Verstappen Cruises as Norris Fumbles in Qatar Chaos

Max Verstappen strolled to victory in Qatar, a race that had more twists and turns than a soap opera, while Lando Norris did his best to turn a promising start into a personal disaster. Norris, who began the day with hopes of a podium, found himself slapped with a stop/go penalty for ignoring yellow flags, dropping to last before salvaging a measly 10th place. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc sneaked into second, holding off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, ensuring the Constructors’ Championship fight goes to the wire in Abu Dhabi.

“It was a very good race,” Verstappen said. “Of course already yesterday in qualifying the car was a lot better. Today, that first stint was very, very fast.

“Lando and I were just within 1.8 seconds of each other the whole time, pushing each other and honestly it was a lot of fun out there. This track has a lot of grip and this year the tires were really holding on so that was honestly a lot of fun to be really pushing the tire. We went really long on that first stint.”

At lights out, George Russell looked like he might finally make that pole position count, but Verstappen wasn’t in the mood to mess around. The Red Bull sliced past the Mercedes into Turn 1, with Norris attempting a cheeky move up the inside. It didn’t work. Verstappen held firm, and Norris slotted back in line. Behind them, chaos erupted as Nico Hülkenberg took out Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto in a Turn 1 pile-up that immediately brought out the Safety Car.

When racing resumed, Verstappen did what Verstappen does: control the field with maddening ease. Norris kept the pressure on, but the Dutchman remained unfazed. For a while, it looked like we might have a race on our hands. Then, predictably, things started to unravel. First, Russell’s day went south with a sticky right rear in the pits, dropping him to 11th. Not long after, Alex Albon’s Williams decided to shed a mirror on the pit straight. Cue the yellow flags, followed by more carnage when Valtteri Bottas ran over the debris. Both Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton limped back with punctures, and out came the Safety Car again.

This was where Norris’ race fell apart. Verstappen, always the opportunist, questioned whether Norris had obeyed the yellow flags. The stewards agreed he hadn’t, handing the Brit a penalty that crushed McLaren’s hopes. Verstappen, meanwhile, pitted and emerged still in the lead, casually brushing off Norris’ advances at the restart. Behind them, Leclerc capitalized on the Safety Car shuffle to jump Piastri, and Sergio Pérez briefly looked dangerous before spinning out in embarrassing fashion and retiring.

From there, Verstappen was on cruise control. Norris’ penalty sent him tumbling down the order, while Leclerc and Piastri duked it out for second, separated by less than a tenth at the finish. Russell clawed his way back to fourth, with Pierre Gasly delivering an impressive fifth. Sainz, despite his earlier puncture, took sixth, and Fernando Alonso quietly banked seventh. The real surprise? Zhou Guanyu snatching Sauber’s first points of the season in eighth.

As the dust settled, Verstappen added another win to his ever-growing collection, and Ferrari edged closer to McLaren in the Constructors’ race. With one round to go, all eyes are on Abu Dhabi, where the final chapter of this season’s drama will play out. Expect fireworks.

“On the hard tires there was very little grip,” Verstappen said. “You’ve just come out of the box so they’re already cold, and then immediately of course we had the Safety Car. Behind the Safety Car you can’t warm them up, and then I tried something different out of the last corner where I had no rear grip basically, so I just struggled for traction out of the corner.

“It got a bit spicy into Turn 1 but I think that’s great to see. After that, we drove it to the end with good pace so very happy to win here.”

Qatar F1 GP Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	57	1:31:05.323	25
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	57	+6.031s	18
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	57	+6.819s	15
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	57	+14.104s	12
5	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	57	+16.782s	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	57	+17.476s	8
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	57	+19.867s	6
8	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	57	+25.360s	4
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	57	+32.177s	2
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	57	+35.762s	2
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	57	+50.243s	0
12	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	57	+56.122s	0
13	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	57	+61.100s	0
14	30	Liam Lawson	RB Honda RBPT	57	+62.656s	0
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	56	+1 lap	0
NC	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	39	DNF	0
NC	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	38	DNF	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	8	DNF	0
NC	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams Mercedes	0	DNF	0
NC	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	0	DNF	0
* Provisional results. Note – Norris scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Russell received a five-second time penalty for falling more than 10 car lengths behind the Safety Car.

About
Latest Posts

Greg Engle

Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.

Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.

Comments

comments