5 Winners and 5 Losers from Qatar – Who impressed in the ...

Max Verstappen mastered a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix that had Safety Cars, spins and collisions to take a brilliant victory for Red Bull – and while others also had plenty to smile about, many couldn’t wait to hop on a plane bound for the final race in Abu Dhabi. Lawrence Barretto picks out his winners and losers from the race in Lusail.

Furious would be a good way to describe Max Verstappen after he was handed an unprecedented one-place grid penalty that stripped him of pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix.

But he channelled that irritation beautifully – something he’s become a master at in F1 – to reclaim that position almost instantly once the lights went out.

READ MORE: Verstappen delighted with Qatar GP victory as he praises team after rollercoaster weekend

The newly-crowned world champion went on to command the race at the front to secure his second win in three Grands Prix and ninth of the season. It was also his first Grand Prix win in the dry since Spain back in June.

Verstappen grabbed his ninth Grand Prix win of the season in Qatar

Esteban Ocon has been in a world of pain of late, the Frenchman believing there’s an issue with his Alpine that is costing him around half a second a lap versus his Alpine team mate.

And life didn’t get much better in Qatar. He qualified a woeful last and then failed to finish the first lap for the second time this year and seventh occasion in his career after a Turn 1 incident triggered by an out-of-shape Nico Hulkenberg.

To add insult to injury, it was announced that would be his final race for Alpine, with the team releasing him early and giving reserve driver Jack Doohan – who was set to take the seat next year anyway – his F1 debut in Abu Dhabi.

ANALYSIS: Why Alpine chose to release Ocon with one race left and give Doohan his debut in Abu Dhabi

Ferrari were anticipating a difficult weekend in Qatar given the circuit characteristics, but they surprised themselves by outscoring title rivals McLaren to cut the gap to 21 points with one to go.

Ocon's first lap crash in Qatar has brought the curtain down on his Alpine career

Charles Leclerc drove an accomplished race to finish second, having never previously finished higher than fifth in either the Sprint or Grand Prix format in Qatar. He moves to within eight points of Lando Norris in the fight for P2 in the drivers’ championship.

Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, was set for a strong result before picking up a puncture. He recovered to sixth for his best-ever finish in Qatar.

READ MORE: Sainz left satisfied with recovery after Qatar puncture as Leclerc celebrates podium finish amid constructors' battle

Mercedes brought their fine form in Las Vegas to Qatar, with George Russell fighting at the sharp end in the Sprint and then starting the Grand Prix from pole position.

But Russell couldn’t bring the speed he showed across Friday and Saturday into the Grand Prix and faded to fourth, which is the same position he managed at this event last year.

Russell recovered to fourth but Qatar wasn't a good race for Mercedes

His team mate Lewis Hamilton had a miserable day, first picking up a puncture and then taking a drive-through penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit. He ended up P12 and now trails Russell by 24 points with a maximum 26 available.

READ MORE: Hamilton vows to ‘get back up’ and give Mercedes farewell ‘best shot’ after extremely difficult Qatar race

Zhou Guanyu’s perseverance was rewarded in Qatar as the Chinese driver – racing in his penultimate race in F1 as he is without a seat in 2025 – produced an exquisite drive to score his first points of the year in eighth.

That equals his career-best result (Canada 2022) and ensures that Kick Sauber avoid their second pointless season in their history.

He showed great pace throughout, delivered some combative racing and executed his strategy beautifully.

2024 Qatar Grand Prix: Zhou crosses the line to seal Sauber’s first points of 2024

Williams’ dreadful run continued into Qatar as they suffered yet more damage within moments of the lights going out, as Franco Colapinto was collected by Ocon after the Frenchman was hit by Hulkenberg.

Colapinto retired the car for his second DNF in three races. It was the team’s seventh crash in the last four Grand Prix weekends.

Team mate Alex Albon was in the top 10 in the closing stages but ran out of tyres and fell back to 15th at the chequered flag after picking up a time penalty for a clash with Kevin Magnussen.

READ MORE: What the teams said – Race day in Qatar

Pierre Gasly continued his rich vein of form with a superb drive to fifth from 11th for his second top-five finish in three Grands Prix.

It shows how far Alpine have come from race one in Bahrain earlier this year, where they were woefully overweight and locked out the back row, that Gasly was able to defend from Ferrari’s Sainz in the closing stages in Qatar.

Gasly drove to a superb fifth to lift Alpine back above Haas again in the championship

The strong score moves Alpine back into P6 in the constructors’ championship, to sit five points clear of Haas with one to go.

Sergio Perez’s poor form continued as he suffered his fourth retirement of the season to fall 277 points behind Red Bull team mate Verstappen.

The Mexican ran as high as fifth, but a spin ended all hopes of points before he retired the car. He’s scored just nine points in the last seven events.

READ MORE: Perez explains reasons behind his Qatar GP spin as promising start ended in retirement

Fernando Alonso produced one of his strongest performances of the season with a battling drive to seventh from eighth on the grid.

Perez struggled in Qatar, spinning off before retiring for his fourth DNF of the season

The score ended Aston Martin’s four-race pointless streak and gave the team a much-need boost after an uninspiring campaign that has seen them sit in no man’s land in fifth in the constructors’ championship.

This was supposed to be a big-scoring weekend for McLaren, given the track suited their car – and things looked good for them after they finished one-two in the Sprint.

But on race day, Norris’s chances of fighting for the win were extinguished when he was given a 10-second stop/go penalty to drop him to last. He recovered to finish 10th and earned another point for fastest lap.

READ MORE: ‘I’ve let them down’ – Norris apologises to McLaren as he offers explanation over incident that led to stop/go penalty

His team mate Oscar Piastri ended up third for his eighth podium of the season – but he wasn’t able to catch and pass Leclerc for P2.