The 2024 Qatar Grand Prix will take place on Sunday at Lusail International Circuit just north of Doha and parity has finally been restored to Formula 1. There are four constructors with at least four victories this season and the next two weeks are expected to be hard-fought, with McLaren and Ferrari separated by only 24 points at the top of the F1 standings. However, Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen has already clinched his fourth straight drivers' championship as he enters the Qatar Grand Prix 2024 with a 63-point lead over second-place Lando Norris of McLaren.

Norris is the +210 favorite (bet $100 to win $210) in the latest 2024 Qatar Grand Prix odds while Verstappen is listed at +400. Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri is priced at +475 while George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are both at +600 coming off their 1-2 finish in Las Vegas last weekend. Charles Leclerc (+1000) and Carlos Sainz (+1100) of Ferrari round out of the top seven on the Qatar GP odds board. 

SportsLine's proven computer projection model simulated the Qatar GP 2024 10,000 times and come up with a surprising leaderboard.

Developed by daily Fantasy pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, this proprietary Formula 1 prediction model takes into account a slew of factors including track history and recent results.

The model has been scorching hot when it comes to picking Formula 1 race events dating back to 2021. It nailed both of Charles Leclerc's wins in 2022, and at the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix, the model was strongly backing Verstappen as its top pick. The result: Verstappen dominated the field and ran away with a surprising victory. 

It followed that up by calling Verstappen's win at the Rolex Emilia Romagna GP in April and nailed Verstappen to win in Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, the United States, Mexico and Abu Dhabi. It also called all 19 of Verstappen's wins during the 2023 season and nailed each of his first seven wins in 2024 while also nailing Norris as a +200 winner in the Netherlands and then again as a +190 winner in Singapore! 

It also called Alex Albon to finish in a points position for a plus-money payout before he went on to finish seventh in Azerbaijan, nailed a double podium for McLaren for a plus-money payout in Singapore and then called a Verstappen podium at +175 in Brazil. Anyone who followed the model's lead on those plays has seen HUGE returns!

The Lusail International Circuit opened in 2004 and it first hosted F1 in 2021 when it served as a replacement for the Australian Grand Prix because of the pandemic. Formula One returned to Qatar in 2023 and it remains on the 2024 F1 schedule. The grand prix circuit at Lusail is 3.367 miles with 16 turns. Thus far, Verstappen and Hamilton are the only two winners of the Qatar Grand Prix.

Now, the model has dialed in on the 2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix and just released its coveted picks and leaderboard projections. 

We can tell you the model is predicting a points finish for Esteban Ocon that would pay out +160. The 28-year-old French driver earned his fourth career podium finish just two races ago, earning a second-place finish in Brazil before the break with his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly coming in third for a double podium.

The performance vaulted Alpine from eighth in the constructors' standings to sixth but they dropped back to seventh after a strong showing by Haas in Las Vegas last week. Ocon jumped from 19th in the drivers' standings to 14th (where he remains) and he could still surge to the top half of the table with a couple of strong showings. Ocon was a winner in Hungary in 2021 and he now has five points finishes (top 10) on the season.

The model has also made its win prediction and is also targeting one significant underdog to make a charge up the leaderboard! Anyone who backs this driver could hit it BIG. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who he is before locking in any Formula 1 Qatar GP picks of your own.

So who wins the 2024 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, and which SERIOUS longshot could be in contention? ... Join SportsLine right now to see the full projected Qatar GP leaderboard, all from the model that 26 of Verstappen's 27 wins since last season and called Norris' wins in the Dutch Grand Prix and Singapore Grand Prix!