Qatar
RACING LINES
Chris Medland looks at the big stories
ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix
MCLAREN
THE MCLAREN DISQUALIFICATIONS
Just when you thought this season couldn’t get any more exciting, think again. Max Verstappen’s victory in Las Vegas had already kept the Drivers’ Championship alive as a three-way fight heading to Qatar, but then came the shock news of both McLaren drivers being disqualified due to a technical infringement.
The issue revolved around the plank under the floor, with both McLaren cars exceeding the maximum permitted amount of wear during the race. The FIA were keen to point out that they felt the breach was unintentional and not a deliberate attempt to get around the regulations, while McLaren said the unusual track conditions – cold and low grip in practice, and wet in Qualifying – had contributed to the problem.
Two cars have already been disqualified for the same reason this season – Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari in China, and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg in Bahrain – while there were also occasions in 2023 for Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with the ground effect cars generally operating best at lower ride heights.
Due to the way it has closed up the title fight, and the fact McLaren did not speak about the issue beyond their post-race press release, it’s set to be the main talking point heading into the Qatar weekend.
RED BULL
VERSTAPPEN'S GAINS IN THE TITLE RACE
Heading into this final triple header, the early predictions were for Verstappen’s best chance for a win to come in Las Vegas, with the McLarens likely to be stronger in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. But that did seem to overlook last year’s result, where Verstappen beat Norris to victory in a close battle.
Verstappen is now just 24 points off the championship lead – less than a race victory – having been 104 points adrift as recently as before the Italian Grand Prix in September, and Red Bull appear to have found a way of making their car more consistently competitive. Even challenging weekends in Mexico and Brazil returned podium finishes.
But a podium finish in Qatar might not be enough, because despite losing his 18 points from Las Vegas, Lando Norris can still win the championship on Sunday.
Norris arrives in Qatar with a 24-point advantage, and needs to extend that by two points over both Verstappen and Piastri over the weekend (or just one point if he wins Sunday’s race) in order to become champion.
A top-seven finish in the Sprint would mean victory on Sunday will guarantee Norris the title, regardless of what Verstappen or Oscar Piastri manage, because even though that could technically lead to a tie on points with either driver, Norris would beat both on count back as a result of having more wins than Verstappen and either more wins or more second-place finishes than Piastri.
F1 SPRINT
THE FINAL SPRINT WEEKEND
As the championship fight has closed up, so too have the opportunities to score extra points over a weekend. Three of the final six rounds have been Sprint events, and Qatar marks the last of the three, offering up eight points to Saturday’s winner.
Those points could be crucial not only for the top three, but for Teams’ Championship permutations, too.
Mercedes look comfortable in second place after Las Vegas, holding a 40-point advantage over Red Bull, and will secure that spot if they leave Qatar 44 points clear of third. But Red Bull and Ferrari are separated by just 13 points, so there’s plenty still to play for between the two of them.
Further back, Williams might be 31 points clear of Racing Bulls, and Racing Bulls 17 ahead of Haas, but Haas, Aston Martin and Sauber are all covered by just five points as they vie for seventh in the standings.
FERRARI
HAMILTON'S SEARCH FOR A FIRST FERRARI PODIUM
In a quite remarkable turn of events given how strong Ferrari were this time last year, they could go an entire season without a victory for the first time since 2021.
On that occasion, Lewis Hamilton was fighting for his eighth World Championship, and the following season saw him fail to win a race for the first time in his career. While he also went winless in 2023 before taking two victories last year, Hamilton is now on the verge of going an entire season without a podium for the first time ever.
There have been three fourth-placed finishes, plus a Sprint win in China and Sprint P3 in Miami, but a trophy in a Grand Prix has eluded him so far this year. Hamilton was particularly downbeat after finishing 10th – later promoted to eighth – having started 19th in Las Vegas, saying it was “the worst season ever” as we head into the final two rounds.
Hamilton has high expectations of himself and while there have been clear examples of very strong performance this season, he and Ferrari have rarely put it together for an entire weekend, particularly when the car has been at its most competitive.
As different as this season has been for Ferrari, they might take some confidence from finishing second – and no more than six seconds behind the winner – in both Qatar and Abu Dhabi last year. And with the car’s performance in wet weather described as a significant weakness by Charles Leclerc last weekend, they can look forward to warm and dry conditions at both venues.
REGULATIONS
A MANDATORY TWO-STOP DUE TO MAXIMUM STINT LENGTHS
Qatar is an amazing high-speed test of a Formula 1 car, with a number of corners that push the aerodynamic potential of the cars to their limits.
With high temperatures and a relatively abrasive track surface, Pirelli brings its hardest tyre compounds to the race weekend, to be able to handle the demands of the track. But last year, it saw teams do such a good job managing tyre degradation they made a one-stop strategy work, in many cases using all of the tread on the tyre to do so.
Once the tread has been completely worn down, then the construction of the tyre can be exposed, and that is not designed to be subject to kerbs or debris, so could become vulnerable to damage.
As a result, after analysis of the wear levels of tyres from last year, Pirelli has applied a maximum stint length of 25 laps per set, which is cumulative over the race weekend. Every lap a set of tyres does will count, other than laps to the grid and laps after the chequered flag.
Twenty-five laps means the Sprint can be completed on just one set, but with a 57-lap race it effectively mandates at least a two-stop race.
How each team handles the additional aspect of strategy, and whether it opens up further variation in pit stop timings and tyre compound usage, could be a crucial aspect to the outcome of Sunday’s race.
TYRES
WHAT TYRES WILL THE DRIVERS HAVE IN QATAR?
A combination of the C1 as the hard, the C2 as the medium and the C3 as the soft will be deployed at the Lusail International Circuit, which mixes high speed corners with harsh and unforgiving kerbs.
With the Sprint format in play for the final time this season, drivers will be given 12 sets of tyres rather than the usual 13. They will recieve two sets of the hard tyre (marked white), four sets of the medium tyre (marked yellow), and six sets of the soft tyre (marked red), as well as access to the green intermediate tyre and the blue full wets, should they be required.
With the stresses expected to be high on the tyres, Pirelli has mandated a maximum usage for tyres of 25 laps.
"In Qatar, a limit will be introduced for the number of laps that each set of tyres can cover over the course of the whole race weekend," says Pirelli in its weekend preview. "The decision, taken in agreement with the FIA and Formula 1 and discussed in regular meetings with the teams, is confirmed today by Pirelli through the usual technical document containing event specific prescriptions sent out two weeks prior to each Grand Prix.
"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, which is very demanding on tyres in terms of energy, thermal stress and wear. The laps will be counted cumulatively across all track sessions, including laps run under the Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car."
