October 6, 2023
autosport.com
After our Asia double header, F1 is heading back to the Middle East for a standalone race. All eyes will be on Max Verstappen this weekend as he tries to win his third consecutive World Championship. Here is everything you need to know for the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 10/06, Already Happened
Qualifying: Friday 10/06, Already Happened
Sprint Shootout: Saturday 10/07, 9:00-9:44 AM
Sprint: Saturday 10/07, 1:00-2:30 PM
Race: Sunday 10/08, 1:00 PM
This weekend will have the first ever night Sprint Race. 2023’s Sprint format means teams will only have one practice session before Qualifying for the Grand Prix. Saturday is then designated for the Sprint, with Sprint Shootout qualifying and the Sprint race all happening within a few hours of each other. Sunday, as usual, is for the Grand Prix. I am not normally a fan of Sprints, but this one seems especially stupid to me. With the only Practice session during the day (in Qatar’s sweltering heat) and the rest of the weekend’s events at night, practice is unrepresentative of race conditions and doesn't actually serve the purpose of helping teams collect useful data for the race.
The Qatar Grand Prix takes place at Lusail International Circuit, in Doha. Since it was originally designed for MotoGP (which, by the way, I saw live at Silverstone), this 16 corner, medium-high speed track is highly technical and narrow for F1. Teams will be put to the test as they try to find the perfect aerodynamics dynamics setup. They won’t want a high-downforce setup because Qatar’s heat will already be putting enough stress on their tires, but they also can’t have too low of a downforce package because of the track’s high speeds. It will be interesting to see how the teams fare with limited time to test their cars.
Last time out, Red Bull secured their sixth Constructors Championship with Max Verstappen’s win in Japan. That win – along with his teammate and Championship “rival” Sergio Perez’s DNF – mean Verstappen can take the Championship in this weekend’s Sprint. Perez can only stop Verstappen if he outscores his teammate by six points this weekend. This means that even if Perez wins the Sprint, Max just has to finish P7 to win the Championship. Knowing Verstappen and Red Bull's consistency this season, I don't count the Singapore "blunder", he will probably take the title. I am convinced that Red Bull's sudden, one-race loss of pace in Singapore was just a ploy by the FIA to make sure Max didn’t win the championship in Japan again. Let’s hope the don’t pull anything like that again this weekend and he can win this well deserved Championship in a clean race.
Red Bull may have secured the Constructors Championship, but the fights for the rest of the positions are still in full swing. Ferrari is just 20 points behind Mercedes in the battle for P2. We have seen a completely different Ferrari in the last few races. Their strategy team (Carlos Sainz) have been consistently making the right calls to give the team their best results of the season. Sainz has historically been a driver who scores the majority of his points after summer break, and this season is no exception. If he, and Ferrari, continue on this trajectory, there is a very good chance they will take P2 from Mercedes.
Behind the fight for second are Aston Martin and McLaren fighting for fourth. McLaren’s comeback this season has been absolutely amazing. Last time the 2023 season went to the Middle East, McLaren was finishing a disappointing P17 and P18; that is, if they even finished the race at all. Now, six months later, they are consistently securing podiums and have scored an incredible 155 points in the last eight races. As a papaya fan, I am really pulling for them to close that 49 point gap and take fourth in the constructors.
Liam Lawson is back! Lawson has been filling in for Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri as the Australian recovers from a hand injury sustained back in August. The Japanese Grand Prix was expected to be Lawson’s final weekend with the team as Ricciardo prepared to return in Qatar, but it looks like Danny Ric needs a few more weeks to fully recover. We can probably expect to see Ricciardo back in the car for the US Grand Prix at the end of October. Despite their messy season with driver changes, AlphaTauri have quietly made their way up the grid. In the last few races, their car has significantly improved, with both drivers making it into Q3 and Lawson scoring points in Singapore. After their relatively impressive performances in Singapore and Suzuka, two completely different tracks, a good weekend in Qatar should verify that the team's new upgrades are successful overall.
Since this is only the second Qatar Grand Prix ever, with the first in 2021, a good portion of the grid have never raced here. Alex Albon, both Haas drivers, Zhou Guanyu, and obviously, the rookies – Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, and Logan Sargeant – are all new to the track. With just one practice session to acclimate to the tricky conditions of the Lusail International Circuit, this weekend will be a pretty tricky one for these seven drivers.
We are probably going to see Max Verstappen win the Championship again this weekend, and my money is on him taking it in the Sprint. Verstappen has never won a Championship in a conventional manner: 2021 was because the FIA got involved and there was major controversy surrounding his title, 2022 was on a technicality when Charles Leclerc was given a penalty after a race, and now he will become the first driver to win the title in a Sprint race. It is a strange era to be watching F1.
That’s all for now! Sorry for the late posts recently, I am still figuring out my new schedule. I promise to get better as the season goes on!
Happy Race Weekend!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2023/qatar-grand-prix/guide-to-qatar/
https://scuderia.alphatauri.com/en/2023-qatar-grand-prixview/
https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/formula1/articles/qatar-grand-prix-2023-preview
https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/0f431f84-f155-4b44-babc-9b7dcad235de/alex-and-logan-preview-qatar