Qatar 2021 Pre-Race Thread

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/qatar-confident-of-a-lot-of-overtaking-in-inaugural-f1-grand-prix/6791044/

Qatar confident of 'a lot of overtaking' in inaugural F1 grand prix
By: Luke Smith
Nov 17, 2021, 5:53 AM
Qatar motorsport chief Amro Al-Hamad is confident the Losail International Circuit’s inaugural Formula 1 race will offer “a lot of overtaking” despite concerns that passing could be difficult.
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F1 will stage its first race in Qatar this weekend after adding the Losail track to the calendar as a replacement for the cancelled Australian Grand Prix. It is also the precursor to a 10-year deal for the Qatar Grand Prix which will start in 2023.

Losail has been a mainstay on the MotoGP calendar since opening in 2004, but has not hosted a major single-seater championship since GP2 Asia raced there in 2009.

The track is expected to require a high downforce set-up due to its technical middle sector, leading to concerns about the amount of overtaking that will be possible.

But Al-Hamad, who serves as the executive director of Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation, felt confident that the lack of track data and the flowing layout would create an exciting on-track spectacle.

“Nobody has any data here, nobody drove here before, so that is going to add a lot,” Al-Hamad told Autosport.

“Every single minute in practice is going to make a difference because they still don’t know what type of set-up they need for all their chassis.

“The strategy is going to be completely different when it comes to tyre wear, because it’s a very fast track, or a flowing track with a couple of opportunities for overtaking.

“I know from a competitive driver point of view that there is a lot of overtaking that is going to be done, against all of the speculation that has been spread, that this is a straight-line kind of circuit, which it’s not.

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Losail International Circuit aerial view

“It’s very technical. It needs a lot of downforce. There are a lot of strategies that are going to be involved with the tyre wear here as well.”

In order to prepare the Losail track to host F1, a number of updates have been made in collaboration with the FIA to ensure all safety measures are met and up to the Grade 1 track requirements.

“It was mainly barriers, the TecPros, the locations of the TecPros, and so on,” Al-Hamad said. “That was mainly it. A minor change was the position of the pit entry, it has been changed. It was at the beginning of Turn 16, and now it’s a little bit behind Turn 15.

“For safety purposes, it’s more suitable for motorbikes, and now we made it even safer for the use of Formula 1 or any other big calibre motorsport championship we might host, or I should say, we will host at Losail International Circuit.”

Al-Hamad was hopeful that hosting the F1 race would help put Qatar in contention to bring other major motorsport championships to the state in the future.

“Formula 1 being here is definitely going to attract a lot of attention, and put us back again in the spotlight,” he said. “So there’s a huge possibility that we’re going to host a lot of other motorsports events in the state.”

F1 looks set to move to a newly-built circuit in Qatar when the 10-year contract begins in 2023, taking next year off as the country focuses on hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

 

https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/formula1/articles/qatar-grand-prix-2021-preview

First time in Losail
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Losail 17 November 2021
The final triple-header of the season ends at what is a brand new venue for Formula 1. After Mexico and Brazil, Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow now heads for Qatar, on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, also bordering Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. It will be the first time a Grand Prix has been held here. Qatar covers an area of just over 11,500 square kilometres, with a population of 2,800,000.

The track. The track 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 kilometres in length, with the main straight measuring 1.068 kilometres. The track is surrounded by artificial grass to prevent sand blowing onto it from the surrounding desert. The first corner is very important, as it requires very heavy braking before a quick section where it is important to carry speed before braking for turn 4, which marks the start of a section with more corners. A hairpin at turn 6 is the slowest point on the track and leads into the most technical part of the circuit. The complex of corners 12, 13 and 14 is taken as one turn, similar to the famous turn 8 at Istanbul Park. Turn 15 is a fairly quick right-hander before the final braking point on the lap. Here there is more than one possible line, which means overtaking is a possibility.

 

McLaren poster

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Alpha Tauri poster

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Brundle's take is that any review won't change the result.

I'm looking forward to the new tracks. Looking up on board video of Qatar results in a lot of Moto GP on board from the back of the seat, in other words, a full lap of looking at the rider's rear end!

 

Wouldn't a 10s penalty put Max in 3rd? A 10s penalty shouldn't even be considered as there was no contact. Was Bottas further than 5s from Max?

 

Bottas ended up 3s behind....

 

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Even so, a time penalty after the fact would be unfair to Max who obviously let up after Lewis passed him. Impossible to say the gap to Bottas would still be 3s at the end.

 

Not mentioning anything about Max, just saying a 5s penalty would hurt because Bottas ended up 3s behind him.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/what-f1-can-expect-from-qatar-from-gp2s-sole-sojourn/6791006/

What F1 can expect from Qatar from GP2's sole sojourn
By: Charles Bradley
Nov 18, 2021, 5:32 AM
OPINION: Formula 1 takes in its first visit to the Gulf state of Qatar this weekend, marking the first time most will have raced on the circuit that is best known for bike racing. But the visit of the GP2 Asia series back in 2009 may hold some clues of what to expect
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This weekend Formula 1 will make its first visit to Qatar's Losail International Circuit, a track synonymous with holding the MotoGP season opener but which has only held a smattering of high-profile four-wheeled events.

The 3.3-mile track was built in time for the 2004 MotoGP round and features a main straight that is over a kilometre long. Floodlighting was added in 2007 – the gallons of diesel required to power generators is not a problem in this oil-rich state – allowing it to run events in the evening to a ‘European’ schedule to negate the time difference.

Some true legends of modern-day MotoGP have won there – namely Sete Gibernau, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Dovizioso and 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo.

