F1 Qatar GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race
Minute-by-minute updates of the 2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix
The Formula 1 drivers' world championship is already decided, but there's still everything to play for in the manufacturers' standings as Qatar hosts the penultimate round of the season.
George Russell starts from pole position for Mercedes after Max Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly during a Q3 prep lap, which required the Briton to take evasive action.
The second row is locked out by McLaren, with Lando Norris seeking to mirror his wheel-perfect performance from the sprint race. That had looked set to yield victory, until he handed victory to team-mate Oscar Piastri exiting the final corner - a pre-planned gesture to repay the Australian for ceding the Brazilian GP sprint to Norris.
The Qatar GP starts at 1600 GMT.
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Verstappen is giving as good as he's got in the lead and inches the gap back out to 2.4s with another fastest lap on the 33rd tour.
It's truly cat and mouse between the leaders, with the race finely poised ahead of what is likely to be the only stop.
Now Verstappen punches in a fastest lap to extend his advantage to 1.6s. The Dutchman asks his team to check if Norris lifted for the yellow due to the stray wing mirror, and the team responds that he did not.
Norris has been told to push on and responds by getting down to 1.2s behind. That was a big gain on lap 30.
Replays show that the errant mirror came from Magnussen's Haas.
Double yellows are being waved into Turn 1. A mirror is lying on the pit straight towards the end of the DRS zone. That may need a VSC to clear the track of that debris.
Piastri's deficit to Norris remains 8.2s - virtually unchanged since he was released from behind Russell.
Russell is really struggling to make back ground after his stop and is losing pace to the leaders. A glance to the inside of Alonso at Turn 1 is the best he can manage this time around.
Hamilton has to catch a huge oversteer moment at Turn 2, which has him now 3.1s behind Perez - who is 26s behind his team-mate.
In comes Magnussen from eighth to switch to hard tyres as we reach the midpoint of the grand prix. A clean stop and he returns tot he action behind Lawson in 16th.
The front runners are still setting personal bests, so we don't expect anybody to begin rushing to copy Russell in pitting. He has a tough task to make up for that lengthy stop as he is bottled up behind Alonso.
"The car is slowly beginning to turn, but not much," says Hamilton. He's 7th - 2.4s off Perez - and has a 5s penalty hanging over him.
Leclerc continues to inch closer to Piastri and has the gap under 2s. Meanwhile at the front another new fastest lap for Norris reduces his deficit to Verstappen to 1.6s.
In comes Bottas from 13th to switch from medium to hard tyres. He returns to the track last on the road but could get an undercut on team-mate Zhou.
Piastri now has clear air and is making good use of it, as he bids to close an 8.1s deficit to Norris ahead.
"Is the car broken, or?" ponders Hamilton aloud. He's told that the car is "just underbalanced". He's moved up to seventh after Russell's lengthy stop, which has him down in 11th at the moment.
Russell is the first of the leaders to pit. He takes hard tyres but a slow right-rear change means he spends 7.0s stationery. That is an age in modern F1 terms.
Piastri is just over half a second behind Russell, and firmly within DRS range. Will he try for a move to ensure his two-second buffer on Leclerc isn't rapidly eroded?
Russell has fallen 5.2 behind Norris in third, which underlines that we're looking at a two-horse race for the win as things stand.
Verstappen sets another fastest lap last time by. We're on lap 21 of 57, with the Red Bull driver 1.8s ahead of Norris.
Another Sauber looks around the outside of Tsunoda. This time, it's Bottas at Turn 1. Up to 13th for the Finn.
RB doesn't seem to have the pace tonight.
Hamilton asks how far off the front running pace he is right now. When the answer of 'one second' comes back, he reacts with some shock at the deficit. In 8th, it's difficult to see how things improve for Mercedes today.
Leclerc is worried about a puncture - that’s because there is a band of the tread on the left-front medium that will get close to 100% wear due to the punishing, fast layout here by the end of the first stint required for the one-stop to work.
Perez continues to hold Hamilton at bay in their battle over seventh, which may be paused for a little while when the Briton serves his penalty. Nobody else in the top eight is currently looking like making a move on-track at this stage.
The teams need to get to lap 20 at least to make the quickest one-stop strategy work. But, with overtaking so difficult, it could be that teams want to take the advantage of clean air and try a two-stopper.
Leclerc asks his team for reassurance about tyre pressures and is told things are looking fine. He's inched a little closer to Piastri, but is still 2.3s behind the Australian who he ideally needs to beat to keep Ferrari in the constructors' championship fight.
Russell has slipped 5.2s back from the lead in third. He was calling for a proper race today after bemoaning McLaren's DRS tactics yesterday during the sprint, but it doesn't appear that he has the pace to tango with Verstappen and Norris in this phase of the race.
Norris has set a new fastest lap on each of the past two tours and pegged the gap back to 1.6s. Is he inching towards undercut territory?
In a season of few highs, Zhou makes a pass on Tsunoda for 12th. Could Sauber be in the hunt for a first point of the year?
Leclerc has now set the fastest lap in fifth, but has fallen 3.1s back from Piastri after losing out to the Australian at the restart. Will today be a game of damage limitation for Ferrari?
Great news for Perez. Hamilton has been given a 5s penalty for a false start, which eases the pressure on the Red Bull driver currently in 7th.
But Norris was quicker on the last two laps, bringing the gap down a smidgen. Everybody at the front seems to be in something of a holding pattern right now managing pace to different degrees as they work out their strategy options. Norris is told his tyres are in a similar condition to Verstappen, but slightly better than Russell's.
Another fastest lap last time by for Verstappen has the gap up at 1.9s on lap 12.
Any penalty handed to Hamilton will ease the pressure on Perez, who has the Mercedes driver squarely in his mirrors right now but continues to run seventh.
Another penalty - there are lots of these already. Lawson has been given a 10s sanction for causing the contact with Bottas at Turn 1 on the restart.
More news from the stewards, as Hamilton is under investigation for a false start. Replays show some fairly conclusive evidence, and Hamilton himself has apologised to the team already.
Russell is starting on used mediums (as are the Ferrari drivers) - that’ll be the set he scrubbed at the start of Q1 yesterday.
And it continues to get worse for Alonso, as he is now being looked at for an unsafe rejoin.
Verstappen edging away from Norris by pinning it in sector one, gaining a little bit in sector two, then the McLaren fights back a touch in sector three, albeit with overall gains for the Red Bull each time.
"I cannot believe. Two years in a row with the same problem down the straights," says Alonso. Some of the more colourful language has been edited out there!
By: Autosport Staff
