Racing at Qatar makes F1 drivers sick – Up and down in Lu(o)sail
The idea of racing in the UAE is usually nauseating enough due to much of the region's human rights abuses against its own citizens and the horrifically bland tracks – but this time in Qatar things got even worse
Sargeant, Ocon, Stroll and many others suffered in Qatar
Williams
Was it Losail or Lusail? No one knew. Seems like no-one knew much about anything at the 2023 Qatar GP.
No one consulted the Met Office and saw it was going to be this hot. No one thought to check if the F1 cars enjoyed running over the apex equivalent of a giant Christmas gift Toblerone.
Drivers were fainting and vomiting, the pitstops were flowing, but it was the same old story out front as Verstappen cruised so easily to a third title it looked like he barely noticed – giving the impression he kind of won the F1 2023 title by accident.
Lewis Hamilton provided the main point of race excitement by pranging into team-mate George Russell at the first turn, doing a reverse slow-motion of Silverstone 2021 on himself – even managed to get his right rear to come off à la Verstappen.
Verstappen needs an extra big Red Bull after an absolute scorcher in Lusail
Getty Images
For a long period in the race there was no media interaction with Mercedes afterwards, just when you wanted the team’s instant reaction – where’s Bradley Lord when you need him?!
Toto Wolff – recovering from knee surgery – did phone in on George to calm him down direct from his Oxfordshire pile though, which was mildly entertaining. Get well soon Toto.
Goin’ down
Wonders of the F1 world
More tyre troubles in Qatar
Grand Prix Photo
Lusail made use of a new Mario Kart-style bogie ‘pyramid kerbs’ on many apexes – which predictably meant Pirelli tyres began to fall apart at just the sight of them.
F1 therefore mandated a maximum of 18 laps on any tyre, meaning everyone had to make at least three stops. Considering the world championship is contrived enough as it is, they should probably just do that at every race.
Wide of the mark
Alonso trying to ‘manifest’ fourth place
Aston Martin
Alonso went full séance in Qatar by saying Mr Brown’s Boys were “overconfident” in its aspirations to catch Aramco Martin for fourth in the constructors’ championship before, like a giant papaya shark, Macca took another huge chunk out of the green team’s advantage with double podiums on both Saturday and Sunday.
It now stands at just 11 points with five GPs and two sprints left to run. Eek. Someone tell 2022’s 10th-place specialist Lance Stroll he needs to score a point.
Aston Martin meltdown
Lance mulls over the idea of being able to swap with other drivers mid-race in WEC if he doesn’t feel like it
Aston Martin
Can Lance help the cause though? Probably not. As the Silverstone team (possibly) warms up its Hypercar seat for him in 2025 – he would only have to do eight-ish WEC races, leaving more time for tennis and snowboarding – the young charmer appeared to shove his trainer out the way following a poor qualifying and then gave an interview which turned into a case study in pent up frustration.
He even got some DC sympathy – on TV coverage, former Williams, McLaren and Red Bull man David Coulthard said “I actually feel sorry for Lance – and I don’t say that very often!”
Things must be pretty bad after being destroyed by Alonso all season.
Not making Sainz
World class investo-claptrap below.
What’s Sainz on about? No, we’re not sure either. He says he’s “strategically positioning” himself “as a genuine contributor in the sports investment world.”
On Sunday, the Spaniard had to strategically position himself in the pit garage after his Fezza ignominiously broke down before the start of the race.
F1 driver #CarlosSainz is part of the athlete community behind #APEX. Read what he he has to say about it ➡️ pic.twitter.com/Bg8ZMwDu5D
— APEX (@ApexCapital_) October 6, 2023
Goin’ Up
More Piastri points
Piastri: he’s a bit good
McLaren
Piastri brilliantly converted first in the ‘Sprint Shootout’ (shudder) to winning the sprint itself, as well as coming home second on Sunday.
The rookie keeps on delivering. A Euro for Alpine’s thoughts.
Best wishes from Qatar
Bad optics in terms of race results, but social media numbers on that apology vid are through the roof!
Grand Prix Photo
It was a weekend of good will in the desert. Lewis Hamilton ultimately took full responsibility for his Merc prang, while Lando Norris was all smiles despite trying to persuade McLaren to let him past Piastri on Sunday after claiming he was faster.
Nice to see everyone being cordial to each other (sometimes). Hopefully it doesn’t last too long though.
Actions speak louder than words. pic.twitter.com/aN33QJLvtD
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 8, 2023
Double trouble
Bottas considers taking the rest of 2023 off – won’t get better from here
Sauber
Alfa Sauber scored its first double points finish at Qatar since – checks e-notes – Canada last year! That really is something for a team that seems to be treading water until the Germans arrive.
Triple-cooked
More pit stops, please
Williams
As mentioned above, the enforced tyre strategies made a race which would have been an extended tour behind Verstappen relatively frantic and interesting.
F1 might as well mandate use of all tyre compounds in races, or have no rules on it at all – not the boring halfway house we currently live with.
Though IndyCar has a similar two-compound rule to F1, the nature of the races often mean competitors have to make three and four stops in a race – one of the many things that often make it a much better spectacle.
Rocket man
They’re already pruning a tribute hedge to Albon in front of the Grove factory
Williams
Albon went from 17th to seventh in the Sprint, grabbing two more championship points. Where would Williams be without its Thai talisman?