The battle for the Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship will take centre stage when the 23rd and penultimate round of the 2024 season, the Qatar Grand Prix, is held at the Lusail International Circuit on the evening of Sunday 1 December.
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The Drivers’ World Championship was wrapped up this past weekend at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen finished fifth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth, thus securing an insurmountable 63 point lead.
The Dutchman has therefore become a four-time Formula 1 World Champion, joining Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel on four titles, with only Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher (seven each) ahead of him on the all-time list.
What a season,” Verstappen said after sealing the Championship. “It was a little more difficult than last season, but we pulled through.”
He added: “It has been a long season and we started amazing, almost like cruising, and then we had a tough run but we kept it together as a team, kept working on improvements and pulled it over the line. To stand here as a four-time World Champion is something I never thought possible so standing here relieved in a way but also proud.”
The Constructors’ title remains up for grabs, with McLaren holding a 24-point lead over Ferrari at the top of the standings. Red Bull are a further 30 points back and Mercedes (who had a superb haul at Vegas with George Russell winning and teammate Hamilton coming home in second for a team one-two) are in a distant fourth.
McLaren are looking strong to win the team title, but CEO Zak Brown insists they are taking nothing for granted.
“For those people who have come to me with a foregone conclusion that we’ve already won the championship, I kind of want to punch them in the nose,” said the American.
“A lot of people have asked what we are doing differently,” he added. “We don’t want to do anything differently. We want to do exactly what got us to where we are. Take it one session at a time, feet on the ground.
“The minute you think you’ve done it before you’re in the end zone is a big mistake to make. I feel good about where we are but we’re very focused and we’re not going to celebrate until hopefully we’ve earned the right to celebrate.”
This will be the third edition of the Qatar GP, with the two previous races won by Hamilton (2021) and Verstappen (2023).
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