Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Qatar

  • RW 23 – Qatar

    Max Verstappen took a masterful victory in a hugely eventful Qatar Grand Prix, a race which featured three Safety car appearances, numerous incidents and a few penalties…

    Having lost pole position following a one-place grid penalty for an incident in qualifying, Verstappen looked to be in fighting mode from the start, the Dutchman won the battle for the lead against Russell and Norris into Turn 1.

    It was not a straightforward drive from there, with the Safety Car appearing on the first lap after Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon were both casualties in an incident with Nico Hulkenberg.

    This proved to be the first of three Safety Car outings during the 57 lap encounter – and while the second restart saw Norris run close to Verstappen in a fight for the lead, the world champion ultimately held on and remained in the position through to the chequered flag.

    Norris meanwhile, saw what looked to be a certain podium result slip away after being handed a 10 second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags, dropping him down the field and leaving him with a battle on his hands to grab some points.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Piastri, P4: Russell, P5: Gasly, P6: Sainz, P7: Alonso, P8: Zhou, P9: Magnussen and P10: Norris.

    What a lovely result for Max! Especially after his penalty which saw him loose pole position which he did seem like it was unfair, but he soon stopped people talking with a great drive to the flag.
    However for his teammate, Sergio Perez, found himself out of the running after suffering a spin he done all on his own…

    A really good result for Leclerc, P2! This will help with his battle for second in the Drivers’ championship and 2nd in the Constructors’. Carlos done quite well as well, considering he was one of the drivers who had a puncture due to debris on track. The Constructors’ will be decided next race as Ferrari can still catch up.

    A decent race for Piastri! P3 is good, exactly what the team would’ve wanted from him at the weekend.
    A bit of a downer for Norris, who looked like he was going to bring a really good battle for the win if not the podium at least until he had the stop/go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags. But he managed to claw it somewhat back for a point.

    A decent result for Russell, he didn’t have the best start as he lost a few positions and then after that he was put on the Hard tyre and it just wasn’t the best tyre for the Mercedes (which we have seen before) however he managed to pull it back to P4.
    Not the best race for Hamilton, a puncture, a penalty and then just a bad strategy with tyres. He will be ready to move on to the last race of the season which is his last race as a Mercedes driver.

    A very good result for Gasly!! P5 wow, this has helped Alpine hop back up the Constructors’ which will make this last race weekend a good one!
    Ocon was in the collision in the first lap, which saw him DNF, which is a shame as it seemed like the track actually suited the Alpine car, so he could’ve been on for some points.

    A little mention for Zhou Guanyu for scoring his first points of the season and Kick Saubers! Which they waited for quite a while to get this season.
    Also a little mention for Alonso back in the points for the Spanish driver, and also points for Magnussen who finished P9!

    Now, we head to the last race of the season which is of course Abu Dhabi where the Constructors will be decided and P2 in the Drivers’ Championship!

  • F1 Academy – RND 6 Day 1

    Free Practice 1-

    Doriane Pin’s dream of keeping her title hopes alive got off to an ideal start as the PREMA Racing star topped the first practice session around Lusail.

    Abbi Pulling of Rodin Motorsport was close behind in second, as the Alpine driver tries to secure the Drivers’ title this race weekend.

    Aurelia Nobels in her ART Grand Prix machine was the first to hit the track, but it wasn’t long before she was joined on track by the MP Motorsport duo of Emely De Heus and Amna Al Qubaisi.

    It was a slow start to the session for Standings’ leader Pulling, who had an issue with her car’s starter motor. The Brit spent the first part of the session in the pit lane but got out on track with just under 20 minutes of the session to go.

    Rodin Motorsport’s Jess Edgar looked comfortable around the Lusail circuit as she went top of the timesheets early and continued to improve over the practice session.
    Hamda Al Qubaisi tried her best to knock her off the top spot, but despite going purple in the first and second sectors, was unable to beat the 1:57.592s benchmark set by Edgar.

    With the track improving, Doriane Pin of PREMA Racing put her Mercedes to the top with a time of 1:56.654s. This would be he quickest time of the session with Pulling getting close to her title rival.

    Free Practice 2-

    Doriane Pin made it two-for-two in the second Free Practice in Lusail, edging ahead of title rival Abbi Pulling at the chequered flag.

    It was a closely-fought session, with the top three separated by only 0.142s as Wild Card driver Alisha Palmowski made her mark in third.

    Driving under the floodlights around the Lusail International Circuit, the field had their eyes on preparing for both tomorrow afternoon’s Qualifying and their first-ever night race.

    Hamda Al Qubaisi was the first to get a time on the board, clocking a 1:58.348 as the initial benchmark. Setting the field’s quickest time yet in Qatar, Standings leader Pulling went top on a 1:56.453, whilst Chloe Chambers slotted into second in the Haas-liveried car.

    The Brit continued to lower the time to beat to a 1:56.038, before Maya Weug eclipsed her effort by 0.019s. Pulling quickly regained the top spot on a 1:55.785, going two tenths clear of the Ferrari driver as Palmowski climbed into the top three.

    Less than seven minutes were left on the clock as the fight for P1 ramped up. Block seized the top spot on a 1:55.517, only for the Williams driver to be immediately beaten by Palmowski’s 1:55.477.

    Pin then went fastest of all on a 1:55.043, whilst Pulling kept in close range of the Mercedes driver, sitting in just six hundredths adrift.
    Entering their final attempts, Palmowski staked her claim on the quickest effort of the day, becoming the first driver to break into the 1:54s and putting her 0.107s ahead of Pin.

