In Pictures: Qatar 2023
Max, Max, Max, Super Max…
Formula 1 returns to Qatar for a Sprint weekend, after not taking place during the 2022 season due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup taking place in the country.
THE AREA
Lusail is the second-largest city in Qatar, located on the coast, and about 23 kilometers (14 mi) north of the city center of Doha.
As a city, Lusail is brand new, with plans for the development of Lusail City first announced in 2005. It was the first area of Qatar where foreigners could own real estate. By late 2013, it was announced that more than 80% of the plots in Lusail had been purchased, and by April 2018 over 80% of the city's infrastructure projects were completed.
The city runs along the coast of the Persian Gulf.
THE CIRCUIT
The Losail International Circuit only took a year to build, thanks to a workforce of around a thousand, at a cost of 58 million US dollars.
It was inaugurated in 2004, staging that year’s MotoGP, the first such race to be held at night as from 2007, when a powerful 3600 floodlight system was installed. It is 5.380 kilometers in length, with the main straight measuring 1.068 kilometers. The track is surrounded by artificial grass to prevent sand from blowing onto it from the surrounding desert.
The Qatar Grand Prix was established as the fourth full-night race on the Formula One calendar, following the Singapore, Bahrain, and Sakhir Grand Prix.
In preparation for the 2023 Formula 1 race, the circuit underwent renovations and facility upgrades, raising guest capacity from 8,000 to 40,000+, while enhancing parking and circuit access. The venue now features an expanded public fan zone, additional VIP areas like F1’s Paddock Club, and a significant landscaping project resulting in 180,000 sqm of green space with 2,500 trees planted, including 'Lusail Hill'—an elevated green viewing spot at Turn 1 accessible to all general admission ticket holders.
In case you’re wondering, both names Losail and Lusail are correct, according to the official Lusail International Circuit’s webpage.
FRIDAY
Since this was a Sprint Weekend, FP1 was the only practice session of the weekend, and thus, extremely important for the teams to gather as much information as possible to further prepare for two qualifying sessions and two races, well, a race and half really…
Ah, did we mention it was hot? Oh, and sandy!
FP1
The general conditions played havoc with the teams as it was hot, windy, and sandy! Anyway, cars took to the track as soon as the green light was shown.
Just a few seconds after getting on track, drivers complained about how slippery it was.
As the night fell during the last few minutes of the practice, everyone was trying qualifying runs, although it was difficult to get the soft tires working. Lots of learning for teams and drivers.
In the end, it was Max Verstappen setting the fastest lap of the session, followed by Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, and Sergio Perez, the top five.
QUALIFYING
Since this was a Sprint weekend, qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix was on Friday night. In any case, conditions were complicated, to say the least. The track was as green as earlier, it was hot, windy, and dusty as well.
Q1
Everyone took to the track immediately, except Nico Hulkenberg, and the first times started coming in. But as predicted, track evolution was mighty and lap times tumbled down rather quickly, so track position was key.
Another issue the drivers had to deal with was laps being deleted for exceeding track limits.
In the end, on top was Max Verstappen, followed by Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, and George Russell, the fastest five. At the other end, out were Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Kevin Magnussen, and Zhou Guanyu.
Q2
Q2 started just about the same as how Q1 ended. Track limits proved horrible for some, as Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, and Nico Hulkenberg could not go through to Q3. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest by the way…
Q3
And then there were ten!
Track evolution was strong, but track limits played havoc with the drivers. In any case, it was Max Verstappen the fastest, but not on his final run as that lap was deleted. After the stewards revised track limits, the final order was Max Verstappen on Pole, followed by George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, and Lando Norris with no time on the board.
This was Max’s 10th Pole in an amazing season for him and Red Bull Racing.
SATURDAY
Very different conditions at Lusail for the shootout. It was very, very hot. Also, there were several revisions to the track and shootout format due to concerns raised by Pirelli:
⁃ 10-minute practice before the shootout, called “practice familiarization session.”
