After the Finish Line: Losail 2024
Verstappen triumphs, Norris falters and Ferrari takes a small chunk of McLaren's lead.
Qatar turned out to be better than I had expected. Races in the Middle East in general have had this reputation of boring and soulless, but that was not the case on Sunday.
Mercedes returned to reality after the highs of Las Vegas. Alpine leads the battle with Haas for P6 in the standings. Although the nature of the circuit – a lot of high speed corners isn’t overtaking friendly in particular, there were still some really eye pleasing duels. Finally, Sauber is no longer scoreless, thanks to Zhou Guanyu finishing 8th in Losail.
Rags to Riches
Amazing, outstanding, fantastic, and brilliant—these adjectives aptly describe the work that the engineers and mechanics of the Milton Keynes team accomplished following the reopening of the parc fermé on Saturday. From a car that struggled to overtake a Haas during the sprint to becoming the challenger and eventual winner of the race – what a setup change can do.
Max Verstappen, equipped with a car he can compete traditionally delivered. First by securing pole position, he ultimately lost it due to a penalty for impeding/driving to slow on a preparation lap, and second by taking the lead in Turns 1 and 2 and controlling the race from that point onward.
However, it wasn’t an easy Sunday drive, unlike many of those in 2023.
One’s Loss is Another One’s Gain
Lando Norris kept the Dutchman honest for the majority of the race, even threatening to take the lead initially at the start in Turn 2 and later in the first corner during the second Safety Car restart. They raced wheel-to-wheel and kept it clean on both occasions.
The McLaren driver would have finished in P2 if he had slowed down for the double-waved yellow flags on the main straight. The infraction cost him dearly: a 10-second stop-and-go penalty dropped him down the order, and he ultimately had to settle for P10. While the punishment was severe, it was certainly not out of the blue. In the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, Nikita Mazepin earned the identical sanction for the same offence.
It was a silly mistake, promptly noted and reported by Verstappen, who had managed to slow down.
The results of the race certainly won’t disappoint Ferrari. The team had expected to lose points to McLaren, but in the end, they gained 3 points on their World Constructors’ Championship rivals over the weekend. As they head into the final race in Abu Dhabi, 21 points separate the competitors.
Charles Leclerc finished excellent P2. The Monegasque drove a race without a drink, which didn’t turned out to be a big problem. At the press conference, he stated that it hadn't been that bad even though the race had been very physical and he had pushed from the opening lap.
What Caused the Punctures?
It could have been an even better result for Ferrari if it weren't for the puncture that Carlos Sainz suffered mid-race. Lewis Hamilton encountered the same issue.
As of now, I am not exactly sure what caused it. One possible explanation is that drivers ran the tires beyond their optimal mileage. According to Pirelli, the pit window for the tires was between laps 19 and 25; however, the majority of drivers boxed 10 laps later.
The other is the debris from a mirror that had fallen off Alex Albon’s car, which Valtteri Bottas ran over, shattering it into pieces. That led first to double waved yellow flags and later the Safety Car. The latter in an opinion of the commentators should have been brought immediately to deal with the feral mirror. So they indirectly pointed a finger at Rui Marques, the new Race Director who had replaced Niels Wittich.
Hard to disagree.
Leaving double-waved yellow flags displayed for the remainder of the race on the main straight means no overtaking. You can’t do it. Doing nothing about the mirror on the track is also a no-no. Usually problems are solved through action, not indecision.