Big Norris penalty keeps constructors' fight open, Verstappen wins in Qatar

Max Verstappen took his first dry weather Formula 1 grand prix win in five months in Qatar as a big penalty for Lando Norris allowed Ferrari to close the gap to McLaren and keep the constructors’ championship fight open until the finale.

Having lost pole to a penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly between fast laps, Verstappen quickly dismissed first place starter George Russell into the first corner at the start, with Norris also passing the Mercedes as both it and Verstappen’s Red Bull went slightly wide.

Verstappen kept Norris at a safe distance through the first half of the race, until a dramatic chain of events that began with Alex Albon’s Williams shedding a wing mirror on the main straight.

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This was controversially initially covered with yellow flags rather than a virtual or full safety car. Norris was judged to have failed to slow for these, though his penalty for it would be a long time coming.

The safety car did appear once Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton both picked up left front punctures, though it wasn’t clear if they were caused by the debris.

Norris attacked Verstappen down the outside at the restart and was held off, then was closing in again following another safety car for Nico Huikenberg spinning his Haas into the gravel when news of the 10-second stop/go penalty for the yellow flag offence came through.

With the field tightly packed from the pair of safety cars, Norris dropped down to 15th and last, though he did make it back up to 10th.

His demotion left Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari as runner-up to Verstappen, benefitting from eventual third place finisher Oscar Piastri losing a little ground by pitting just before the safety car for the punctures when the other frontrunners all came in during it and from Russell having a very slow first pitstop.

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The Mercedes recovered to fourth, which it kept despite a 5s penalty for a safety car procedure infringement.

The race was chaotic throughout, and that was reflected in a mixed-up order that included Pierre Gasly getting fifth for Alpine ahead of the puncture-delayed Sainz, Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Zhou Guanyu finally giving Sauber its first four points of 2024 with eighth.

Kevin Magnussen came back from a punt from Alex Albon that earned the Williams driver a 10s penalty to score ninth for Haas.

Other chaos included Hulkenberg hitting Esteban Ocon into Franco Colapinto at the start, from which the Haas escaped with a puncture while the Alpine and Williams both retired instantly, Lance Stroll hitting Albon into a spin, Liam Lawson spinning while trying to pass Valtteri Bottas at the restart from the early safety car for Ocon and Colapinto’s stranded cars and Sergio Perez spinning with an apparent mechanical problem then retiring just ahead of the second restart while on course for a top-five finish.

Perez’s retirement - he's being investigated for 'dangerous driving' - ensured that despite Verstappen’s win, Red Bull is now officially out of constructors’ championship contention. McLaren heads into the Abu Dhabi finale with a 21-point lead over Ferrari there.

Hamilton had an utterly miserable race to 12th. Even before the puncture he'd been penalised for a false start, in which he moved early, realised and stopped then consequently got away poorly. He complained of poor car pace throughout and later picked up a pitlane speeding penalty too, after which he asked to retire the car but ended up continuing to the finish, making it past RBs and Albon.