Luke’s Weekend Take – Qatar GP 2023

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2023 Qatar GP Qualifying Recap: Verstappen Claims Pole as Stroll's Outburst Shocks the Grid

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After a year out from this track we are back to the Qatar GP at the Lusail International Circuit for the 18th round of the 2023 F1 Season. The track has been fully resurfaced since the last race back in 2021 and the pitlane has also been restructured and rebuilt so it is all very new for everyone especially with the new surface.

This weekend is also a Sprint Weekend with the new format of 2023 where on Friday we have the only Free practice of the weekend and then we get qualifying to form the grid for Sunday. Saturday is now all dedicated to the Sprint where we will have a Sprint Shootout qualifying which is a shorter version of Qualifying to form the grid for the Sprint Race and a 100Km Sprint later on Saturday. Sunday remains unchanged where we will get the Main Race where we will see the drivers race for 57 laps around the Lusail International Circuit.

We start now looking at the free practice which was quite tricky for everyone as the track was very sandy which in turn made the track quite slippery and not a lot of grip, we heard a few radio messages from drivers starting with the current leader for the drivers championship, Max Verstappen saying that it is very slippery and that there is not so much grip, later we also hear Carlos Sainz joking saying that his father, Carlos Sainz Senior would do well on these conditions giving that he is a rally driver. This was not the only message we heard on Sainz’s radio as upon him leaving the pits we hear his engineer telling him not to push due to a potential issue, however a few seconds later it was relief for Sainz as he got the green light to push. Ferrari might have a few gremlins in their engine however as later in the session we see Charles Leclerc come into the pits saying that the engine was sounding bad. Nothing came of this as both drivers managed to continue with the session with no issues and fingers crossed that the weekend would go well for the Ferrari pair.

Apart from the sand the track was quite windy given that it is in the middle of the desert with no buildings around it to protect it and this was proving difficult for drivers on certain corners where the wind was catching them out a bit alongside the lack of grip due to the sand on the track, luckily there was no mishaps from any of the drivers barring a few going a bit wide on a few corners. With what we saw in FP1 I think that track limits would be an issue in qualifying and the race itself so prepare yourself for a repetition of the Austrian GP where loads of lap times will be deleted in Qualifying and penalties being handed out in the race, hopefully not as much as we seen in Austria. In FP1 we see Max Verstappen top the charts followed by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

We now head into Qualifying on Friday which like I mentioned, will form the grid for Sunday’s race. In Q1 Red Bull didn’t waste any time as they sent both their drivers out to get a lap in, given that the worry of track limits and lack of grip was still obviously there. After only 6 minutes into Q1 we already had 2 lap times deleted and by the end we had seen at least 5 lap times being deleted in Q1. We lose Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu in Q1 and apart from Stroll all the other 4 was their first outing at Qatar. Stroll was a big shock exit in Q1 given that his teammate Fernando Alonso managed to put a time good enough for 3rd in Q1 and Stroll knew that this was bad and really showed it when he got back to the pits, he first threw his £100K steering wheel on the floor and then when we was heading into the hospitality part, Stroll is seen shoving his trainer away in frustration. Personally, I think this is unacceptable behaviour and an apology is needed from Stroll.

Q2 was another one which had 2 shocking exits as we lose Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg. Sainz and Perez were expected to be through to Q3 easily however Perez got caught out on track limits which meant his last lap time was deleted pushing him back to 13th and Sainz wasn’t able to put a good enough lap to get him out of the bottom 5 resulting him getting a time good enough for 12th.  In Q3 we see Leclerc has a moment as wind catches him out on his first flying lap which meant he had to go wide and abort his lap, and he was not the only one who was being caught out on track limits as Lando Norris struggles to stay within the limits on his first flying lap and he also got caught out on his final flying lap meaning he was not able to put a time down in Q3 dropping him to 10th for the race on Sunday. This was quite disappointing for Norris as his times were good enough for 2nd place even if he stayed within the limits. Max Verstappen takes pole for Sunday followed by Geroge Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris. Worth nothing here that Piastri was originally in 3rd place but during his Parc Ferme interview he was told that his lap time got deleted pushing him down to 6th place and promoting Lewis Hamilton up to 3rd place.

Oscar Piastri's Maiden Victory Amidst Spirited Qatar Sprint Race Battles and Verstappen's Third World Title Clinch

On Saturday it was announced that the track was being amended between Turn 12 and 13 to make it narrower and due to this change the Sprint was pushed back 20 mins to allow for a 10-minute Practice session so that drivers could get their eye in with the changes the FIA done. Once the sprint shootout started it was evident that track limits are still going to be an issue as lap times were being deleted for everyone from the beginning of SQ1. At the end of SQ1 we end up losing Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, and Logan Sargeant as a few of them had lap times deleted on the last flying lap resulting in them being eliminated in SQ1.

