Max Verstappen made it two wins in three races at the 2024 Qatar GP on Sunday. The Dutchman’s ninth win of the season had bittersweet undertones for Red Bull, however, after the #1 driver was stripped of his pole position post-qualifying with a contentious penalty.
But it all started to pay off from lap 1 onwards for the 27-year-old. Starting from P2 after the one-place grid drop, Verstappen quickly took the lead back from George Russell into the turn 1 right-hander. After the race, his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase came onto the team radio comms to congratulate Verstappen and take a pretty pointed dig at the FIA.
“Simply lovely, guys! What an unbelievable race again, that was really fun!”
Expertly managed from the first corner to the last by Max Verstappen tonight! #F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/etuxKMdgzq
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 1, 2024
“Karma is a wonderful thing. You definitely did not drive unnecessarily slowly today. Great job,” said the 44-year-old Italian-British engineer. Lambiase was referring to the Dutchman’s penalty yesterday for driving “unnecessarily slowly” on his final out lap in Q3.
That said, while Verstappen was on the books of the stewards on Saturday, in Sunday’s Grand Prix, it was everyone but him! The entire race was shrouded by safety cars and two big penalties for Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
The Stewards were kept busy by the drivers at the 2024 Qatar GP
Many drivers were dished out with time penalties but two incidents on track meant Norris, McLaren, and Hamilton had an evening to forget at the Lusail International Circuit. The #4 driver was the first one to get a rap from the stewards for failing to slow down under a yellow flag.
This meant that the Briton was handed a rare yet excruciating 10-second stop-and-go penalty. He did recover to finish P10 at the chequered flag but lost the win to Verstappen.
For Hamilton, though, this would have been his worst race to date. After battling many incidents, the #44 driver was caught speeding in the pit lane. This meant a slam dunk drive-through penalty — which prompted Hamilton to even ask his team to retire the car.
The outcome of the race and the penalties mean that McLaren were not able to secure their first Constructors’ title since 1998 in Qatar. Rather, Ferrari have now closed the gap down to 21 points going into the season finale at Abu Dhabi next weekend.
