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Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2023 Race Start, Lusail International Circuit, Lusail City, Qatar. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2024 Qatar GP Preview, Qatar Grand Prix Preview, F1 Qatar GP Preview, Formula 1 Qatar Preview, 2024 F1 Qatar Preview.
2024 Qatar GP Preview – After George Russell lead home a Mercedes one-two victory and Max Verstappen wrapped up his fourth-successive World Driver’s Championship crown on the streets of Las Vegas, the penultimate round of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads straight to the Losail International Circuit in Lusail, Al Daayen, Qatar for the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024. This weekend features the final Sprint Format of the season and the middle part of the final triple header of the campaign with the previous Las Vegas and the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.
2024 Qatar GP Preview – A Look At The Lusail International Circuit
Lusail International Circuit is a permanent racing facility located just outside in the town of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar.
Built in just under a year by 1,000 workers at the cost of $58 million US dollars, the track opened in 2004 and hosted the inaugural 2004 Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix, won by Spaniard Sete Gibernau.
The track is 5.419 kilometres (3.367 miles) in length, with a main straight of 1,068 metres (3,504 ft). It is surrounded by artificial grass to stop the sand encroaching on the track.
In 2007, Losail installed permanent outdoor lighting for night racing. At the time, the lighting of the Lusail Circuit by Musco Lighting was the largest permanent venue sports lighting project in the world, a title, which now belongs to another Persian Gulf motorsport facility, the Yas Marina Circuit in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The first night race in MotoGP history was the season-opening 2008 Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix in March 2008.
In February 2009, a GP2 Asia Series night race took place at the circuit with the qualifying lap record posted by Nico Hulkenberg with a 1:35.741.
The World Superbike Championship visited Losail in 2005–2009 and 2014–2019; whilst the World Touring Car Championship visited the venue in 2015–2017.
The Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix 2021 took the place of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix after the event in Melbourne was cancelled for the second time due to the coronavirus plague.
This is the fourth night race on the Formula 1 calendar following the Singapore, Bahrain and Sakhir Grands Prix. The Inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix (the penultimate round of the championship) will be the fifth night race on the Formula 1 calendar.
The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 5.419km (3.367 miles) in length with 16 corners.
The race distance is 308.611 kilometres (191.762 miles) with 57 laps in total.
Two-time World Driver’s Champion Max Verstappen holds the record of the fastest lap from the 2023 event, posting a 1:24.319 in his Oracle Red Bull Racing Honda RB19.
Sir Lewis Hamilton was the winner of the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix for Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team in 2021 and Max Verstappen of Oracle Red Bull Racing was the winner of last year’s event.
2024 Qatar GP Preview – Onboard Pole Lap Of The Lusail International Circuit
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Lusail International from last year’s event, with Max Verstappen posting a 1:23.778 in his Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT RB19 racer. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHe9Qr_mqko
2024 Qatar GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Qatar, the hardest compounds in its range. The C1 white side-walled Hard compounds, the C2 yellow-marked Medium tyres and the C3 red-branded Soft rubber. F1’s sole tyre supplier will also take along the green-branded Intermediates and the blue-branded Wet tyres in case of rain.
All drivers will have six sets of the C3 softs, four sets of the C2 mediums and two of the C1 hards.
2024 Qatar GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be just one DRS zone at the Lusail International Circuit with the DRS Detection Zone just before the final corner with the Activation Zone from the beginning of the main straight.
2024 Qatar GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen secures title as Russell takes dominant Las Vegas GP victory
George Russell lead from team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton to score a dominant one-two victory for Mercedes at the Las Vegas GP as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounded out the top three. Max Verstappen secured his fourth-consecutive World Driver’s Championship crown in a row after crossing the line in fifth place.
Russell converted pole into victory at the Las Vegas GP and fended off the increasing threat from team-mate Hamilton, as Verstappen simply had to finish ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris to seal his fourth successive title and done so by taking fifth – Norris was sixth. The Red Bull driver was running third, before losing two positions to the Ferrari’s in the final ten tours.
With the World Drivers’ Championship all wrapped up, the battle for the Constructors’ Championship is likely to go down to the wire at the season-closing Abu Dhabi as Ferrari closed the gap to leaders McLaren to 24 points whilst Red Bull are a further 55 points behind the Woking based-outfit in third.
When the 50-lap Las Vegas GP began, pole-sitter Russell got a brilliant getaway into turn one as Leclerc made his way past both team-mate Sainz and Gasly into second place as the Monegasque driver sweep through at turns 1-3.
