Max Verstappen secured his ninth win of the 2024 Formula 1 season at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Dutchman had taken pole position but was hit with a one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly during a cooldown lap, handing pole to George Russell.
Verstappen past Russell at turn one and controlled the majority of the race to win in Qatar. The 27-year-old extended his lead in the drivers’ championship – which he wrapped up in Las Vegas – over Lando Norris to 80 points after the McLaren driver was hit with a 10-second stop-go penalty for failing to lift under yellow flags.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Max Verstappen |
429 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
349 |
| 3 |
Charles Leclerc |
341 |
| 4 |
Oscar Piastri |
291 |
| 5 |
Carlos Sainz Jr |
272 |
| 6 |
George Russell |
235 |
| 7 |
Lewis Hamilton |
211 |
| 8 |
Sergio Perez |
152 |
| 9 |
Fernando Alonso |
68 |
| 10 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
37 |
Verstappen reported Norris over his radio which ultimately led to the Brit being penalised. Norris dropped from second to 14th and ended up finishing 10th.
The Qatar Grand Prix saw some standout performances from drivers outside the usual frontrunners. Pierre Gasly finished an impressive fifth for Alpine, while Fernando Alonso scored his first points in five races by finishing seven.
The race also saw one driver finally get off the mark in 2024 in a performance that Eddie Jordan has described as a ‘trojan effort.’
Eddie Jordan praises Zhou Guanyu’s ‘trojan effort’ in Qatar as he scores Sauber’s first points of 2024
It has been a miserable season for Sauber as they have languished at the back of the grid all season. The Swiss outfit had not scored a point at any of the previous 22 Grand Prix before Qatar.
But their fortunes would finally change at the Lusail International Circuit. After both cars got into Q2, Zhou Guanyu drove a superb race to finish eighth – taking his tally to 16 career points in F1 – and getting Sauber on the scoreboard for the first time this season.
It was almost a double points finish for the team as Valtteri Bottas came agonisingly close to finishing 10th. But the Finn was overtaken by Norris during his charge back up the field and had to settle for 11th.
READ MORE: Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu’s life outside F1 from height to net worth
Norris congratulated Zhou after his incredible performance, and Jordan continued that praise as he took his hat off to the Chinese driver for scoring Sauber their first points of 2024.
“On the reflection like what you’ve just described. Gary [Anderson] pointed out the fact that there are some teams, and I must say that I agree with him,” he said via the Formula For Success podcast.
“There are some teams in Formula 1 who are really not up to the mark. And fair play to Zhou Guanyu because to finish eighth in that race at the weekend and finally get some points to Sauber, I will just take my hat off to him because I think that was a trojan effort.”
Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas head into their final race with Sauber this weekend in Abu Dhabi
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marks the final race for both Zhou and Bottas after three years with Sauber – and it could even be their final race in F1 altogether.
Ahead of Audi’s arrival in 2026, Sauber have signed Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto to their ranks on multi-year deals. The former rejoins Sauber having raced with them back in 2013, while the latter is the fourth rookie to be confirmed for next season as he moves over from the McLaren academy.
It is not currently known what either Bottas or Zhou will be doing next season, but both are keen to keep their F1 careers alive.
Bottas is in talks with Mercedes over a return to the team as their reserve driver behind Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
His Chinese teammate could follow a similar path and head into a reserve role. Zhou is in talks with Red Bull to join the team and help fund Arvid Lindblad’s efforts.
