Formula 1: Verstappen breaks race win record in Qatar

Status: 08.10.2023, 20:35 PM

By: Lena Hempler

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Formula 1 starts in Doha. Max Verstappen was already crowned world champion after Saturday's sprint. Now the FIA has announced a new rule for the race. Everything here in the live ticker.

• Grid positions at the Qatar Grand Prix
• Hamilton vs. Russell - Mercedes out of the race
• FIA publishes new regulations for the race
• This ticker will be updated continuously.

Lap 57/57: MAX VERSTAPPEN SNATCHES THE 14TH RACE WIN OF THE SEASON. PIASTRI GETS A DESERVED SECOND AND NORRIS THE THIRD. AS ANNOUNCED, RUSSELL ALSO REMAINS IN P4. THE OTHER DRIVERS STILL HAVE TO SORT THEMSELVES OUT WITH THE TIME PENALTIES.

Grid positions at the Qatar Grand Prix

Lap 56/57: For Russell, there's the warning. On the last lap, he must not end up off the track, otherwise his fourth place may still go to Leclerc, who is in the 5-second window so far!

Doha Grand Prix: McLaren catches up with Verstappen

Lap 55/57: Verstappen and Piastri are now separated by just three seconds and Norris seems to have accepted his fate in third. However, Russell is also far enough away in fourth with 25 seconds.

Lap 54/57: Gasly has now had to give the position back to Stroll, and Perez has also slipped past Gasly and is happy. It is quite possible, however, that five seconds still have to be counted on the time for him.

Lap 53/57: Gasly has just overtaken Stroll, but has gone so far off the track that he will face the next 5-second penalty.

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Lap 50/57: Seven laps to go. The fastest race lap is currently guaranteed by Norris, but Verstappen still has new soft tyres on offer. Russell comes in for his final stop and gets the soft tyres. Verstappen is also coming in right away.

Lap 47/57: Alex Albon also gets a 5-second penalty because of the track limits. And Lando Norris? He is currently discussing with his engineer about a change of position with Piastri. However, the engineer doesn't like to see that at all. But Norris doesn't really want to accept that either.

Formula 1 in Doha: Track limit penalties as far as the eye can see

Lap 43/57: 15 laps to go. Piastri comes to his (presumably) last pit stop and Max Verstappen can take a lot more time. The news just came that he didn't have to pit until lap 52. Stroll and Gasly get a 5-second penalty for track limits.

Lap 41/57: Stroll now also gets the warning for the track limits. And Sargeant parks his car. According to Funk, he tells his engineer that he is not well, what exactly he has, we do not know. But he seems to be doing really badly when he can't continue.

Lap 39/57: For Perez, there are another five seconds on top. The Mexican has once again disregarded the track limits. Already ten penalty seconds for him - so far. The race will take some time. So it might not have been the last!

Lap 35/57: Alonso's drive back to the track after his trip to the gravel could be his undoing. The FIA is looking at the whole thing again and it is quite possible that he will get a penalty for it!

Lap 33/57: Oh no! Alonso was off the track and rammed over the gravel once! Hopefully he didn't damage his underbody with it. Of course, there are also track limits for this. Leclerc in particular benefits from this, as he passes the Spaniard directly.

Qatar Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton is remorseful in interview

Round 31/57: Russell even has a chance of P4 after his disastrous start, according to his engineer. To do this, however, he has to keep up the speed and the upcoming pit stops have to go well. Lewis Hamilton has just been in the interview and is remorseful, taking responsibility and apologising to the team.

Lap 29/57: Oscar Piastri continues to fight his way forward after his pit stop. The rookie won the sprint race yesterday and has a good chance of finishing on the podium today! However, Verstappen is again unbeatable this time.

Round 27/57: Not only does Perez lose the fastest lap of the race to George Russell, he also gets a 5-second penalty from Race Control due to track limits!

Lap 25/57: The tyre rule is still causing some confusion. But it looks like the 18 laps will be able to be completed with the tyres, even if the 19th lap actually starts as soon as they go into the pits.

Lap 22/57: Albon and Tsunoda engage in a thrilling duel at turn one! The Thai has not yet made it past the Japanese. But he really has to watch out for the track limits now. He was given a warning.

Safety car immediately on lap one, after Mercedes accident © IMAGO/Zak Mauger / LAT Images

Formula 1 in Doha: Verstappen wins restart for himself

Lap 19/57: It is quite possible that Albon and Zhou will get a penalty. The two of them have only just come to the pit stop, although that was more or less lap 19, not lap 18. There are some duels on the field, including between Norris and Leclerc.

