Formula 1 heads into the unknown in the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
Potentially, unprecedented tyre rules could be enforced to avoid the risk of dramatic punctures and risky crashes at the high-speed Losail venue.
The decision on whether that rather embarrassing situation for F1 might come to pass will be revealed after 2pm local time on Sunday and a key meeting between the FIA, Pirelli, the F1 organisation itself and the teams.
With the findings of Pirelli’s analysis of the condition of the tyres used in the Qatar sprint race following the rapid track changes made here on Saturday not yet known, there is a stark lack of data available for potential GP predictions. The many interruptions of the sprint race and the sprint weekend’s differing timetable have combined to reduce that data even further.
At the time of writing, we don’t even know the rules for Sunday’s action, so we can only look ahead on the assumption the race will run as normal.
After all, Pirelli and the FIA hoped that by painting the kerbs at Turns 13 and 14 80cm further out into the track, the risk of the tyre sidewalls separating from topping compounds and carcass cords will be eliminated.
So, here goes. Remember Friday night qualifying’s track limits farrago? Well, that has created the biggest risk to Max Verstappen’s chances of dominating the second Qatar GP overall, and second race of this weekend. And while he remains the overwhelming favourite given his RB19 performs best in race conditions and he’s already topped GP qualifying, it all centres on Mercedes.
Sergio Perez being knocked out in Q2 on Friday after going beyond track limits at Turn 5 means he starts down in 13th. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri losing their best Q3 times for the same transgression – although in their respective cases at Turns 10 and 14 – means they line up 10th and sixth and not second and fourth. In their place, George Russell (who would’ve edged Piastri regardless in this instance) and Lewis Hamilton are boosted to line up behind GP polesitter Verstappen.
Source: Autosport