In SQ2 it was fairly straight forward and again had a few lap times deleted for track limits and Turn 5 and 13 seems to be the main offenders where the drivers are struggling to keep it on track, and by the end of SQ2 we lose Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Liam Lawson, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu as Hamilton had his last lap deleted resulting in him dropping back in the bottom 5, however it was later discovered that should his lap stood, he would have still been in the bottom 5 just 1 place ahead in 16th. In SQ3 it’s probably one of the few times that Max Verstappen also had a lap deleted which put the Dutchman on his back foot making sure that his last lap had to be good as otherwise he would end up like Norris in Qualifying on Friday and starting in 10th place, and on his last lap Max made it count however he was not quick enough to beat the initial laps from the Mclaren pair as Norris was in 1st place followed by Piastri before finishing their last lap. Oscar Piastri on his last qualifying lap managed to clinch Pole position from his teammate Lando, but Lando was on a flyer himself and was setting purple sectors but on the last corner he goes wide throwing the lap away and having to settle for 2nd spot. The Sprint later will start with Oscar Piastri on pole followed by Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

With a few drivers out of position the Sprint Race should give us a good race and what a race that was indeed, Great start by Piastri to get away well but all eyes were on Russell and the Ferrari pair who started on the soft tyres opposed to the front 3 who opted for the medium tyre and Russell, Sainz and Leclerc manages to make it past Norris and Verstappen on the start. Verstappen also manages to get past Norris which drops Lando from 2nd to 6th in half a lap giving him some work to do.

It wasn’t long before the action started as on the first lap, we see Laim Lawson lose control of his Alpha Tauri and going onto the gravel and beaching himself, making this the first race since he started filling in for Ricciardo that he did not finish. This incident brought the safety car out and after 1 lap the safety car comes in and Piastri gets a clean start, but Russell was able to get him later in the lap given that he was on the softs, Norris was also under pressure from Alonso, but he managed to hold him behind. On lap 3 we also see Sargeant lose control of his Williams and beaching his car on the gravel bringing the Safety Car back out not even a lap later, during the safety car we hear Sainz report a misfire to his team and urges them to sort it as he will lose places otherwise.

At the restart Russell was able to catch Piastri napping as he went early and by turn 1, he was already over 1.5 seconds ahead, this meant that Piastri was then under pressure from Sainz which tried a move into turn 1 but Piastri was able to hold his position and get back into the groove. Ocon wasn’t as lucky as Alonso was able to get past him by turn 1 on the restart moving Alonso 1 place higher. It is on lap 9 where we see the soft starters starting to struggle as Verstappen makes it past Leclerc to go 4th with the help of DRS and later that lap, he also made it past Sainz putting himself in the podium positions. Piastri on lap 11 also manages to get past Russell taking back the lead and all he had to do is to get a gap so that he keeps Verstappen behind once the inevitable overtake on Russell was coming.

We see a great move by Lando Norris on lap 11 into turn 1 as he goes on the outside on Leclerc and gets past him, and then disaster strikes on the same lap as we see Hulkenberg being sandwiched between Ocon and Perez and Ocon clips Hulkenberg and ends up taking Perez and Hulkenberg out of the race brining the safety car out once more. After we restart, we see Piastri this time getting a clean start again and keeping the lead and Leclerc makes it past Norris once more on the restart as he found more grip. On lap 16 Max managed to finally get past Russell and had 4 laps to try and clinch another victory from Piastri who was on his way to get his maiden win in F1. On lap 17 we see Lando making it past Leclerc once more and then Sainz later that lap taking him up to 4th where he started his pursuit for the last podium position.

We can’t not speak about Lewis Hamilton who started this race in 12th and in the closing stages was making moves as he gets past Gasly and Alonso in 1 lap and later manages to get both the Ferraris taking hi up to 5th place. On the last lap Norris manages to get the last podium spot as he gets past Russell but all eyes were on his teammate as he goes round the last corner and picking up his maiden win in F1 as he wins the Qatar Sprint Race followed by Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc and Albon takes the last point scoring position in the Sprint Race.

This result also meant that Max Verstappen becomes the World Champion for the 3rd time in a row and puts his name further in the history books. Is there anyone who can stop this man? In his current form and the Red Bull car I don’t think there is much that anyone can do.

Overall that race was a very decent race with loads of action and overtakes which gives me hope for tomorrow’s main race with some drivers being out of position again. I’ll see you all in the post-race review and hopefully it will be a good one like the Sprint was and maybe better.

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