Max Verstappen passed George Russell heading into turn 1, negating the one-place grid penalty imposed on the Red Bull driver, then led the entire way to win the penalty-filled Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday (December 1st). It was Verstappen’s ninth win of the season and came a week after he clinched his fourth world championship.
Charles Leclerc finished second, benefitting from a harsh 10-second stop-and-go penalty levied on Lando Norris, who was running second when he was penalized. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished third, pole-sitter Russell took fourth, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was fifth, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz nabbed sixth as Ferrari pulled closer to McLaren in the constructors standings.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took seventh, while Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu gave the team its first points of the season, crossing the line in eighth. Kevin Magnussen earned ninth, and Norris stormed from last place after serving his penalty to finish 10th, grabbing the extra point for the fastest lap.
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“It was a very good race,” Verstappen said. “It’s been a while in the dry to be this competitive.
“Very proud of everyone within the team to turn it around within a day [since the sprint], so they definitely also deserve this victory.”
In the driver standings, Verstappen now leads Norris by 57 points and Leclerc sits in third, 24 behind Norris.
In the constructor standings, McLaren’s lead over Ferrari is down to only 21 points, 640 to 619. Red Bull is in third, 38 behind Ferrari.
The Race
Verstappen got off the line well and jumped past Russell into turn 1, and while Russell tried to defend, Norris slipped by into second and briefly had the lead. But Verstappen exited the corner with the lead and likely felt he rightly deserved it after a questionable penalty.
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Moments later, officials deployed the safety car after Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg made contact, sending Ocon into the Williams of Franco Colapinto. Further back, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Williams’ Alex Albon touched, sending Albon for a spin. One Williams out of the race, and one damaged without even one lap completed!
Racing resumed on lap 5, and Verstappen opened up nearly a one-second lead over Norris, with Russell and Piastri right behind and the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Stroll earned a 10-second penalty for causing the crash with Albon and pitted to serve the penalty on lap 8. Stroll then retired a lap later.
Up front, Verstappen’s lead was up to two seconds over Norris by lap 10, and the Red Bull driver seemed determined to add another victory to his championship season.
In the battle for sixth place in the constructors standings, Haas’ Magnussen was running ninth, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 10th. Haas entered the race with a three-point lead over Alpine, and with Ocon already out, Alpine’s hopes rested solely on the drive of Gasly.
Norris set a fastest lap on Lap 15 to trim a little time off of Verstappen’s lead, which stood at about 1.6 seconds. Verstappen responded with a fastest lap on Lap 18 to maintain a healthy gap to the McLaren. Russell was five seconds adrift of Norris, so it looked at the moment like a two-driver battle for the win between Verstappen and Norris.
Russell was the first of the frontrunners to pit, coming in on Lap 24, and the crew had trouble with the right rear. The result: a disastrous seven-second stop that dropped Russell to 11th, behind slower traffic and would put him behind the Ferrari when they ultimately pitted.
Meanwhile, Russell wound up stuck behind Alonso and also stuck with the thought, knowing that a potential win and a potential podium had slipped through his fingers.
Albon lost a rear-view mirror on the frontstretch on lap 30, and while it wasn’t in the racing line, it did look like a potential hazard. Race control wanted to avoid a virtual safety car but the incident was exacerbated on Lap 34 when Valtteri Bottas ran over the mirror, sending debris all over. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both suffered punctures caused by the debris.
Race control finally issued a safety car on Lap 36, which worked out for Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc, who had yet to pit. The safety car led the field into the pit lane so race officials could finally clear the debris.
The Safety Car came in on Lap 40, and Norris matched Verstappen’s jump and attempted to pass into turn 1. Verstappen fought it off, and once again, Verstappen out-thunk Norris.
Back in the field, Perez lost power and pulled off the track, followed by Hülkenberg spinning into the gravel, bringing out the second safety car.
Bad news for Norris emerged as he was under investigation for failing to slow under double yellow flags for the broken rear-view mirror situation earlier. A few laps later, the decision was in: a ten-second stop-and-go penalty was the punishment.
The safety car was in with 15 laps to go, and Verstappen got a solid jump, and Norris had to defend second from Leclerc. Norris succeeded in holding off Leclerc and was less than a second behind in his pursuit of Verstappen but had to serve the penalty within three laps. Norris came in on lap 46 for the penalty and returned to the track in last place.
Norris’ penalty boosted Ferrari’s constructors championship hopes, with Norris out of the points and Leclerc running second, with Sainz in sixth. Piastri was third, just over a second behind Leclerc, and if Piastri could somehow get by Leclerc, it would be a huge boost to a disappointing day for McLaren.
Verstappen’s lead was over four seconds over Leclerc with 10 laps to go. Norris was 14th and in desperation mode to get a single point.
