Max sees it all at Qatar. PETER COSTER reports on the race in the desert.
Max Verstappen’s fourth successive world F1 championship showed why he is the greatest driver of his generation and it’s not because he is the fastest.
It’s because he sees not only what’s in front of him but what is behind him. At the Qatar Grand Prix it was guessing what Lando Norris might have done.
Verstappen lifted off when he saw waved double yellow flags, but suspected the McLaren deriver might not have done so when he suddenly made up ground on the leading Red Bull.
Verstappen told his pit crew to report this to the stewards, who confirmed not only what Norris had failed to see, but was also missed by the millions of fans watching on the world television feed.
They were shown the lap beforehand, not the lap in question, which added to the confusion.
The penalty was a 10-second stop-and-go penalty that effectively ended Norris’s race.
He came out at the tail of the field and saw valuable points go to Ferrari when Charles Leclerc finish second behind Verstappen, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri third.
Nothing gets past the Red Bull champion, who led the Qatar race from the first turn, when he and Lando Norris out manoeuvred Mercedes driver George Russell intothe first turn. Russell was the polesitter, courtesy of a protest against Verstappen who was penalised a place for driving too slowly ahead of the Mercedes driver in qualifying.
There is no love lost among the 20 elite drivers on the F1 grid. It’s tough earning all those tens of millions of dollars
Not only is there the race, and there are a record 24 GPs this year, with the next race in the triple header at Abu Dhabi this week.
You might might fly around the world in your private jet, but you are subjected to countless intrusions by the media for comments and interviews when you get there.
As well as the added sprint races you may be forced to drive in before the Grand Prix itself, such as at Qarar.
Just how inconvenient is it is was a question put in all seriousness to former champion Jenson Button, one of the commentators at the race on the Arabian Peninsula.
The 2009 world champion who must be a fan of Joni Mitchell, came out with the line about not knowing what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.
Even the world’s best drivers know that it doesn’t last forever, so they grab it while it’s there.
How long you can expect to prevent being pushed out of a seat and all that money is finite, although Fernando Alonso at 43 seems too be successfully defying the onset of middle age.
Lewis Hamilton, who has won seven world championships is 40 and has pushed out a younger driver in Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz next year.
But is he as good as he once was is becoming a talking point considering Hamilton’s 26-year-old teammate consistently out qualifies Hamilton.
Is it because of the driver or the car?
Hamilton finished runner-up to Russell at Las Vegas but wanted to retire at Qatar because the car was “undrivceable.”
Hamilton was forced to stay out for another lap before the pit wall relented.
Russell finished fourth at Qatar and the 43-year-old Alonso seventh for Aston Martin. The former double world champion (it was way back in 2005 and 2006) consistently our performs teammate Lance Stroll.
The 26-year-old Canadian, whose father owns the team, registered another DNF on Sunday from damage after tagging Williams driver Alex Albon at the start.
But back to Verstappen, who won at Qatar in the dry after his masterclass in the wet at Brazil.
The current world champion reported Lando Norris at Qatar, but didn’t like it when George Russell did the same over their qualifying incident.
Nothing in it, said Verstappen and Russell could “fuck off.” The Red Bull driver added that he was “heavily pissed,” which can be taken to mean that he was “pissed off” rather than affected by alcohol.
Tempers are understandably frayed at this time of the year, with only the Abu Dhabi race before the teams move to Melbourne for the opening Grand Prix of the 2025 season.
Queenslander Jack Doohan will be on the grid for Alpine with Melbourne superstar Oscar Piastri, who won the sprint race at Qatar in a one-two with teammate Lando Norris.
Norris slowed down to let Piastri past after Piastri did the same to help Norris in the drivers’ championship against Verstappen, which became out of reach after the Las Vegas race..
However, McLaren is still ahead in the race for the constructors’ championship, with a 21-point buffer against Ferrari, with Red bull 38 points adrift because of the lack of points from Sergio Perez.
This season has been a disaster for the Mexican driver, who failed to finish at Qatar after what he said was “a massive over delivery from the engine” that caused him to spin on lap 39 of the 57-lap race.
The Mexican driver insists he will be on the grid for Red Bull in 2025, but it seems no one, including Red Bull principal Christian Horner, shares his enthusiasm.
Who will start alongside Verstappen?
Maybe Visa RB drivers Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda, now that interest has waned in buying Argentine star Franco Colapinto from Williams.
The 21-year-old replaced Logan Sergeant at the Italian Grand Prix this year after the American was sacked because of multiple crashes.
Unfortunately, Colapinto has crashed four times times over the past three Grand Prix weekends, the last at Qatar in a tangle on the opening lap.
One of the other drivers in involved was Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who has since been sacked to allow 21-year-old reserve driver Jack Doohan to race in the season final at Abu Dhabi.
No mention has been made anywhere of Daniel Ricciardo, sacked from RB in favour of New Zealander Liam Lawson.
But who knows in 2026, when the Australian eight-times race winner will be 36?
American 1978 F1 world champion Mario Andretti says Ricciardo could be the experienced driver Cadillac needs for its entry to F1.
Cadillac, a subsidiary of the American auto giant, General Motors, is paying a reported $450 million to become the 11th team on the grid, a massive sum when you consider a team entry a few years ago was $350,000.
Results of the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix
| Pos | Driver | Car | Laps | Time/retired |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 57 | 31:05.3 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 57 | +6.031s |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | 57 | +6.819s |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 57 | +14.104s |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | 57 | +16.782s |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 57 | +17.476s |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 57 | +19.867s |
| 8 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 57 | +25.360s |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 57 | +32.177s |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 57 | +35.762s |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 57 | +50.243s |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 57 | +56.122s |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda RBPT | 57 | +61.100s |
| 14 | Liam Lawson | RB Honda RBPT | 57 | +62.656s |
| 15 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 56 | +1 lap |
| NC | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | 39 | DNF |
| NC | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 38 | DNF |
| NC | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 8 | DNF |
| NC | Franco Colapinto | Williams Mercedes | 0 | DNF |
| NC | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 0 | DNF |
PETER COSTER is a former editor and foreign correspondent who has covered a range of international sports, including world championship fights and the Olympic Games.
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