After signing a 10-year contract, the Inaugural Qatar Grand Prix takes place today at 2:00 PM EST. This is an unknown track for all but two of the drivers on the grid, Sergio Perez actually won a race here in GP2 way back in 2009 and Nikita Mazepin also raced here before but I don’t think his race experience here will play any factors in this race, I’m just excited I finally had a reason to put his name in an article.
After most of the drivers got their very first look of the Losail International Circuit in person for Fridays P1 session you could tell the drivers were really enoying it out there with some of the high speed corners they are taking upwards to 170 MPH. This track was built for MotoGP so we don’t see the hairpin turns we see at most other circuits, and it will be real interesting to see where the drivers pick for the best passing opportunities.
After yesterday’s qualifying, we can safely say that the drivers championship is completely up in the air. Lewis Hamilton once again showed that Mercedes has the stronger car at this time of the season and with all the Engine replacements out of the way (and Max himself saying they don’t have many more upgrades available) it looks like they should have the edge till the end. After one of the more impressive qualifying performances of the year, Sir Lewis Hamilton claims his record adding 102nd pole of his career, being the only driver to break into the 1m20s and beating Max Verstappen by nearly half a second who ended up finishing P2. With RBR’s top driver holding a 14-point lead with 3 races remaining, all either driver has to do is win. If Hamilton can make the most of the dominant car and win out the season then the 8th world title is his. If Max can stop Mercedes momentum and take an unexpected win in Qatar than the title is most likely his and that is all we can ask for as race fans. Let the 2 drivers slug it out on the track and watch as each team fight for every inch in the battle of strategy.
Some surprises coming out of qualifying where we saw six drivers come out of softs in Q2 (you have to start the race on the tires you posted your best time in Q2 on), both Alpines, Aston Martins and Alphaauri’s came out on softs and 5 of the 6 drivers where able to make it into the top 10 for Q3 with Lance Stroll for Aston Martin who finished 12th in Q2. This meant some big names were left out of the top 10 and none more big than Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez. He originally came out on medium tires but then went for the softs for his final run in Q2 to try to get into the top 10 but was unable to get his tires warm enough to get the grip he would need and failed to make the cut. Other notables names left out of Q3 was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mclarens Daniel Ricciardio and Williams’ George Russell.
Other than the obvious battles for 1st in both the drivers and constructors championships we still have a couple notable battles on track that are also coming down to the wire. The battle for 3rd in the constructors championship between Ferrari (287.5) and Mclaren (256) has been a fun one to watch all year. Mclaren started the season red hot and now Ferrari has been very consistent getting both drivers to score points race in and race out and has built a nice lead for themselves despite the 1st/2nd finish by Mclaren at Monza. With Norris starting ahead of Sainz on the starting grid the start is that much more important to keep Mclarens hopes alive for P3.
And then there is the battle for 5th place between Alpine and AlphaTauri who is currently tied at 112 points for the 2nd consecutive race after Gasley finished ahead Ocon and Alonso last week and the teams recieved equal points. Pierre Gasley has been one of if not the most consistent drivers of the season and has kept his team in the running to fulfill the long time dream of a P5 finish in the constructors championship for team principal Franz Tost. Gasley’s teammate, rookie Yuki Tsunoda, has had a string of bad luck lately but seems to have gotten it together right in time for the stretch run as he took P8 in qualifying.
Here is the race order for tomorrows race:
1- Hamilton 2- Verstappen
3- Bottas 4- Gasley
5- Alonso 6- Norris
7- Sainz 8- Tsunoda
9- Ocon 10-Vettel
11-Perez 12- Stroll
13- Leclerc 14-Ricciardo
15- Russell 16- Raikkonen
17- Latifi 18- Giovinazzi
19- Schumaker 20- Mazepin
We will see where we are in the championship battles after tomorrow’s race, but all eyes will be on that starting line at lights out with Hamilton and Verstappen starting on the front row and Bottas right behind Hamilton on the clean side of the track to start the race to have a 2 on 1 advantage with Perez way down the grid. And let’s see which teammate can make up the most ground to help their team claim as many points as possible as Perex, Leclerc and Ricciardo will all be trying to charge up the field. Hopefully this track allows over taking and we see another great race to add to this already incredible season.
