It's inevitable; the 2024 F1 Season is coming to an end, and what a season it has been. From plenty of on track, and off track, action, to a number of different race winners and an eventual 4th Drivers Championship for Red Bull's Max Verstappen; this season has had it all! But, before we say goodbye, adios and ciao to 2024, there is still plenty of wheel to wheel racing to go - starting with the penultimate race weekend in Qatar, which also happened to be the final Sprint weekend of the season.
This particular Sprint race could have easily been described as a "slow burner," with action few and far between. Regardless, a blistering start from the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri saw them lead the field into the first turn. As for our 2024 Champion, the opposite couldn't have been more true, with the Dutchman dropping to 9th, while struggling with severe understeer.
The race quickly became a battle for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with Piastri and George Russell going wheel to wheel for 2nd position, including a fantastic side by side battle into turns one and two. However, the McLaren's would end up working together, with Norris backing up into Piastri to ensure his teammate would get DRS in an attempt to pull away from Russell.
Elsewhere, it would be another disaster of a race for Sergio Perez, who's 2025 Red Bull contract is still dangerously hanging on by a thread. A slow, and strange, pit lane start would see him drop to 19th position, being overtaken by Williams' Franco Colapinto at the green light. Unfortunately for Perez, he would find himself stuck in 19th position, unable to make up any ground before pitting for a new front wing, in what had become a testing session in the latter stages of the race. Zhou Guanyu would be another driver to make an unscheduled pitstop during the Sprint. He would start the race on the soft compound tyre before it died off on lap eleven. For a driver and team with nothing to lose, opting for a different strategy such as this wasn't going to hurt too much if it went wrong. And, it did.
But, back to our leading battle and Norris' tyres were feeling the brunt of helping out his teammate. However, there would be an even bigger twist in the bag yet. Coming to the finish line, Norris would slow dramatically, letting Piastri through for the win while fending off Russell, in what was a "return the favour" situation from the last Sprint race in Brazil. Norris would finish in 2nd with Russell in 3rd.
Race day, and the beginning of a new on/off track feud between Verstappen and Russell over an incident in qualifying the day before, with Verstappen receiving a ONE place grid penalty for impeding Russell who now started on pole. However, for Russell, his chances of leading the race disappeared into Turn One with Verstappen taking the lead and Norris 2nd. Further back, the drama began early, with Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Colapinto colliding at the first corner. Replays would show that Hulkenberg lost his rear, collecting Ocon and Colapinto in the process, with the latter two DNFing in what would become the last race Ocon would compete in in 2024. Alex Albon and Lance Stroll would also collide on lap one, both coming away unscathed bar a ten second time penalty for Stroll and a later retirement. The opening lap was easily foreshadowing the drama (and controversies) that was to come.
You heard right. The main talking point from this race was yet another controversy regarding race director decisions after Albon's right wingmirror came flying off on the start/finish straight, with no action immediately taken to remove it. A yellow flag would briefly appear, with Norris becoming the unlucky being to be slapped with the first stop/go penalty for some time after not lifting in the yellow zone. Valtteri Bottas would eventually run it over, with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both receiving punctures from the debris. After some questionable decisions, the Safety Car was finally deployed. This has been anything but a good look for our new race director.
Elsewhere in the race, Keving Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda would have a very intriguing wheel to wheel battle, with the former coming out in front. There would also be time penalties for Liam Lawson, Hamilton and Albon. Hamilton would also receive the first drive through penalty for some time, continuing the trend of harsher penalties throughout this race. Fernando Alonso was extremely unhappy and vocal about his car's straight line speed. While Russell would be the victim of a slow pitstop at nearly 7 seconds long. And, after a tussle between Magnussen and Albon, Magnussen would give us a very "fruity" radio message about his then race rival.
But, of course, would this be an F1 race review without a mention for Perez. The struggling Mexican seemed to be on better form over the course of the Qatar Grand Prix. However, at the Safety Car restart he would lose control of his car, coming to a halt in the run off area before joining Colapinto, Ocon, Stroll and Hulkenberg as race retirements.
Returning to the action, this race could have been the race to determine the outcome of the Constructors World Championship, and was looking pretty decent for McLaren with Norris in 2nd and Piastri getting past both Ferrari's - the team's closest rival. However, with Norris' stop/go penalty, he would fall to last place before eventually finishing 10th. Piastri would finish 3rd with the Ferrari's of Charles Leclerc and Sainz finishing in 2nd and 6th respectively, meaning the battle would go onto Abu Dhabi - the final race of the season.
Verstappen would win the race, leading from lap one to the finish, returning to form after their mid to late season dip. The outstanding driver of the day, however, would be that of Zhou in the Sauber. Despite his unlucky Sprint race, he would make up for it in the Grand Prix, taking advantage of the carnage happening around him. He would finish in 8th position, scoring Sauber's first points of the season and being the fans choice of Driver of the Day.
Looking forward to the 2024 finale in Abu Dhabi, Ocon will be replaced by Alpine's 2025 driver Jack Doohan. Ocon will return in 2025 with Haas.
Next up: The Season Finale!
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