F1. Qatar 2023 Review

By Chelsea Wintle and Gavin Huet

Driver of the day

Gavin – Special mention to the newly crowned three time F1 World Champion, Max Verstappen, but this week it has to be Oscar Piastri. The McLaren rookie won the sprint race and had a very mature race on Sunday starting in sixth and ending on the podium in second, one place better than the last race in Japan. He said it was his toughest race ever and I can believe it – the humidity coupled with the mental and physical demands would make lesser mortals wilt under the pressure (Logan Sergeant had to retire due to exhaustion and was cleared by the medical team). Oscar has been the most impressive of the rookies this year by a Max Verstappen race win distance, and he has gelled well with his teammate Lando Norris though there are a few frayed edges there as each one is asserting dominance over the team. Always good to see a driver make their elbows wider and start to dominate like that.

Chelsea – Oscar Piastri took his first “race” win by taking out the sprint on Saturday, before putting in an excellent performance on Sunday to finish within five seconds of Max Verstappen. Outstanding work from the rookie in tough conditions. The McLaren team have produced some of the most exciting racing this year, and they’re only getting better.

 

Moment of the weekend

Gavin – Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate George Russell coming together and ending the race for Lewis. The crash brought out the safety car allowing George to make it back to the pits before rejoining in last place, Lewis was left stranded in the gravel trap. So why is this the moment of the weekend, well because it is what might have been. Mercedes were seemingly the first team to realise that the mandated three stop race would mean that they did not have to take as much care of their tyres. In the race this meant that George ended up in fourth, so starting in second he, and Lewis, should have been on that podium instead of the McLarens at a time in the season where points are more important to ensure that the team gets enough prize money. On a weekend where there were rumours of issues between the two Mercedes drivers it was unfortunate timing, Lewis did quickly apologise to the team and George having accepted responsibility but the rumours will continue.

Honourable mention goes to Lance Stroll for having a meltdown after being knocked out in qualifying.

Chelsea – The two Mercedes colliding off the line into turn one, leading to Hamilton’s retirement from the race. With their drivers on different tyre strategies, it seemed avoidable, and brought back memories of Hamilton/Rosberg in 2016. Still, both drivers were eventually quite sporting about the incident, with each apologising afterward and settling their differences over a much-needed ice bath.

 

Hot take of the weekend

Gavin – I love sprint races. What I do not like is the current format, and coupled with Max winning the Championship in the sprint race which made it all a bit underwhelming for everyone, it is just not working for me at the moment. Karun Chandhok mentioned changing the sprint race rules regarding parc fermé, where cars cannot be changed, to allow for changes to be made to make it more exciting and also not impact the actual race. Any change (see cold take below) will result in unintended consequences no matter how much thought and effort goes into it but the status quo is not working and with more and more sprint races coming into play F1 needs to get it fixed before there is a sprint race at every race weekend.

Chelsea – Pardon the terrible pun, but the whole weekend was one giant hot take. With Ocon spewing up in his helmet, Sargeant retiring early due to heat-related issues, and Stroll jumping straight from his car into an ambulance, it’s clear that October is not the time of year to be racing in Qatar. The 2024 race will be six weeks later, but this weekend highlighted the real physiological issues that can plague drivers in balmy conditions.

 

Cold take of the weekend

Gavin – Track limits. Seriously F1, sort it out. I can agree that shortcuts across chicanes and the like should be penalised, but the current track limit policing is just messing things up. Never mind being a millimetre over, we even see the investigation messages come through for when a car spins out or even crashes. I am at the point where if the track allows the driver to exceed the limits then it is just the way it is as all drivers have the same opportunity, of course this is easier on tracks where anything off the track is gravel so that the cars immediately get penalised for exceeding anyway, but there are courses where this is not possible. Here’s a thought, maybe only have street circuits…

Chelsea – Lance Stroll had another shocker of a weekend, culminating in a monosyllabic interview on Saturday, followed by a seemingly tetchy and physical encounter with his trainer. The pressure is on him, but there’s no excuse to be a dickhead. In other news, Christian Horner straight-up admitting that Red Bull don’t have the strongest driver pairing – ouch, Sergio, very ouch. With Perez staying with the team through 2024, that’s a big mountain to climb.

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