Verstappen on a roll in Qatar and misery for Hamilton as constructors title fight goes down to the wire in

While our newly crowned champion Max Verstappen’s winning streak continued in Qatar, it wasn’t quite so easy going for the rest of the field. Despite battling for the lead, a penalty and puncture filled race saw McLaren’s Lando Norris cast to the back of the pack with a stop/go penalty, while a Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton suffered a miserable weekend, culminating in a puncture and two penalties. Joining Verstappen on the podium was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who both keep their respective teams in the fight for the constructors’ title, which goes down to the wire in the Abu Dhabi finale. With only one race left of the 2024 season, here’s all the highlights and what we learned from the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix.

Champion Verstappen still riding the winning wave 

Since Verstappen secured his seat at the table of F1 legends after claiming his fourth consecutive drivers’ title, there’s been a lot of talk about the 27-year-old’s talent and another win in Qatar did nothing to disprove this.

Despite losing out on Pole after being handed a bizarre one-pace grid penalty following George Russell’s complaint of Verstappen ‘driving too slowly’ on a cool down lap, it took the Dutchman a matter of seconds to regain the lead in Qatar. Pulling away from the lights, he quickly righted the wrong he was handed by Poleman Russell.

Despite the chaos that unfolded around him and some close quarters battles with Lando Norris, our new world champion went on to dominate the race and secure his second win in three Grands Prix and ninth of the season.

“Lando and I were just within 1.8s of each other the whole time, pushing each other and honestly it was a lot of fun out there,” said Verstappen after the race.

“This track has a lot of grip and this year the tyres were really holding on so that was honestly a lot of fun to be really pushing the tyre. We went really long on that first stint.

“After that of course there were a few Safety Car moments that you had to take care, but very happy.

“It’s been a while in the dry to be this competitive and very proud of everyone within the team to turn it around within a day. They definitely also deserve this victory.”

While Perez looks set for Red Bull departure

While the celebrations were flowing on Verstappen’s side of the garage, it was a different story over in Perez’s corner. The Mexican endured yet another tough weekend in Qatar as he failed to finish the race, in stark contrast to his teammate.

While the result was disappointing for Perez, it was worse for Red Bull, who find themselves knocked out of contention for the constructors’ championship, leaving only Ferrari and McLaren still in the game.

While Perez’s season started strong, with four podiums in his first five races landing him a contract extension, the rest of his campaign has been one to forget.

“First of all, we’ve won nine Grands Prix this year to five of any other team,” Team Principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports when asked about Perez. “Now, all of those nine have come from Max [Verstappen], whereas every other team has split between two drivers. “And I think to be third – we’ve still got half a chance of second but it’s a massively long shot – we are out of the constructors’ and that’s very frustrating because that’s obviously where the financial revenues are distributed from.”

Nearing the end of the season, the standings tell a tale for the two Red Bull drivers. While Verstappen sits at the top of with his fourth consecutive drivers’ title and 429 points, Perez sits eighth with 152 points – 277 less than his teammate.

“He knows the pressures of this business and we are going to give him all the support we can to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi next weekend and what he decides to do, that will be his decision at the end of the day,” added Horner.

“I think he’s old enough and wise enough to come to his own conclusions but there is still a race to go so let’s get to the end of Abu Dhabi and see where we are at.”

Hamilton vows to give Mercedes farewell ‘best shot’ after disaster in the desert 

After one more race, we’ll wave a teary goodbye to arguably the greatest pairing in motorsport history. After the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Lewis Hamilton’s 12-year tenure at Mercedes will come to an end – a period that’s seen the Brit collect six of his seven world championship titles.

But there’s some work to do before then, Hamilton admits. Frustrated by his outing in Qatar, which saw the Brit admit “he’s definitely not fast anymore,” after he struggled to find enough pace in qualifying for the sprint race and grand prix. Unable to find fault with the car, all eyes were on the seven-time world champion as George Russell once again outperformed him, starting on the front row for the Sprint race and grand prix.

In the race, Hamilton’s miserable weekend worsened after he was handed a time penalty for a false start, shortly before he suffered a front-left puncture. Already far down the running order, Hamilton’s night went from bad to worse as he was issued with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Going on to finish P12, Qatar marked Hamilton’s first race finish outside of the points in the 2024 season.

“I’m still standing, it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up, so I’ll get back up tomorrow and give it another shot next week,” he said after the race.

“I think what's important is that we turn up and give it our best shot.”

Norris ‘let McLaren down’ as Leclerc lands podium - the battle for the teams’ title rages on 

Fresh from his drivers’ title defeat the weekend before, Norris left Qatar feeling like he’d “let down” McLaren after a stop/go penalty saw him drop down the order. Before that, the Brit had been challenging Verstappen for the lead, battling with his closest rival after passing Russell at the start of the race.

After failing to pass Verstappen, Norris had to settle for second until he was served with a 10-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under double waved yellow flags. Despite falling to the back of the pack, Norris still managed to finish P10.

While it was a valiant effort, a second-place finish from Norris alongside Piastri’s podium (P3) would have transformed McLaren’s constructors’ title hopes ahead of Abu Dhabi, particularly as closest rivals Ferrari came second with Leclerc and sixth with Sainz.

“Disappointed that I couldn’t have done a worse job than I did today and not give them the points they deserve, so I’ve made the job of the team much harder than it needs to be,” admitted Norris after the race. “The team are doing a great job but I’ve let them down.”

Going into the final in Abu Dhabi, McLaren has a 21-point lead over Ferrari. With Leclerc and Sainz both netting some much-needed points in Qatar, the pair are optimistic about their teams’ chances of clinching the constructors’ title.

“I think we are all very close so I think it’s going to be very tight, but it’s exciting,” said Leclerc. “21 points is still a lot but everything is possible and we’ll give it our all.”