A bizarre opening scene at Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix could see McLaren lose the Constructors’ Championship.
Max Verstappen won the race when Lando Norris had to pit from second place to serve a 10-second drive-through penalty for failing to slow down under a yellow flag. Halfway through the race, a wing mirror on someone’s car had fallen off and remained in the middle of the straight for countless laps.
Race officials simply waved yellow flags at the end of the straight instead of calling for a safety car or calling for a virtual safety car to pick up the mirror. While officials waited to do something about the mirror, Valtteri Bottas flooded it and the mirror broke into numerous pieces.
Those pieces then appeared to cause flat front tires for both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz. After the two drivers had tire failure, F1 finally called for a safety car.
Norris’ penalty took place on the laps where the intact mirror was on the track. He had to pit with twelve laps to go and finished tenth while setting the fastest lap.
While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished second and his teammate Carlos Sainz sixth and Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri third, Ferrari gained nine points over McLaren and is now 21 points behind heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi on December 8.
The victory is Verstappen’s ninth of the season. A week ago he won the 2024 title in Las Vegas.
Polesitter George Russell finished fourth, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in fifth.
The race featured three safety car periods, including one on the first lap when Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon collided at the back of the pack. The crash ended the day for both Colapinto and Ocon.
The second safety car came after the mirror fiasco and the third occurred because Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez both had problems when the race restarted. Perez said his car lost propulsion and simply stopped moving.
Zhou Guanyu took advantage of the chaos and finished eighth. These are the first points Sauber has scored all season and all ten teams have now officially scored points during the season.
Race results
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
4. George Russell, Mercedes
5. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
6. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
7. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
8. Zhou Guanyu, Sauber
9. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
10. Lando Norris, McLaren
11. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
12. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
13. Yuki Tsunoda, RB
14. Liam Lawson, RB
15. Alex Albon, Williams
Not classified: Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Franco Colapinto (Williams), Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
