’s danger, with commentators, fans, and teams baffled at the delay in taking action. The situation resembled a boat heading for a cliff but only changing course after colliding with the rocks. An entirely avoidable episode, the FIA’s responses to incidents will be scrutinised in Abu Dhabi.
However, it must be said that as delayed as other decisions were, all were correct in terms of penalties awarded.