⁃ Sprint Shootout delayed 20 minutes.
⁃ Revised track limits at Turns 12 and 13 (moved by approximately 0.80m to the right).
⁃ Mandatory three tire-change stops on Sunday’s Grand Prix.
In case you’re wondering, Verstappen was quickest, followed by Leclerc.
SPRINT SHOOTOUT
As the sun started to set, teams and drivers got ready for some very fast laps to decide the grid for the Sprint Race later on.
Q1
Even with the track revisions, track limits fared problematic for many, having laps deleted, re-shuffling the general order, and after the first stage of qualifying was completed, it was George Russel the fastest, and Lance Stroll, Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, and Logan Sargeant were eliminated from the Shootout.
Q2
It was the golden hour at Lusail, and cars took to the track for the second stage of Sprint qualifying.
Once again track limits played havoc with several drivers getting laps deleted. And as the wind picked up, keeping the cars within the white lines became harder.
Not going through to Q3 were Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson, and Zhou Guanyu. Fastest was Lando Norris, followed by George Russell, and Sergio Perez.
Q3
Soft tires for the last stage of Sprint qualifying. And with so many laps deleted, it was a McLaren 1 - 2 with Oscar Piastri taking his maiden pole position, albeit for the Sprint race. And after the stewards revised all the laps, the final order was Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon, the top ten.
McLaren is definitely the most improved team throughout the season starting from the back of the grid in Australia (P13 for Norris, P16 for Piastri) to claim a front-row lockout for the Sprint race.
There were 22 laps deleted by the stewards during the Qatar Grand Prix qualifying on Friday, 31 on Saturday’s Sprint Shootout.
SPRINT RACE
The sun had set, and it was time for some night racing in the desert! Cars left the pits to form the starting grid for the Sprint race.
Piastri made an excellent start, while behind him, there was a four-wide battle into Turn 1. Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, and Russell were all side by side. Russell, on the soft tires, forcefully made his way through the pack, while Verstappen opted for a more cautious approach. As a result, Piastri kept the lead of the race.
Nevertheless, the thrill continued to unfold. Sargeant's misjudgment at Turn 2 resulted in an entanglement with Lawson, leaving the latter stranded in the gravel trap. As a consequence, Sainz ascended to third place, while Leclerc followed in fourth, and Verstappen fell back to fifth.
Due to the stranded AlphaTauri, the Safety Car was deployed.
Lawson's car was cleared away, and racing resumed. Piastri leading the pack, but not for long as Russell made a move on Piastri into Turn 8, and the Mercedes man came on top.
Just a few moments after, Sargeant spun his Williams and got trapped in the gravel... Another Safety Car, in just three laps!
The race resumed on Lap 7/19.
On Lap 10/19, Russell's lead was just over one second over Piastri. Behind them, Verstappen overtook Sainz to take third place. It appeared the Ferrari started to struggle on the soft tires. Consequently, the current order was Russell in the lead, followed by Piastri and Verstappen. On the next lap, Piastri closed in on Russell, also on the softs, and breezed past the Mercedes on the main straight to regain the lead.
Three into one does not go and Ocon crashed into Hulkenberg and him into Perez. Perez and Ocon in the gravel. Hulkenberg with a damaged wing went to the pits.
In the end, it was a fantastic drive by Oscar Piastri as the young Australian won the F1 Sprint at Qatar. He was followed by Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
With his second Max Verstappen joins the exclusive Triple World Champions club, along Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, and Ayrton Senna. An exceptional talent at the peak of the sport. He’s only the second driver in history to win his first three WDCs consecutively, the other, a certain Sebastian Vettel… Both with Red Bull Racing.
SUNDAY
Due to high tire degradation and concern over tire-wear related issues, the FIA set a limit of 18 laps maximum per stint for new tire sets.
