FACTS AND STATS: Bottas no longer last in driver table after Kick Sauber’s best race of ‘24

It was action all the way in Qatar as Max Verstappen came through multiple race restarts to triumph for Red Bull. Arguably of more interest was what was happening behind him, as numerous names were generating some notable numbers for us to contemplate, with just the season finale in Abu Dhabi to come next weekend…
• Verstappen took his second win in the last three races.
• It was Verstappen’s ninth victory of the 2024 season.
REPORT: Verstappen surges to victory ahead of Leclerc and Piastri in action-packed Qatar Grand Prix amid three Safety Cars
• It was Verstappen’s first win in the dry since Austria on June 30.
• All three Qatar Grands Prix have been led from start to finish, the only lead change being Verstappen passing George Russell at the start this year.
• Verstappen had only led 35 laps in the previous six Grands Prix.
• Verstappen finished eighth in yesterday’s F1 Sprint, 10.3 seconds behind the winner in a 19-lap race.
READ MORE: Verstappen delighted with Qatar GP victory as he praises team after rollercoaster weekend
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took P2 and closes to eight points behind McLaren’s Lando Norris in the battle for second in the drivers’ championship.
• Leclerc had never previously finished higher than fifth in either the Sprint or Grand Prix in Lusail.
• Oscar Piastri finished in P3 for McLaren, his eighth podium finish of the season.
• Mercedes’ George Russell finished in P4, the same position as in the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
• Russell is now 24 points ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, with 26 available in Abu Dhabi.
• With Pierre Gasly taking P5, Alpine move back into sixth in the constructors’ championship.
• Gasly’s two best results this season – and best qualifying position – have come in the last three races (he finished third in Sao Paulo).
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• Carlos Sainz’s P6 for Ferrari was his best-ever finish in the Qatar Grand Prix.
• Fernando Alonso’s P7 ended Aston Martin’s four-race scoreless streak.
• With P8, Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu equaled his career-best result (Canada 2022).
• That P8 means the team avoid what would have been the second pointless season in their constructor history.
• At Haas, Kevin Magnussen took P9 for his fifth Grand Prix points finish of the year.
• Norris finished in P10 and set the fastest lap, and McLaren lead the constructors’ championship by 21 points with 44 available in Abu Dhabi.
• In the second Kick Sauber, Valtteri Bottas took P11 for his best result of the season and he moves off the bottom of the drivers’ championship, passing Logan Sargeant.
• In the second Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was P12 – only the 13th time he’s been classified as finishing this low in a Grand Prix in 355 starts.
• Sergio Perez’s failure to finish for Red Bull was his first in-race mechanical retirement since Canada 2022.
• The bottom three cars on the grid were all involved in Lap 1 incidents.
• Williams’ Franco Colapinto and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon both started on the final row and both retired on Lap 1.
RACE START: Enjoy the race start at the Qatar GP as Verstappen snatches the lead while three cars tangle behind
• Ocon went out on the first lap for the seventh time in his career and the second time this year (after Monaco).
• It was Colapinto’s second DNF in the last three races.
• It was also Williams’ seventh crash in the last four race weekends.
• Both Williams were nearly eliminated on Lap 1 – Williams are the only team on grid to have never lost both cars on first lap of a race.
• The Safety Car was deployed for the fourth time in the last five races, after no deployments in nine consecutive races before that.
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