2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix Highlights

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen showed his championship qualities with a commanding drive to victory in an incident-packed 2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, the season’s penultimate race.

The newly crowned four-time world champion had qualified in pole position for the Grand Prix but was later docked a position for slowing another driver on his cool-down lap. However, this did nothing to slow the Dutchman; after passing pole-sitter George Russell on the run into Turn 1, he controlled the race. Not even three separate Safety Car incidents could throw Verstappen off, and he cruised home 6.031s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while MacLaren’s Oscar Piastri claimed the final podium position.

Team-mate Sergio Pérez’s Grand Prix ended early, on Lap 38 of the 57-lap race, when the Mexican suffered a mechanical issue with his RB20 that saw him suddenly lose power and spin before limping into the run-off area, having being dealt his fourth DNF of the season.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

I enjoyed the race quite a lot overall, especially at the beginning when Lando and I pushed each other quite hard. We were leading by Turn 1 after starting P2 and were able to maximise and get the tyres in the right window. The car felt much better, and I enjoyed it a lot out there today. It was nice to win in the dry as well; it has been quite a few races since we achieved that. It was definitely not a boring race,e and there was a lot to manage with the restarts and safety cars throughout, but we learned from that and were able to stay in front. I am very proud to win here in Qatar, and proud of the Team for our performances this weekend, it is a great track and one of my favourites on the calendar. We have to make sure we nail our setup in Abu Dhabi and to hopefully finish the season with another great race.

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

Things were looking good at the time for me, I was sitting in P5 and we were in the mix for the podium. Then as I was warming up the tyre, getting ready for the restart, I had a massive over delivery as I was picking up the throttle out of turn 12. With cold tyres I couldn’t control it, it basically meant I lost the car and then lost drive from that point onwards. It is quite disappointing to end up like this. There were some positive signs for me this weekend with performance and I think we have learnt a lot from the car this weekend and found good direction. I think the season hasn’t been great for me, there has been a lot of up and downs and we have a few things to review there. We are all in this together as a Team and we are trying to get our season back on track, hopefully Abu Dhabi can do that and we can have a strong weekend.

CHRISTIAN HORNER, CEO and Team Principal

That was another masterclass from Max. He was focused and in control throughout the race, his management of the tyres in that first stint was exceptional. I think the team did an excellent job turning around and delivering a car that Max could really put his stamp on. It was a shame to lose out on Pole but if anything it gave Max more determination and motivation to lead into turn 1, it was an unbelievable performance by Max and the Team. Full credit to the engineering staff for making some big decisions and unlocking the potential of the car here it meant Max had Lando covered throughout the race. It was a little bit crazy here with the punctures but the Team reacted and dealt with everything that came their way, the crew and everybody did a super job.

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