QATAR; Safety Cars and Penalties
- pitwallstories
- Dec 2, 2024
- 4 min read
Racing at the Losail Circuit is probably one of the most dreaded races of the season. Qatar can be both a wonderful yet cruel race because of its extremely hot weather. Thankfully, after last year’s disaster in terms of the drivers’ health, the race has been moved further up in the calendar and was programmed to be held at the end of November, hoping a less hot weather would welcome the drivers.
This year it looks like the weather was manageable and the track was much easier to drive in regards to last season.
Furthermore, this being the last race weekend hosting a Sprint Race, amusement was definitely there and entertainment was given by the ten teams on the grid.
SC
The only free practice session that was held during this weekend saw both Mclaren drivers topped by Charles Leclerc as successful.
Keeping up the pace just the same, after an eventful Saturday of Sprint racing, McLaren had the best outcome both in terms of result and behaviour shown by the drivers. Lando Norris led wonderfully the entire 19-lap race only to then give the first place position to his teammate Oscar Piastri in a way to repay him for the favor, during the unforgettable Brazil Grand Prix.
Qualifying for the actual race on Sunday was once again topped by the newly crowned World Champion, Max Verstappen, followed close behind by George Russell and the McLaren drivers. Ferrari managed to place their cars respectively in 5th and 7th place, both disappointed with their results but confident that they could take the McLarens, seeing that their cars were really close to one another in terms of race pace.
Qatar’s qualifying session also saw a mixed starting grid with Lewis Hamilton in 6th place, Fernando Alonso in 8th place, a surprising appearance from Sergio Perez in P9 and lastly Kevin Magnussen completed the starting grid for sunday.
Even though Verstappen had been demoted to a second grid place start for the race, he managed to take the lead in the first lap. Norris and Russell tightly fighting for second place behind him.
The excitement was not only on the front of the race but also further back where Hulkenberg went wide in the first turn, making contact with Ocon that eventually led both drivers to retire their car. Unfortunately even Franco Colapinto was forced to end his race early because of the contact between the german and the frenchman which caused his car to be amidst the chaos as well.
When the first Safety Car exited the track, Stroll went in the pits and did not come out again, having suffered a contact when Albon’s car spun out of track.
At this point Verstappen was still leader of the race, Norris not far behind in second place and on the other hand, Russell was now fighting against Piastri for that third place. In the meantime, Leclerc, who had significantly dropped down in terms of pace, asked the box to check on his tyre pressure as the Mercedes box informed his future teammate that he had been given a 5-second penalty for false start at the beginning of the race.
Right before the window for the first pitstops was open, Pierre Gasly was doing an amazing job, managing to keep his car in the point zone, fighting against Magnussen and Tsunoda.
Russell eventually pitted for hards, immediately airing his frustration with the team because the tyres were not working as he wanted them too.
Right after Russell came out of the pit lane, yellow flags were thrown around the circuit when Albon’s mirror flew off his car. This episode was the most pressing in this race weekend because, according to the drivers (some of whom were severely damaged by this mirror’s debris), the stewards were extra slow with putting out that yellow flag.
After the Safety Car led the drivers through the pit lane as marshals cleared the track, race resumed on lap 39 with Norris immediately taking his chance but having to back out due to lack of space in overtaking Verstappen.
As if on cue, Perez and Hulkenberg suffered a spin, in different parts of the track of course, but still at the same time and causing once again another Safety Car to come out.
Here is where trouble started because Norris was immediately noted for “failing to slow down under SC” and was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, the harshest penalty ever given during this season. Later the McLaren driver, who lost all of the position because of this penalty, will complain about his punishment saying that he certainly did not do it on purpose, he must’ve missed the yellow flag but surely other drivers did the same but weren’t noted for some reason.
Russell was given a penalty as well for infringement of the Safety Car but those 5-seconds did not affect his position in the race.
Eventually Leclerc overtook Piastri and crossed the finish line in second place, behind Verstappen and in front of Piastri. The Ferrari driver was satisfied with his result, having started from P5, and he will voice his complaint against the stewards as well, since those pieces of debris affected his teammate Carlos Sainz’s race and car terribly.
Overall the most amazing event that happened was, without a doubt, Zhou Guanyu’s race. The Kick Sauber driver finished in P8 gifting his team the first two points of the season and in addition he rightly received the vote for Driver of the Day.
"It was a very good race," said Verstappen. "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 1.8s 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 tyres were really holding on so that was honestly a lot of fun to be really pushing the tyre. We went really long on that first stint. After that of course there were a few Safety Car moments that you had to take care, but very happy. It’s been a while in the dry to be this competitive and very proud of everyone within the team to turn it around within a day. They definitely also deserve this victory."