Sergio Perez was required to start the race from the pitlane as multiple power unit elements were replaced following his crash during the Sprint race. Furthermore, Carlos Sainz had to withdraw from the Grand Prix due to a fuel system issue in his Ferrari.
It was very hot, and the race extracted every ounce of strength from these incredibly fit athletes. There were lots of unknowns before the start of the race, and because of that, this was a completely different Grand Prix from what we have ever witnessed before.
Mixed tire choices at the start of the race: Hamilton, Bottas, Lawson, and Magnussen opted for the soft tires, while Perez began on the hard compound, and the rest of the field selected the medium tires.
2023 QATAR GRAND PRIX
The three-time world champion got off to a promising start, but behind him, chaos ensued. As they approached Turn 1, the two Mercedes drivers collided, with Hamilton attempting an outside pass, only to turn in and make contact with Russell. Hamilton's Mercedes sustained significant damage and became stranded in the gravel trap, leading to the deployment of the Safety Car.
In the meantime, Russell managed to make it back to the pits for a replacement front wing. As a result, Verstappen led the race, followed by Piastri and Alonso, with Leclerc in fourth position.
During the Safety Car period, numerous drivers took the opportunity to make pit stops, exchanging their soft tires for either mediums or hards.
Safety Car ended; racing resumed.
Max Verstappen pitted on Lap 17/57, and it was Alex Albon who was leading the Grand Prix in his Williams, albeit for just a short period of time as the Thai driver pitted the next lap.
On Lap 25/57, Verstappen had a lead of nearly 10 seconds over Piastri. However, the Australian opted for another round of pit stops, swapping out his worn tires for fresh rubber. Meanwhile, Alonso also entered the pits, where he urgently requested assistance from the Aston Martin team to alleviate the discomfort of a "burning" seat by cooling it with some water.
As the race progressed and pit stops became frequent, it was announced that Perez had incurred a five-second time penalty for consistently exceeding track limits, a violation that several other drivers were also flirting with. Throughout the field, drivers were accumulating warnings from Race Control in relation to this issue.
A bit later on, Sargeant reported that he was not feeling well inside the cockpit. Williams' team boss James Vowles gave him the option for him to withdraw from the race, yet the determined American rookie resolved to persevere and endeavor to complete the race until the checkered flag. But some laps later, Sargeant reported once again his discomfort in the scorching conditions. In response, his race engineer told him "There's no shame in retiring”. Sargeant, acknowledging his physical strain, firmly stated, "I need to stop." Subsequently, the young driver made the decision to withdraw from the race.
Piastri pitted on Lap 44/57, and Norris followed on the next lap. They both changed to hard tires, and the team told them to stay in their current positions until the end of the race.
After making a final pit stop on Lap 52 for medium tires, Verstappen kept his composure and finished the race with a lead of nearly five seconds over Piastri, not before doing the fastest lap of the race. Norris was just one second behind Piastri, securing another double podium finish for McLaren.
Russell, who used soft tires in the final part of the race, secured fourth place ahead of Leclerc. Alonso and Ocon followed, with Bottas, Zhou, and Perez in the Alfa Romeos. Perez received a third five-second penalty for going off-track after the race had finished.
The Max Verstappen Show appears to not be slowing down as the Dutchman wins the Qatar Grand Prix. And it was a double podium for the McLaren team with Piastri edging out Norris by just over a second.
This race was the ultimate test for fitness, added to the heat and humidity, the forced change of tires every 18 laps maximum meant everyone was pushing as hard as they could, which only increased the stress upon the drivers in the intense heat. Several drivers had health issues as the race progressed, complaining about cramps on their hands, arms, and/or legs, feeling dizzy and blurred vision. Ocon vomited inside his helmet, Alonso got burned on his backside, and most notoriously, Sargeant, who had to retire from the race as he was completely spent, even passing out in the medical center.
Piastri was voted Driver of the Day by the f1.com fans.