Only two races stand between us and the end of the season. The Qatar Grand Prix is the penultimate round of the 2024 season, but it’s also the final sprint race weekend of the season.
Lando Norris had a good start from pole position, maintaining the race lead on the first lap. Teammate Oscar Piastri moved himself up to P2, overtaking George Russell around the outside of the first corner. Russell attempted to dive inside Piastri in the first corner a few laps later, but couldn’t make the move stick.
Once the DRS was enabled, Piastri began to feel the pressure from Russell behind. McLaren played the strategic team game, telling Norris to slow his pace to keep Piastri within DRS range. With Norris’ championship hopes already gone, he complied, helping to keep his teammate in P2.
Once Piastri was within DRS range of Norris, the team told Norris to raise his pace slightly, hoping to pull Piastri outside of Russell’s DRS range. With five laps remaining in the race, Piastri fell out of DRS range to Norris again and came under pressure from Russell. Russell was lining up a lunge into the first corner, but Piastri blocked the move into the braking zone. Russell complained that the defence was too late, but the stewards didn’t need to note the incident.
With everyone cruising around at Norris’ desired pace, the top drivers bunched up. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton treated fans to a potential preview of what’s to come in 2025, the two future teammates fighting for P5. Leclerc made a dive up the inside of the first corner, but Hamilton hung on around the outside. The two were wheel-to-wheel for much of the first sector before Leclerc finally claimed the position.
Back at the front of the field, Piastri lost DRS to Norris at the start of the final lap, with Norris unsuccessfully trying to claim the fastest lap. By the end of the final lap, McLaren was happy to finish in the current order. However, Norris had other plans. In the final corner, Norris slowed to a crawl, allowing his teammate to take the race victory. Norris crossed the line before Russell, maintaining the McLaren 1-2 finish.
There is more racing to come this weekend. Next up is the main event tomorrow.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | 27:03.010 | 8 | ||
| 2 | 19 | +0.136 | 7 | ||
| 3 | 19 | +0.410 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 19 | +1.326 | 5 | ||
| 5 | 19 | +5.073 | 4 |  | |
| 6 | 19 | +5.650 | 3 | ||
| 7 | 19 | +8.508 | 2 | ||
| 8 | 19 | +10.368 | 1 | ||
| 9 | 19 | +14.513 | |||
| 10 | 19 | +15.485 | |||
| 11 | 19 | +19.204 | |||
| 12 | 19 | +23.351 | |||
| 13 | 19 | +24.421 | |||
| 14 | 19 | +30.379 | |||
| 15 | 19 | +33.062 | |||
| 16 | 19 | +34.356 | |||
| 17 | 19 | +35.102 | |||
| 18 | 19 | +35.639 | |||
| 19 | 19 | +71.436 | |||
| 20 | 19 | +74.371 |
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 404 |  | |
| 2 | L. Norris | 347 | -57 |  |
| 3 | C. Leclerc | 323 | -81 | |
| 4 | O. Piastri | 276 | -128 | |
| 5 | C. Sainz | 264 | -140 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 623 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 593 | -30 | |
| 3 | Red Bull | 556 | -67 | |
| 4 | Mercedes | 434 | -189 | |
| 5 | Aston Martin | 86 | -537 | |