In terms of car racing, its first event was the short-lived Grand Prix Masters single-seater series for retired F1 heroes in April 2006. Nigel Mansell won that race, ahead of Christian Danner and Eric van de Poele. It also hosted the World Touring Car Championship for three seasons between 2015 and 2017, with retiring tin-top legend Gabriele Tarquini among the victors in 2016.

But its most high-profile car event to date was the ‘Grand Racing Weekend’ (clearly Wallace and Gromit were big in Qatar) featuring GP2 Asia and Speedcar Series, which had been switched from a date in Dubai for a reason that escapes this writer.

It’s a 15-mile drive from Doha to the confusingly-named nearby city of Lusail, which was under construction and was the closest thing to a ghost city I’ve ever encountered. There were impressively huge buildings almost everywhere you looked, but nobody appeared to actually live there. Losail International Circuit was a few miles down the road as you headed inland and, of course, it’s in the middle of the desert.

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Pre-event sandstorm meant grip was at a premium for 2009 GP2 Asia meeting

Photo by: Motorsport Images

There, it was tricky to ascertain where the desert ended and the racetrack started: A huge sandstorm had just blown through and the sun was finding it hard to penetrate the dusty smog it had left behind.

Through practice and qualifying, drivers grumbled about the lack of grip. Under the lights, the circuit had an ethereal appearance with the sand particles in the atmosphere making the floodlights glimmer. Of the flat, featureless circuit – which makes Silverstone look like the Himalayas – Jean Alesi remarked that he “wasn’t always sure where I was on the track”.

At least the NASCAR-styled Speedcars that the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix winner was racing – effectively a late model stock car purpose-built for road courses – could lean on each other when it came to the races. In GP2, the only real overtaking spot was Turn 1 – somewhat reminiscent of when F1 raced at Mugello last year.

If you arrive with a speed advantage on your rival, then the outside line is absolutely doable to make a move stick. If a car does defend the inside line, it’s likely to slide wide and open up a potential switchback.

It’s the only race I’ve ever been to where someone ran along the front of the grandstand like a cheerleader, swirling a huge sword above his head – which certainly seemed to stir the crowd’s enthusiasm to cheer louder...
The other 15 corners? A trio of long, wide-open switchback bends, where most attempted passes ended up with contact and a car in the gravel, and the rest are high-speed sweepers – which will create some impressive g-loads but little in the way of overtaking. Track limits will undoubtedly need to be strictly enforced, as the kerbs are flat and wide.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were the GP2 winners that weekend, the former using a clever overcut strategy in the feature race as the Bridgestone tyres suffered severe graining issues – but once you were through that phase, the tyre got faster. The track hasn’t been resurfaced since it was laid; the consistent temperatures in the Gulf states mean that’s not a problem – but the sand rolling across it certainly is.

Hulkenberg holds the lap record with his 1m35.741s qualifying gambit, but expect F1 cars to smash that by anything up to 15s or more in qualifying trim.

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Turn 1 right-hander invites cars to take a lunge

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The circuit only had one grandstand (capacity 8,000) back then, across from the pits, and one of the GP2 teams’ local sponsors actually paid people to turn up. It’s also the only race I’ve ever been to where someone ran along the front of the grandstand like a cheerleader, swirling a huge sword above his head – which certainly seemed to stir the crowd’s enthusiasm to cheer louder...

Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation president Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Attiyah told me that weekend he was in the process of applying for an FIA Grade 1T track licence, and that it would require the asphalting of 50% of its run-offs to gain the licence. Sure enough, that has since turned into full Grade 1 for this weekend’s Grand Prix.

The track has constructed some extra seating to the north of the main grandstand, towards Turn 1, plus temporary grandstands on the inside and outside of Turn 10, with extra VIP seating too. But don't expect a huge crowd, with the ticket prices starting at $310. Maybe they’ll need the chap with the sword to show up again!

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Sergio Perez is one of few current F1 drivers who has raced at the circuit before

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Is the safety car tied down through the spokes????

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https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-drivers-expect-fast-qatar-track-to-be-physical/6794214/

F1 drivers expect fast Qatar track to be “physical”
By: Adam Cooper
Nov 18, 2021, 4:25 AM
Formula 1 drivers who have tried the Losail track in team simulators expect the Qatar GP venue to be challenging and tough physically.
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Of those on the current grid, only Sergio Perez and Nikita Mazepin have previously raced at the track, in GP2 Asia and the MRF Challenge respectively.

Others have had to fit visits to factories and sim running around the current busy race schedule, and have only recently had the opportunity to sample Losail.

A high downforce set-up and a series of quick sweeping corners are expected to provide the drivers with a challenge.

“It's a pretty fast track,” said Lando Norris when asked by Autosport. “Not many big braking zones or anything, so it's probably going to be quite a physical one.

“I don't know how the racing or anything is going to be, I've got no idea just yet. But quite a fun track from what it looks like.”

“It is going to be a very high speed track,” said Pierre Gasly. “It is difficult to compare with any other track that we’ve been to, so it is going to be a challenge.

“Driving it in the simulator and driving-wise it seems really exciting. In terms of racing it is quite high speed and a lot of long corners, high yaw corners, so it might be difficult to follow, but we will see.

“It is probably going to be quite physical in terms of G and the minimum speed in the corners is pretty high.

“But Sao Paulo is always really difficult as well as it is anti-clockwise. When you have a triple-header the neck is still stiff from the first race and all the way through, so I think we’ll fine to Abu Dhabi.”

George Russell also acknowledged the circuit’s fast nature.

“It’s quite an enjoyable track to be honest,” said the Williams driver. “Very fast, sweeping, high downforce, a long straight as well. So I think there'll be some good racing.”

 

Those kerbs looks like they'll do some serious damage.