Behind them title rivals Verstappen and Norris went wheel-to-wheel as the Dutchman kept the McLaren driver behind.
The beginning of the second lap saw Russell’s lead sitting at 0.875 over Leclerc with Sainz third, Gasly fourth as Verstappen rounded out the top five.
Albon picked off Perez for P16, but the latter got the better of the Williams driver to snatch the place back.
Out-front on the third tour, Leclerc was right on the heels of Russell as they ran down towards the first corner.
Behind them, sixth-placed Norris was falling off the back of Verstappen, whilst Piastri lost out to Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg last time out.
Verstappen with DRS assistance on the back straight into Las Vegas Boulevard made a lunge up the inside of Gasly to move up into fourth place.
Leclerc had a look around the outside of Russell into turn 14, but the latter covered the Ferrari.
Leclerc attempted to pass the Mercedes around the outside into turn one again on the start of lap five, but Russell stood firm and kept the Monegasque at bay.
Race control noted a potential false start from Piastri.
On the seventh lap, Russell’s gap over Leclerc was at 2.203 seconds as the Ferrari driver started to cool his tyres, Sainz was third behind his Ferrari team-mate, Verstappen holding fourth as Gasly and Norris completed the top six runners.
Behind them, Hamilton was battling for eighth with McLaren’s Piastri down the back straight as the former tried to make the move on the Australian, but the McLaren kept him behind.
Leclerc fell back from second place as team-mate Sainz made his way into second place and Verstappen also made a move past the former on the back straight to jump into third.
On lap 10, Russell’s lead over Sainz was at 5.594 seconds with Verstappen third as Leclerc and Norris both pitted from fourth and sixth respectively for their fresh sets of the C3 white harder compound and both emerged in 16th and 17th behind Williams’ Franco Colapinto.
Verstappen breezed past Sainz to jump up into second place as the latter dived into the pits as Piastri was hit with a five-second-timed penalty for his false start.
The Australian, like Sainz stopped for their fresh sets of the C3’s and came out in 12th and 18th in the order.
Verstappen also pitted on lap 12 from second crucially emerged in seventh place in-between Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ Colapinto.
Verstappen made short work of the Sauber to jump into sixth as race leader Russell was told to box.
The Red Bull driver made the move on Magnussen to take fifth place as Sainz, Leclerc and Norris moved ahead of Colapinto at turns 14, the opening corner and four respectively.
Russell on fresh harder tyres, came back out in second behind team-mate Hamilton and just ahead of the yet-to-put Perez and Hulkenberg.
Hamilton then pitted and came out behind Norris in eighth as the former questioned how many places he lost.
Third-placed Hulkenberg then stopped for his fresh set of hards and came out in 16th place behind Albon.
On the 15th tour, Gasly yelled out “No power! No power!” as smoke blew from the back of his A524 racer and came in to be the first retiree from the race.
The 16th lap saw Perez let team-mate Verstappen by into second place as Sainz then made his way ahead of the Mexican for third.
Further back, Hamilton breezed in-front of Norris and Leclerc overtook the yet-to-pit Perez for fourth.
Hamilton and Norris then made short work of Perez as the latter came in to pit for a set of the C4 yellow-marked mediums.
Perez emerged down in 14th place as the Red Bull driver committed to a two-stop strategy.
On lap 18 in the battle for fourth, Hamilton was the fastest car on track as he had a look to overtake Leclerc. The latter was quick to cover the seven-time world champion.
Lap 20 saw Russell’s lead over Verstappen sitting at 9.571 seconds with Sainz third, Leclerc fourth, Hamilton right on the Ferrari’s tail in fifth as Norris completed the top six.
Hamilton with DRS assistance on the back straight continued to keep close to Leclerc.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown commented on the race so far for his team “We don’t have the pace; Mercedes are clearly quick out there. It’s very slippery, we need some ice skates on the car. [A two-stop] is probably likely, based on driver feedback and what we are seeing I can’t imagine 30 more laps on these tyres.”
Brown also said “Go Lewis, go” as Hamilton continued to keep within DRS range of Leclerc.
Out-front Russell’s gap increased over Verstappen to 10.158 seconds as the track conditions were a few degrees warmer than it has been over the weekend, which has been helping with tyre temperatures, if not degradation.
Everyone on track has pitted with RB’s Tsunoda best of the rest in seventh place in-front of Piastri, Albon and Hulkenberg.
In terms of the championship, Verstappen was set to be crowned four-time world champion – as the Dutchman was sitting in second and Norris down in sixth and well off the back of Hamilton and would be more than enough for the Red Bull driver to wrap it up.