Lap 15/57: Verstappen is one of the few drivers who hasn't been to the pit stop yet! However, he drives right at the front, relaxes his laps with a 22-second lead and has no need to drive in so early. He may sit out the 18 tyre laps in full so that he has more leeway afterwards.

Round 12/57: Norris gets the first warnings for track limits! One more offense and there is a 5-second penalty. And most of the drivers now come straight into the pits and get new tyres.

Round 8/57: Russell is trying to make up for his lost positions and is currently going pretty fast on his medium tyres! By the way, track limits do play a role, some drivers have already been out of the track. For three violations, there is a time penalty.

Round 5/57: Verstappen was able to win the restart immediately and also directly extends a lead over Piastri. In addition, Hulkenberg is probably currently being examined, according to the FIA he is said to have been in the wrong starting position. Did he use Carlos Sainz's spot? It should have remained empty, but Nico caught up and gets a 10-second penalty.

Hamilton loses a tyre at the Qatar GP and is out! © IMAGO/ANP

Qatar Grand Prix: Russell vs. Hamilton - Mercedes shoots itself out

Round 4/57: We already have the first ones to come to the pit stop. After just four laps, so it's going to be more of a four-stop stop. The safety car also ends after this lap and George Russell is quite concerned about his crash with teammate Hamilton.

Round 1/57: SO LIGHT'S OUT IN QATAR! BOTH MERCEDES HAVE JUST CRASHED OUT! IT LOOKED AS IF HAMILTON WAS TO BLAME. BUT ONLY HE HAS TO LEAVE HIS CAR BEHIND. RUSSELL CAN DRIVE ON. OF COURSE, VERSTAPPEN, PIASTRI AND ALONSO ARE HAPPY ABOUT THAT. WE HAVE THE FIRST SAFETY CAR.

Update from October 08th, 18:50 p.m.: Most drivers are aware that it won't necessarily be easy for them with the 3-stop rule. Some drivers have more fresh tyres available than others and therefore have a clear advantage, such as Max Verstappen.

Update from October 08, 18:08 p.m.: Carlos Sainz will not take part in the Qatar Grand Prix. The Spaniard has to leave his car in the garage due to a problem with the fuel system.

First reported on October 08, 17:20 p.m.: Doha – Sergio Perez will start from the pit lane! The mechanics had to work overnight on the Mexican's replacement floor after an accident yesterday. For him, second place in the world championship is at stake, both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are not far away in the points.

Oscar Piastri celebrates his victory in the sprint race in Doha, Qatar. © IMAGO/Sam Bloxham / LAT Images

Formula 1 in Doha: Verstappen takes 3rd title, but all eyes are on Piastri

Max Verstappen doesn't seem to be really lucky with his world championship titles in Formula 1: In 2021 there was the dispute with Mercedes, to this day some fans don't really recognize him this title. In 2022, the chaos in Japan was to blame for the fact that even Verstappen himself didn't really know whether he had become world champion or not. And this year? In the sprint race in Doha, Verstappen finished second, failed to get past Oscar Piastri in the final laps and thus decided his world title.

Not only was this quite unspectacular, his title was virtually overshadowed by Piastri's victory. The rookie has been driving for McLaren since this season and has shown quite clearly what he can do in recent races. Next to him, even his teammate Lando Norris looks old at the moment. Piastri has never ridden the Doha circuit before, only had one free practice session to get used to it and did not let the world champion catch him. That excited fans on social media more than Verstappen's third title.

FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem and Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1 CEO. © IMAGO/Mark Sutton / Sutton Images

Qatar Grand Prix: FIA announces new regulations for the Grand Prix

The qualifying of Formula 1 on Friday was again characterized by an enormous number of violations of the track limits. So many, in fact, that race control once again couldn't keep up and revoked Oscar Piastri's second place on the grid while the drivers were already conducting the interviews. This not only caused confusion among the teams, but the fans are also of the opinion online that the race control should finally come up with something so that such grid penalties or time penalties are brought to the attention of drivers and teams in good time.

After free practice and qualifying on Friday, the FIA also found that the tyres of the cars had far too much wear. This would put the drivers at risk because the tyres could potentially thin out so quickly during the race that they could crack or burst. Accordingly, the FIA has now decided that drivers will be allowed to drive a maximum of 18 laps on the tyres, which means that Doha will be a three-stop race! That could shake up the field of drivers over the course of the race. (lhe)