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The Qatar Grand Prix is the
penultimate race of the season and the last to be run to the Sprint format.
It comes just one week on from Las Vegas, 13,000 kilometres as the crow
flies from this week’s venue in Lusail. Both races and indeed the final one
in Abu Dhabi, take place at night, but the weather could not be more
different.
Conditions were cold on track in the Nevadan desert, but
in Qatar drivers will have to deal with heat and humidity similar to that
experienced in Singapore. The Middle Eastern track is particularly demanding
for the tyres and that has led to the introduction of an exceptional measure
(explained below), restricting the number of laps that can be completed per
tyre set. This means the drivers will have to change tyres at least twice
during the race.
The compounds
The three hardest compounds in the Pirelli range have been selected for
Doha. The C1, C2 and C3 are the obvious choice at a track where tyres are
subjected to energy levels similar to those experienced in Suzuka and
indeed, these are the only compounds that have ever been run for this Grand
Prix. This trio of compounds has previously been used three times this year,
all in the early part of the season, in Japan, Bahrain and Spain.
Most of the corners at the Lusail track are high speed, which means the
tyres have little time to recover and the section which works them the
hardest is from turns 12 to 14. The track surface which is quite smooth has
usually led to graining which contributes to producing a high wear rate on
the tyres.
In 2024
All drivers started the Qatar Grand Prix on the Medium tyre with the
exception of Nico Hulkenberg who opted for Hards. The one-stop strategy
proved the most popular, with drivers looking to extend the first stint on
the yellow-banded tyre, managing to make it last well past the half race
distance. The run of pit stops to switch to Hards began on lap 34, during a
red flag period. The Safety Car made three appearances and during the final
two of these, some drivers decided to go for a sprint finish, pitting again
for a set of Softs. However, the softest compound suffered from too much
performance drop-off and the gamble didn’t deliver the hoped-for result.
The track
The Lusail circuit was originally conceived as a motorcycle racing track,
which is clear from its rather unique layout; fast and twisty with a
straight that is over a kilometre in length. The circuit on the outskirts of
Doha, presents the drivers, cars and tyres with some unusual challenges. It
boasts 16 corners, ten of them right handers while its desert location means
that sand often gets blown onto the track, inevitably influencing track
evolution. In an effort to prevent this, there are several areas of
artificial grass around the circuit.
High temperatures are a
distinctive feature of the Qatar weekend. Despite the fact the race is held
at night, the high humidity, added to the residual heat built up during
daylight hours, makes the cockpit a very demanding environment, to the
extent that, in previous years, some drivers have felt unwell come the end
of the Grand Prix. From a tyre point of view, track temperature can lead to
the appearance of graining even if, as is clear from earlier races this
year, the current range of compounds seems to be more resistant to this
phenomenon.
Keyword: number of laps
Every set of tyres supplied to the teams at the start of the race weekend
can cover a maximum of 25 laps of the Lusail track. The laps will be counted
cumulatively across all track session, including laps run under the Safety
Car or Virtual Safety Car.
Laps to the grid and formation laps and
those completed after the chequered flag in the Sprint and the Grand Prix
will not be included in the count. As the Qatar Grand Prix is run over 57
laps, each driver will inevitably have to change tyres at least twice.
Before the start of the Grand Prix, Pirelli will inform the teams how many
laps are still available for each set.
The limitation, agreed with
the FIA, F1 and the teams, was decided on to prevent the tyres from reaching
their maximum level of wear, as happened last year, when tyres were
nevertheless used past their working life, through management of their
degradation. However, doing this puts excessive strain on the tyre’s
construction.
Statistics corner
This weekend’s race will be the fourth running of the Qatar Grand Prix,
previously held in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Max Verstappen is the most
successful driver in Doha, having won for the past two years, which also
makes Red Bull Racing the constructor with the most wins. In 2023, the
Dutchman sealed the championship title in the Qatari capital. He has also
set two of the three fastest race laps, but has only started from pole
position once. In the first year, 2021, Lewis Hamilton won from pole for
Mercedes. |
