The sprint to the Qatar Grand Prix in Formula 1 was not as marked by position changes, but still brought almost as many unforgettable moments as an entire race.

From the superbly executed duel between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto having to make a rare overtaking maneuver at the pit exit, to Oscar Piastri getting in and out of Lando Norris’ DRS and then being waved past in relatively dramatic fashion, was a lot going on for a 19 lap event.

Here are our winners and losers from the third-to-last F1 race of the 2024 season.

Winner: Lando Norris

Will Norris’ magnanimity at the end of the race benefit him much in the long run? Probably not; Piastri didn’t seem particularly thrilled about the sprint victory, and McLaren may have been quietly annoyed that Norris ignored a direct appeal to keep his position and exposed the one-two to additional risk, however slight it was.

But as far as a feat of total control goes, this was a believable performance – you can’t do a Formula 1 race more convincingly than when you’ve already won the race and proven you can protect your teammate behind you by giving in to him DRS at will and then handed them the victory as a final act of charity.

If it was really that comfortable, Sunday looks good.

Loser: George Russell

Sunday is also looking good for Russell, whose pace in the Mercedes seemed to be holding up quite well considering how quickly he was able to keep up with Piastri again when the McLaren driver lost insurance from Norris’ DRS.

Russell will likely be annoyed at losing to Piastri’s move in Round 1, and it’s that move that puts him in the loser category here, but it also keeps the excitement going.

From what we’ve learned so far from the weekend, he’s the only rider who has a real chance of beating Norris here – we haven’t seen a real battle between him and his compatriot, but the indications from the sprint seem promising enough, even if the end result was disappointing.

Winner: McLaren

A 30-point lead from the sprint means McLaren could well finish the weekend with the constructors’ championship – a 1-2 would be enough without either Ferrari suffering serious misfortune.

There’s a chance this title fight could go to Abu Dhabi, but this was more about holding serve while already in the set. It would now take something really dramatic for McLaren to miss out.

Loser: Max Verstappen

The RB20 looked pretty ridiculous on the first lap where Verstappen fell behind a Mercedes, a Haas and then an Alpine.

“You could see he just couldn’t get the tires to work. When the tires finally got going, the front wheel was gone,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1.

Now that 2024 is over, all his thoughts will be focused on defending the title in 2025 and Qatar must look alarming in that regard. Red Bull can enjoy the high-speed corners, but it’s not enough – things looked sluggish in qualifying and Verstappen struggled to make any meaningful progress in the sprint.

“I just slid everywhere and had a lot of moments, very strange moments, strange snapshots,” Verstappen said. “Honestly, this is exactly what has been happening all weekend – no balance at the entrance, no balance in the middle of the corner, everything is just the extreme version.”

Would he have had greater success in Hülkenberg if there had been more at stake here? Possibly, but the fact that Red Bull were beaten in a head-to-head battle with Haas will not be lost on its champion.

“We have a bit of a mountain to climb,” Horner admitted.

Winner: Haas

A three-point lead over Alpine is still not comfortable, but Haas will love what he saw in the sprint from Hülkenberg and the VF-24.

Norris’ pace was obviously limited at the front, but Hulkenberg was 8.5 seconds behind after 19 laps – and finished six seconds ahead of Pierre Gasly.

Teammate Kevin Magnussen, who moved up five positions from 15th to 10th, confirmed the conclusion that the Haas could potentially be in a very good position in the Grand Prix too.

Potentially good enough to achieve a sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship with a well-executed Grand Prix qualifying and race, which is unattainable or close enough for Abu Dhabi.

Loser: Red Bulls contenders for second place

That was of course due to different circumstances, but it was very funny to see the four nominal contenders for the Red Bull seat alongside Verstappen for 2025 – Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez – in places 17 to 20 were one point in the race.

Tsunoda’s sprint ended in qualifying. Lawson was unbalanced with an off-track slip at the start. As far as the constructors’ battle for sixth place goes, their RB team is currently in a pretty tough spot.

Perez and Colapinto didn’t have much of a fight at the start from the pit lane – but the former still managed to come out of the sprint with a bit of a sour taste after being overtaken at the pit exit.

Horner sounded taken aback by Perez’s delay when discussing it with Sky, and although he initially seemed gentle with his words, he ended his assessment with the following words: “When the lights go out, you shall go.”

Perez’s absence did not have a significant impact on Red Bull’s points tally – but it is clear that his bosses’ frustration is increasing with almost every meeting.