With four rounds to go, the fight for sixth place in the constructors’ championship looked set.
Haas, on 46 points, eyed the threat from RB, 10 points behind them. They gave little thought to Williams in eight place, much less ninth-placed Alpine, 32 points behind.
Then came Brazil, where a windfall result for Alpine more than tripled their points haul at a stroke, lifting them to sixth in the standings.
Haas hit back immediately. Nico Hulkenberg’s eighth place in Las Vegas, while Alpine failed to score, restored them to sixth place. His seventh place in the sprint race in Losail nudged Haas’s lead up to three points.
Come the grand prix, the fight for sixth place in the championship was fought out between Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly. The Haas and Alpine drivers held the bottom two points positions after passing Yuki Tsunoda’s RB.
Wary that Alpine might pull Gasly in for an early pit stop and get him on to fresh tyres sooner, Haas summoned Magnussen in on after 27 laps for a set of hard tyres. But even with a useful pocked of clear air behind Liam Lawson, Magnussen wasn’t quite able to match Gasly’s times on his harder tyres. It was going to be close.
But then a wing mirror fell of Alexander Albon’s Williams and landed on the run to the first corner. Race control avoided deploying the Safety Car to begin with, but then Valtteri Bottas smashed it into pieces and two drivers sustained punctures, which forced their hand.
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With the Safety Car deployed, every driver who hadn’t changed tyres yet headed for the pits. Magnussen was among those who suffered the most: Besides losing his chance to get back ahead of Gasly, he also fell behind Fernando Alonso and Zhou Guanyu. Although he impressively out-ran the recovering Lando Norris, ninth place to Gasly’s fifth put Alpine ahead again by five points heading into the final round.
“I’m super gutted with the Safety Car coming out,” said Magnussen afterwards, “it completely ruined the day for me. It was going well and we had a good beginning to the race, but I just wish that Safety Car hadn’t come out because it really screwed us. There’s still one race to go and we’ll go into it giving everything.”
Haas brought Magnussen in long before a Safety Car looked like an imminent threat. But McLaren’s decision to pull Oscar Piastri in on lap 34, long after the debris had been spotted, looks like a poor call.
It also had implications for the constructors’ title fight. Piastri successfully passed Charles Leclerc early in the race, putting both McLarens ahead of the Ferraris, which was vital for their hopes of winning the title. The early pit stop dropped him back behind Leclerc and helped Ferrari keep their title hopes alive.
2024 Qatar Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2024 Qatar Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | # | Driver | Car | Lap time | Gap | Avg. speed (kph) | Lap no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’22.384 | 235.97 | 56 | |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’22.905 | 0.521 | 234.49 | 55 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.218 | 0.834 | 233.6 | 51 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’23.242 | 0.858 | 233.54 | 53 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’23.355 | 0.971 | 233.22 | 50 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’23.465 | 1.081 | 232.91 | 52 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’23.667 | 1.283 | 232.35 | 57 |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1’23.705 | 1.321 | 232.24 | 56 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’23.865 | 1.481 | 231.8 | 52 |
| 10 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’23.889 | 1.505 | 231.73 | 57 |
| 11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’24.259 | 1.875 | 230.72 | 55 |
| 12 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’25.288 | 2.904 | 227.93 | 31 |
| 13 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’25.533 | 3.149 | 227.28 | 53 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’25.559 | 3.175 | 227.21 | 47 |
| 15 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1’25.767 | 3.383 | 226.66 | 33 |
| 16 | 30 | Liam Lawson | RB-Honda RBPT | 1’26.076 | 3.692 | 225.85 | 46 |
| 17 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 1’26.144 | 3.760 | 225.67 | 47 |
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’30.935 | 8.551 | 213.78 | 6 |
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Rank | # | Driver | Team | Complete stop time (s) | Gap to best (s) | Stop no. | Lap no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 27.818 | 1 | 34 | |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 27.87 | 0.052 | 2 | 35 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 28.024 | 0.206 | 1 | 35 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 28.088 | 0.27 | 1 | 35 |
| 5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 28.303 | 0.485 | 1 | 35 |
| 6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 28.343 | 0.525 | 2 | 31 |
| 7 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 28.46 | 0.642 | 1 | 35 |
| 8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 28.543 | 0.725 | 1 | 27 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 28.592 | 0.774 | 2 | 36 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 28.628 | 0.81 | 1 | 35 |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 28.792 | 0.974 | 1 | 35 |
| 12 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 28.968 | 1.15 | 2 | 35 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 29.024 | 1.206 | 1 | 35 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 29.034 | 1.216 | 1 | 24 |
| 15 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 29.085 | 1.267 | 1 | 35 |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 29.179 | 1.361 | 1 | 35 |
| 17 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 29.271 | 1.453 | 2 | 40 |
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 29.783 | 1.965 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 32.309 | 4.491 | 1 | 23 |
| 20 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 32.957 | 5.139 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | 30 | Liam Lawson | RB | 34.655 | 6.837 | 2 | 40 |
| 22 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 36.143 | 8.325 | 1 | 34 |
| 23 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 37.915 | 10.097 | 1 | 34 |
| 24 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 39.687 | 11.869 | 2 | 55 |
| 25 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 41.674 | 13.856 | 2 | 7 |
| 26 | 30 | Liam Lawson | RB | 45.049 | 17.231 | 1 | 35 |
2024 Qatar Grand Prix
- “Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP
- “It screwed us:” Safety Car period had major championship consequences for Haas
- 2024 Qatar Grand Prix weekend F1 driver ratings
- Divorce is in the air. What’s next for Red Bull, RB, Perez – and his replacement?
- “Lando did not lift”: How Verstappen and Red Bull lobbied for Norris’s penalty
