WEB DESK: Formula One (F1) statistics for the Qatar Grand Prix, penultimate round of the 24-race season which also features the sixth and last Saturday sprint of 2024:
Lap distance: 5.419km. Total distance: 308.611km (57 laps).
Read more: Verstappen says drivers need more of a say in how F1 is run
2023 sprint winner: Oscar Piastri (Australia) McLaren. 2023 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull
2023 winner: Verstappen
Race fastest lap (2023 layout): Verstappen 1:24.319
Start time: 1600GMT/1900 local
Qatar
The circuit has hosted MotoGP since 2004, becoming a night race in 2008.
Qatar has a 10-year deal to host Formula One from 2023 after a debut in 2021, won by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. There was no race in 2022 because of the country hosting the soccer World Cup.
Verstappen won his third title in Qatar last year in the Saturday sprint.
The Lusail layout was resurfaced last year and is fast and flowing with 16 medium and high-speed corners and no heavy braking. The main straight is more than one km long and is the sole DRS zone.
Championship
Verstappen clinched his fourth successive title in Las Vegas last Saturday. He is the sixth driver to win four championships and only the second, after Sebastian Vettel, to win his first four consecutively.
Two of Verstappen’s titles have been won on a Saturday, rather than the usual Sunday.
McLaren’s Lando Norris is 21 points clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the battle to finish overall runner-up, with a maximum 60 points remaining.
McLaren lead Ferrari by 24 points in the constructors’ standings with 103 points to be won.
McLaren can clinch their first constructors’ crown since 1998 if they score 21 points more than Ferrari, who last won the title in 2008, and kill off Red Bull’s slim chances. Otherwise the battle goes down to the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Wins
Seven-times world champion Hamilton has a record 105 career victories from 354 starts, Verstappen has 62 from 207.
Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes have all won races this season. Seven different drivers have triumphed at least twice each.
Verstappen has won eight times this season. McLaren and Ferrari five each and Mercedes four.
Verstappen won in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, Imola, Canada, Spain and Brazil.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won in Australia and Mexico.
Norris in Miami, the Netherlands and Singapore.
Leclerc in Monaco, Italy and Texas.
George Russell in Austria and Las Vegas.
Hamilton in Britain and Belgium.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
Ferrari top the all time list with 248 F1 wins, McLaren have 188, Mercedes 129 and Red Bull 121.
Pole position
Verstappen has had eight poles this year, including the first seven in a row, while Norris is on seven. No other driver comes close, with Leclerc and George Russell on three each and Carlos Sainz one.
Hamilton has a record 104 poles.
Podiums
Verstappen has 111 career podiums, Hamilton a record 202.
Verstappen has been on the podium 13 times this season, Norris 12, Leclerc 11, Sainz eight and Piastri seven.
Points
Red Bull have scored for 65 races in a row, the second longest run in F1 history. Ferrari hold the record of 83 (2010-14, when points were also awarded to the top 10).
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has scored just nine points from the last six race weekends.
One-two finishes
Four different teams (Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes) have all had a one-two finish this year. It is the first time in Formula One championship history that has happened.
Four constructors have won at least four races each while seven drivers have each won multiple grands prix, both also firsts.
Milestone
Hamilton’s second place in Las Vegas meant he has now finished in the top three at 36 different circuits, extending his own record.
The Las Vegas one-two was a 60th in F1 for Mercedes.
Perez is starting his 280th race.
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