Max Verstappen claims his ninth win of the 2024 season as McLaren are made to attend for the constructors’ title.
Max Verstappen has avenged his in a single day demotion from pole place by clinching his ninth win of the season and 63rd of his profession with a dominant triumph for Pink Bull in a crash-hit and controversial Qatar Grand Prix.
In a race formed by a litany of stewards’ choices and penalties, together with a late 10-second “stop-go” for Lando Norris of McLaren, the newly topped four-time world champion was flawless on Sunday as he got here house six seconds forward of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
That outcome meant McLaren, even with Oscar Piastri ending third, had been unable to clinch their first constructors’ title since 1998 and need to attempt once more within the ultimate race in Abu Dhabi subsequent weekend.
George Russell completed fourth for Mercedes whereas Norris, after a ferocious finale following his penalty, may end solely in tenth place for McLaren.
Verstappen’s success in Qatar was not sufficient to maintain alive Pink Bull’s problem for the staff title, which left McLaren prime with 640, 21 factors away from Ferrari with one race to go.
“I’m very proud of that,” stated Verstappen, who has recovered his type within the final three races. “It’s been a very long time since we had victory within the dry, and it’s nice for the staff to be so aggressive once more.”
Leclerc stated he was proud of second and forecast a “very tight” end within the constructors’ championship subsequent weekend. “However 21 factors remains to be an enormous margin,” he added.
Mad Max
Fired up by that stewards’ determination to award an uncommon one-place grid penalty for impeding George Russell in qualifying, Verstappen made a wonderful begin to energy by the pole sitter and lead into flip one with Norris squeezing by means of to take second earlier than the opening lap was red-flagged, forcing a brief race stoppage.
After a restart, the race once more descended into chaos at mid-distance when crash particles on the racetrack precipitated punctures for Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.
However Verstappen, who sealed his fourth consecutive world driver title final day out in Las Vegas, emerged from the insanity to take his second victory in three races.