Gasly was running fifth, and with Magnussen in ninth, Alpine would assume sixth in the constructors standings. Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyou was running eighth, and teammate Bottas was 11th and hot on the tail of Albon in 10th. And both could see Norris in their rear-view mirrors (assuming they were still intact) charging.
Bottas made the pass on Albon, taking 10th on lap 53. But Norris was behind him with four laps to go and, in a much faster car, made quick work of Bottas, taking 10th a lap later.
Verstappen took the checkered flag with a six-second margin over Leclerc, with Piastri third and Russell fourth. Norris held on to 10th for a point and snagged an extra point for the fastest lap.
The Good
Zhou Guanyu’s eighth-place finish gave Kick Sauber their first points of the season, and if not for Norris’ mad dash to the finish line to take 10th, Valtteri Bottas would have put another point on the board for the team. As it was, Bottas finished 11th, but we were very close to a double points day for Sauber. Before this, when Sauber was the subject, the word you’d most likely hear after “double” was “retirement,” not “points.”
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Cadillac is coming to Formula 1 in 2026, with GM power units to follow in 2028. Of course, it will be a while before Cadillac even remotely competes for the world championship. That time is far, far away. What else is far, far away? Michael Andretti from the sport, by order of F1/FIA.
The Bad
Was Verstappen’s one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly on a cool-down lap in Q3 on Saturday (November 30th) necessary or even warranted? Maybe, maybe not. But it all made sense after the race because it seemed race officials were in extreme punishment mode,
Race officials bungled the handling of Alex Albon’s broken side mirror that lay on the track for about four laps before Valtteri Bottas ran right over it. Then, the resulting pieces strewn about the track caused punctures in Hamilton and Sainz’s tires. Officials had the chance to deploy a safety car immediately but did not, instead issuing yellow flags. Not only was the broken mirror a danger to every car on the track, but Bottas now had to face the indignity of seven more years of bad luck to go along with the one he already had driving for Kick Sauber.
Can any pole-sitting driver starting the race with Verstappen in second maintain the lead past turn 1? It appears not. Norris has failed multiple times in that situation, and Russell failed in Qatar and couldn’t even hold on to second place. It’s like drivers know that if they are side-by-side with Verstappen on the run down the front straight, Verstappen will absolutely not be the one to back off, so they have to.
Grid Walk Moments
Martin Brundle had the week off, so the “Grid Walk” in Qatar consisted of Simon Lazenby and Jenson Button ambling through the grid and scoring interviews with the likes of Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes and Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, both of whom have a lot to say, none of which I really wanted to hear.
To be fair, if the celebrity quotient in Las Vegas was 100, it was in the single digits in Qatar. Granted, it was Thanksgiving weekend in the United States, so American celebrities who would otherwise make the trek to Qatar were at home. It may be the one time of the year when feeding their faces takes precedence over feeding their egos.
The Disappointing
While it prevented what may have been a decent finish between Verstappen and Norris, Norris’ penalty for not slowing under double yellow flags was the right call. But would officials have investigated it at all had tattletale and noted rigid rule-follower Verstappen not clued them into Norris’ infraction? I would hope F1 officials wouldn’t need assistance but with the mysterious firings of several key officials, who knows what the competence level is anymore?
The Driver
Verstappen laughed off a one-place grid penalty to dominate the race, and while the focus of the race was on debris on the track, safety cars (or lack thereof), and penalties for various infractions, Alpine’s Gasly and Sauber’s Guanyu were scoring crucial points for their respective teams.
Gasly’s fifth-place finish and 10-point haul boosted Alpine over Haas and into sixth in the constructors standings. It was made all the more important after Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon crashed out of the race on the first lap.
Zhou’s points for eighth were Sauber’s first of the season and finally gave the team something to celebrate besides Bottas’ mullet-mustache combination.
The Results (Qatar Airways Qatar GP, Losail International Circuit)
| Pos | No | Driver | Car | Laps | Time/retired | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 57 | 1:31:05.323 | 25 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 57 | +6.031s | 18 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | 57 | +6.819s | 15 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 57 | +14.104s | 12 |
| 5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | 57 | +16.782s | 10 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 57 | +17.476s | 8 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 57 | +19.867s | 6 |
| 8 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 57 | +25.360s | 4 |
| 9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 57 | +32.177s | 2 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 57 | +35.762s | 2 |
| 11 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 57 | +50.243s | 0 |
| 12 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 57 | +56.122s | 0 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda RBPT | 57 | +61.100s | 0 |
| 14 | 30 | Liam Lawson | RB Honda RBPT | 57 | +62.656s | 0 |
| 15 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| NC | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | 39 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 38 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 8 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Williams Mercedes | 0 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 0 | DNF | 0 |
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