At half-race distance, Russell’s lead was at 10.2 seconds over Verstappen with Sainz third, Leclerc fourth, Hamilton fifth as Norris rounded out the top six.
A tour later, eighth-placed Piastri stopped for another set of the C3 hards and emerged back in 15th behind Colapinto as Albon was told to come in and retire the car due to a power unit issue.
Sainz told his team he wanted to get off the hard tyres as quickly as possible as second-placed Verstappen was ordered to box.
Verstappen was then told not to as Ferrari told Leclerc to let Sainz through; Sainz managed to keep Hamilton behind as the Ferrari team made a late call for the Spaniard to stay out after Verstappen and Hamilton came in. Sainz cut across the pit-lane line to continue on and would be likely to be penalised.
Verstappen and Hamilton emerged in fifth and sixth respectively on their fresh set of C3’s.
Sainz then stopped on lap 30 and yelled to his team to: “Wake up” as Ferrari admitted they weren’t ready. The Spaniard came out in sixth place behind Hamilton.
On the 30th tour, Russell’s gap to Leclerc was 15.725 seconds with Norris third, Verstappen fourth, Hamilton fifth and Sainz sixth.
Seventh-placed Tsunoda then pitted for a fresh set of the harder compound and re-joined in 13th place behind Piastri.
Meanwhile, race leader Russell was told he is on Plan B – presumed to be a two-stop strategy as Norris pitted for hards and came out just in-front of Perez in seventh.
On the 32nd tour in the battle for third, Hamilton cruised past Verstappen into second place as Leclerc stopped for his fresh set of hards to emerge in fifth place behind Sainz.
Race leader Russell stopped for his fresh set of hards and came out comfortably in the lead at over 10 seconds with his team-mate Hamilton holding second and was the quickest on track.
Perez stopped from seventh and came out on the C3’s in 15th place behind Magnussen’s VF-24 entry.
Meanwhile, Norris picked off Hulkenberg for sixth as the German stopped for a set of the hards and returned in 12th place behind Tsunoda.
Piastri was back up into seventh place, ahead of Zhou who only stopped once, and Ocon who had not pitted for second tyres as of yet.
Zhou then stopped on the 35th lap and came out in 17th and ahead of Sauber team-mate Bottas.
Lawson was in-front of team-mate Tsunoda as he let the latter by to chase Ocon and the Japanese driver made the move on the inside of Ocon’s Alpine on the Las Vegas Boulevard and made the overtake stick into the turn 14 left-hander to take eighth place.
Second-placed Hamilton out in clear air was eating into Russell’s lead on lap 38, bringing the gap down to 8.258 seconds. Championship leader Verstappen was five seconds behind Hamilton in third, Sainz a further 2.7 back in fourth. There was nothing on Sainz’s pit entry cut as of yet.
Hamilton was continuing to charge down team-mate Russell, reducing the gap down to 7.425 seconds as the former could be over-pushing the tyres. With plenty of laps to go anything could happen.
Behind them, Perez, Lawson and Magnussen were three wide heading down into turn 14 and somehow did not collide. Perez on the inside managed to squeeze his way ahead to take P12.
A lap later Perez made short work of Ocon to take 11th place.
With ten tours left, Russell’s lead were at 6.867 over team-mate Hamilton with Verstappen third, Sainz fourth, Leclerc fifth as Norris and Piastri completed the top seven runners.
In the fight for the final podium place, both Ferrari’s were in DRS range of Verstappen’s Red Bull.
With DRS down the Las Vegas Boulevard, Sainz made a late lunge up the inside of Verstappen at turn 14 to snatch third place as Leclerc started to get on the rear of the Dutchman’s RB20.
At the front, Hamilton took another chunk out of team-mate Russell’s gap, bringing it down to 5.6 seconds as Leclerc got closer to Verstappen who was still within DRS range of Sainz.
Sixth-placed Norris was too far adrift to join in the fight with Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc.
Upfront, Hamilton was still chasing and was 5.246 off team-mate Russell, but the former was running out of laps meanwhile Leclerc was over the back of Verstappen as the battle for fourth continued to intensify.
Mercedes confirmed that both drivers were free to race – although there was a caveat not to take each other out. Russell could see his team-mate Hamilton closing in on the straight.
Further behind, Hulkenberg managed to get in-front of Tsunoda at turn 14 to take eighth place off the RB driver.
