F1. Qatar 2024 Review

By Aiden McLaughlin, Gavin Huet and Chelsea Wintle

Driver of the day

Aiden – Starting the race in P11, Pierre Gasly showed his qualities to end up finishing fifth and ensuring Alpine have a small lead over Haas going into the last race, with P6 in the constructor’s championship the goal. Gasly is in a rich vein of form and showing why he is the one being retained by his team as Esteban Ocon departs for new adventures.

Gavin – Zhou Guanyu started in twelfth and eventually finished eighth thereby securing the first points for Sauber this year. In a race where almost everyone had an issue or a penalty or a collision, Zhou kept out of trouble to get into a points position and reaped the benefits. Too little too late for his F1 career which now looks to continue as a Ferrari reserve driver.

Chelsea – Zhou Guanyu. Probably my first and last chance to give him the medal, but bringing in Kick Sauber’s first points of the season justifies the award. Both Zhou and teammate Bottas will be elsewhere in 2025, and I’d suggest they’re unlikely to return unless in a reserve capacity. It’s been a forgettable year for both, but Bottas has a knack for cheesy social media marketing campaigns, so his off-track ventures are unlikely to suffer.

 

Moment of the weekend

Aiden – Who knew that a mirror falling off Alex Albon’s Williams would have such a ripple effect. It stayed on the track, close to the pitlane exit, for a whole six laps until, almost inevitably, someone hit it (Valtteri Bottas). Debris caused punctures for Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, and out came a safety car. Even Albon said “I think I made the race exciting.”

Gavin – When the mirror came flying off the Willams of Alex Albon it neatly ended up near the pit exit at the end of the only straight and consequently the only DRS zone. Why it took the race director so long to do something about it we will probably never really know but once Valtteri Bottas drove over it scattering carbon fibre all over it was too late. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both immediately got punctures, though we are not sure if that was because of the debris but the timing looks likely. And then there were the double-waved yellow flags which Lando Norris says he did not see, he was consequently given a ten second stop and go penalty which, barring disqualification, is the most severe penalty that can be handed out. As the penalty had to be served within three laps it pushed Lando out of the points and he ended the race in tenth place thereby sending the Constructors Championship down to the last race of the season this weekend in Abu Dhabi. All of this because an inexperienced race director did not send out the safety car right away so that a marshal could run out and pick up a mirror – ridiculous by the FIA.

Chelsea – The wing mirror WTF. Alex Albon’s wing mirror came off in lap 29 (“Why not get rid of it, save some weight?” he said later) and sat mid-track for several laps before being obliterated by Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber. As a result, both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz suffered punctures, while the rest of us scratched our heads – why was the safety car not sent out sooner? There’s still been no sign of an explanation from the FIA, but it’s concerning given Norris was given a 10 second stop-go penalty for safety reasons, when arguably this could have had much more serious consequences.

 

Hot take of the weekend

Aiden – This week I’m gifting my hot take to the amazing, colourful Yuki Tsunoda. Apparently Yuki misheard the radio message regarding Alex Albon’s mirror being on the road. “Was it mirror? I heard beaver. My engineers said ‘There’s a beaver’. But why is there a beaver in the Middle East? But okay, maybe there’s a surprise with global warming – kicking a lot of interesting things in the Earth.” Wow. Never change Yuki.

Gavin – Between race director inaction and overreaction, to steward penalties for things that are never penalised, the FIA have made a massive rod for their own back. It appears all is not well in the lands of politics of and running of F1 and is certainly not being helped by their president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and his dictatorial approach to recent issues such as swearing and staff turnover. The drivers have recently called out these actions and demanded more transparency, only to be told that the way he runs the FIA is “none of their business”. As Mercedes team principal Toto Woff said, the FIA “could have its own reality show”. And on cue the FIA now want to limit how it can be held to account – https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/cy89xevxp1jo. This is going to be messy.

Chelsea – The decision to bring on a new race director brought its share of ripples, not least of which was Lando Norris’ 10 second stop-go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags. It seemed a dramatic response, and Verstappen (who was the tattletale) must have struggled to believe his good fortune when it was applied. What the penalty does do is make the fight for the constructor’s championship a little more interesting as we head into the final race of the season, with McLaren and Ferrari 21 points apart.

Cold take of the weekend

Aiden – Zhou Guanyu scored his (and Sauber’s) first points of the season when he finished eighth on Sunday. Does this mean that teammate Valtteri Bottas will finish the season in joint 22nd/23rd with the departed Logan Sargeant, when only 20 cars race each weekend? Ouch.

Gavin – Alpine letting Esteban Ocon go before the last race of the season and replacing him with his 2025 replacement Jack Doohan is really cut throat. The last couple of races has had Esteban bemoaning his car and calling the team into question, I guess with all the turmoil there anyway they decided enough is enough and have released him earlier than planned thereby allowing him to do the post season testing for his new team Haas. I do think Alpine missed a trick by not getting Jack into the car for Qatar as the track is essentially a bike track so maybe the family DNA could kick in to help Jack settle in.

Chelsea – Lewis Hamilton’s current form, his comments about it, and the commentary about him has all been rather grim of late. Hamilton is a particularly sensitive character and will need a solid recovery in the off-season if he’s to start his time at Ferrari on the strongest possible foot. My Christmas wishlist for 2025 includes a solid season in the red for Lewis, a change at the top of the FIA, and a Lawson in the Red Bull. One can dream.

Bonus Pictures of the Week

How can you not be happy for Zhou?

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