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.
Live Standings
Live Text
A quick trip back to the Mercedes garage for Hamilton after his initial laps to the grid. It’s rare, but does happen and he’s already back out.
Charles Leclerc heads to the grid - could he and Ferrari be this race’s dark horses? His late sprint pace was searing, although with caveats for this ahead.
Cars are making their way to the grid now as we prepare for the starting procedures.
But after throwing the kitchen sink at set-up tweaks, per team boss Christian Horner, the RB20 was transformed in time for qualifying. Here Jonathan Noble explains what Red Bull did here to turn Red Bull a into bone fide contender in the dry for the first time since the summer. We wonder if the rally car Verstappen was referencing was actually a rather good one. Say, a Peugeot 206 WRC, rather than a Hyundai Accent...
Gilles Panizzi (FRA) slides his Peugeot 206 WRC around a hairpin on the way to victory
Photo by: Ralph Hardwick
Verstappen therefore will start second for his first Grand Prix since being crowned a four-time world champion last time out in Las Vegas. But even that represents a huge improvement on what anybody who observed his comments to Viaplay after placing eighth in the sprint race might have thought possible. "I just had no grip, the balance is terrible," he said. "On cold tyres you suffer even more from that. It felt like a rally car."
The Red Bull driver had just taken his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix in June, but was hauled up before the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly during a prep lap in Q3 while trying to cool his tyres. Russell was forced to take evading action, and the stewards took a dim view. Our own Stuart Codling and Jonathan Noble delve into what transpired in the video below.
Watch: Why Verstappen lost his pole start at the Qatar GP
George Russell will line up on pole for the second weekend in a row, but he didn't actually qualify fastest yesterday. He was pipped to the best time in Q3 by just 0.055s, but was elevated from second on the grid by a one-place grid penalty for Max Verstappen.
Hello and welcome to Autosport's live text coverage of the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix. We're just 40 minutes out from the start of the penultimate race of the season, and there's plenty to dig into. Without further ado, let's begin.
By: Autosport Staff