On the 47th lap, Leclerc then with DRS assistance on the back straight made a move on the inside of Verstappen into the turn 14 left-hander to jump into move up into fourth place.
On the 48th tour, second-placed Hamilton’s tyres looked worn as the Briton ran into the run-off area as the gap out-front went back up to 5.8 seconds and the gap stabilised.
Lap 49 saw Norris come in for a set of the softs to push for the fastest lap bonus point and was more than a pit-stop clear from team-mate Piastri in seventh place.
Russell reached the chequered flag to take the Las Vegas GP victory (the second win of his career) and gave Mercedes a solid one-two finish – finishing 7.313 seconds clear of team-mate Hamilton as Sainz rounded out the top three for Ferrari – 11.906 seconds further back.
Leclerc followed in fourth place and ahead of Verstappen who took fifth and wrapped up his fourth World Title.
McLaren pairing Norris and Piastri settled for sixth and seventh respectively whilst Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Perez completed the final points paying positions.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of Haas’s Magnussen who ended the Grand Prix 12th and Sauber’s Zhou who crossed the line 13th.
Colapinto was the sole Williams driver left and came home 14th and ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 15th.
RB’s Lawson, Alpine’s Ocon and Sauber’s Bottas brought up the rear.
2024 Qatar GP – The Situation
Formula 1 makes it’s third visit to the Losail International Circuit on the outskirts of Doha with the fight for the win amongst the grid’s top teams has never been more competitive and unpredictable with McLaren Formula 1 Team, Scuderia Ferrari, Oracle Red Bull Racing and Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team all scoring victory at least once in the past five Grands Prix.
And although the World Drivers’ Championship was wrapped up last time out in Las Vegas after Max Verstappen got the job done, the battle for the World Constructor’s Championship is very much alive to end the season’s final two races beginning with this weekend’s Qatar GP.
McLaren continue to lead in search of their team’s first title crown since the 1998 season, but Ferrari have brought down the gap to 24 points and with a massive 59 points still up for grabs in Qatar for a team across the Sprint and the Grand Prix, everything is still to play for.
Reigning world champions Red Bull are a further 53 points off and need to score at least nine points back on their deficit to remain in contention.
McLaren also have the chance to wrap up the Constructor’s Championship before heading to the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. They will take the crown for the ninth time in history if they finish the Qatar GP weekend with a lead of 45 points or more.
In addition to the relentless final F1 Sprint weekend of the campaign, a busy weekend on track also sees FIA Formula 2 and F1 Academy return as they have their penultimate rounds of the year too.
Great Britain’s Abbi Pulling could seal the F1 Academy title as Saturday’s first race after her dominance of this year’s championship, in Formula 2, the title fight is even closer with 2025 Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto only 4.5 points in-front of Red Bulls-backed Isack Hadjar with two round and four races left.
Verstappen heads to Qatar with the World Driver’s Championship wrapped up and currently sits on-top with 403 points and a 63-point lead over McLaren’s Norris who is second on 340 points whilst Leclerc is a further 84 behind the Dutchman in third on 319 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team comes to Lusail on top of the World Constructor’s Championship standings on 608 points and a 24-point advantage over nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 584 points Oracle Red Bull Racing are third and a further 53 points behind the Milton Keynes based-outfit on 555 points.
2024 Qatar GP Preview – Cadillac reach agreement with F1 to become 11th team
Formula 1 announced that it reached an agreement in principle with General Motors to support bringing Cadillac to the sport as the 11th team in 2026 and beyond.
The sport has kept dialogue with General Motors, at it’s partners TWG Global, in regard to the viability of a Formula 1 entry following the commercial assessment and decision made by Formula 1 in January 2024.
Over the course of the year they achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the team as GM/Cadillac, and that General Motors will enter the sport as an engine supplier most likely 2028.
Formula 1 was pleased to move forward with the application process and provide further updates soon.
President and CEO of Formula 1 Stefano Domenicali stated: “General Motors and Cadillac’s commitment to this project is an important and positive demonstration of the evolution of our sport. We look forward to seeing the progress and growth of this application, certain of the full collaboration and support of all the parties involved.” Domenicali concluded. Credit to F1 for the quote.
President of General Motors Mark Reuss commented: “As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence. It’s an honour for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world’s premier racing series, and we’re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world. This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.” Reuss concluded. Credit to F1 for the quote.
Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024 weekend begins Friday November 29 with Free Practice 1 and Sprint Qualifying, followed by the 100km F1 Sprint Race and Qualifying Saturday November 30 and the 57 lap Race Sunday December 01.
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