Qatar Grand Prix: Race Recap

Magnussen took the start from 10th place on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires but lost a place on a frantic opening lap. Magnussen swiftly regrouped and passed Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, before resisting Pierre Gasly, holding ninth place through the opening stint. Magnussen pitted on lap 27 for White hard tires but the deployment of the Safety Car five laps later aided rivals who had yet to pit – the neutralization minimizing their time loss.

Magnussen dropped to 11th position but profited when Lando Norris was handed a stop-go penalty, and then passed Alex Albon at Turn 1 to move back into ninth position. Magnussen maintained the position through to the checkered flag, marking MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s ninth time in the points across the last 10 races.

Hulkenberg started from 18th on the grid on hards but his prospects of progressing were stymied after being caught up in a first-lap clash with Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon. Hulkenberg sustained a rear-left puncture and pitted for a fresh set of hard tires, re-joining at the rear of the field.

Hulkenberg made up a couple of places before pitting on lap 32 for medium tires, and took the restart in 14th position. Hulkenberg strived to make gains at the restart on lap 40 but spun through turn 9 and beached the VF-24 in the gravel, bringing his race to an early conclusion.

Up front Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed his ninth victory of the season, ahead of Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with McLaren Racing’s Oscar Piastri third.  

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team sits seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, on 54 points – the team currently five points in arrears to Alpine (59) heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi next Sunday.



Nico Hulkenberg:

“Turn one was messy; it was all happening very quickly and it didn’t go well, but I didn’t have any damage so was able to continue. I had a long stint in traffic and then was unlucky with the safety car as others got a free stop. At the restart I lost it in a big way, in a high-speed corner, so it wasn’t our day. The first half of the weekend went well while the second half didn’t. I think the performance in the car isn’t bad, but it’s close, and others around us have good performance; so now we need to reset and go again.”

Kevin Magnussen:

“I’m super gutted with the safety car coming out, it completely ruined the day for me. It was going well and we had a good beginning to the race, but I just wish that safety car hadn’t come out because it really screwed us. There’s still one race to go and we’ll go into it giving everything.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“Today, with Nico coming from P18 it was always going to be difficult, and unfortunately, we didn’t get anything. Kevin, from his side, drove well again but we just didn’t get the philosophy right. He was unlucky with the safety car, but we could’ve covered ourselves a bit better than we did today. The good thing is the deficit is only five points and in Abu Dhabi we really need to focus on getting both of our drivers into points-scoring positions. P8, and P9 – that’s six points – so it’s still all to play for, we need to learn from our mistakes, regroup and focus on doing our best in Abu Dhabi to try and get P6 back.”