    The top spot then shifted into Pin’s hands on a 1:54.914 until Pulling wrestled it away by 0.019s. It appeared to be job done, but Pin wasn’t finished just yet and snatched the fastest lap away from the Alpine driver with a 1:54.794.

  • RND 18 – Qatar Grand Prix

    Before the race had even started we had drama, it was decided in plenty of time that the tyres had a mandatory limit of 18 laps per set due to safety reasons which were spotted on Friday during practice.

    Not only this we also saw Sergio Perez having to start at the pit lane, due to Red Bull changing several power unit components and making significant repairs.
    Just under an hour before lights out, there was more drama as Carlos Sainz was confirmed not to be taking part in the race due to a fuel system issue developing on his car.

    Now, onto the race, Max Verstappen made it another win, his first of being a triple world champion! Oscar Piastri claimed P2 making it his second podium in a row, and teammate, Lando Norris grabbed the final podium spot.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Piastri, P3: Norris, P4: Russell, P5: Leclerc, P6: Alonso, P7: Ocon, P8: Bottas, P9: Zhou and P10: Perez.

    Now first of all a big congratulations to Max and Red Bull for another championship in the bag! I think today was the perfect out come for Max to just win the race and control it!
    As for his teammate, he had another shocker due to getting time penalties after track limits violations.

    Another great result for McLaren! Wow, if you said to me at the beginning of the season that they will be getting double podiums now, I’d be laughing but they are which is great news for the team.

    Now onto the Mercedes duo, well they gave us a bit of entertainment at the beginning of the race, Lewis was overtaking George and Max on Lap 1 but as he was going past his teammate they touched which saw Lewis get stuck in the gravel and could not continue and George went down to the bottom of the grid.

    A good result for Bottas and Zhou, a double points finish just what the team needed! We also so Zhou do some lovely defending from Perez early on in the race which was crucial to him getting these points.

    Logan Sargeant also retired from the race but not due to the car/ crashing it was actually because he felt so unwell he had to retire, to be honest I take my hat off to him and the rest of the drivers, so many were feeling unwell and driving in that heat saw them struggle to get out of the car and were feeling faint afterwards.

    Now we have a little wait till the next Grand Prix, which is the weekend of 20th – 22nd October, where we head to the United States, which is another Sprint weekend and we could possibly see Daniel Ricciardo return…

  • Round 20- Qatar Race

    Well, we have had another drama filled weekend, with Vertsappen being handed a 5 place grid penalty before the race as well as Bottas being handed a 3 place grid penalty.

    Our top 3 finishers for the first Qatar GP were: P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen and P3: Alonso. Hamilton made it win 102 this weekend and being the first to ever win at Qatar in F1. But the main talking news is Alonso returning to the podium after 7 years and he fully deserves it!

    F1 Grand Prix of Qatar : News Photo
    DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 21: Third placed Fernando Alonso of Spain and Alpine F1 Team celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on November 21, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: ALonso, P4: Perez, P5: Ocon, P6: Stroll, P7: Sainz, P8: Leclerc, P9: Norris and P10: Vettel. With fastest lap going to Verstappen.

    On lap 33, it saw Bottas have a puncture as he fell from P3, he managed to get it back to the pits and comes out in P14. Which brings us to lap 54… Where we saw Norris who was in P4 have a puncture, Russell with a puncture and his team-mate Latifi, with the same problem. Norris and Russell managed to pit for new tyres however, Latifi couldn’t make it back to the pits so had to park near an entrance road which brought out a VSC!

    Amazing race for both Alpines! Obviously the main one being Fernando getting P3, this will help Alpine in the Constructor fight. Esteban done a really good drive too, which saw him start P9 and finish P5, good amount of points for him!

    Gutting day for McLaren, Lando had such a good qualifying and obviously with the two penalties he moved up to the second row. It looked like he secured P4 near the end of the race and then the puncture happened… He hasn’t had it easy the past few races, but i’m hoping he will take away the fact the car is good and has got pace and hopefully he has a clear head going into Saudi!

    Not quite sure what went on with Alpha Tauri, baring in mind Pierre started P2, they pitted him very early compared to everyone else and from then on he was no where, he finished 11th. Tsunoda finished P13, it looked quite promising for him to score points but obviously it didn’t go either Alpha Tauri’s way this weekend.

    The Championship-

    The gap just keeps on coming down now, 8 points between Verstappen and Hamilton. Making it an all very important two races left. Bottas’ P3 is under threat as Perez is only 13 points away, so that DNF for the Merc did not help at all!

    Norris just holds on to P5 with 153 points, with Charles Leclerc in P6 with 152 points, so it will be interesting battle between these two in the final two rounds.

    In the Constructors there is only a 5 point gap between Mercedes and Red Bull now, even more so now the fastest lap points are definitely going to come into play and there will be a lot of switching on who has it.

    Alpine now have a 25 point gap between them and Alpha Tauri. So AT really need both cars scoring good points in these next two if they want to try and get 5th back!

    Now we don’t have any racing next weekend but we will be back from the 3rd to 5th December and we will be in Saudi Arabia for the first ever Grand Prix there and go into round 21 out of 22.

  • Round 20- Qatar Quali

    Welll… Qualifying most definitely had some shock exits! Making this championship even more exciting…

    Lewis Hamilton, takes the first pole position on the Losail Circuit, carrying on his form from last weekend in Brazil! Max Verstappen joins Lewis on the front row and Bottas makes P3, showing that Mercedes are on top form!

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Gasly, P5: Alonso, P6: Norris, P7: Sainz, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Ocon, P10: Vettel.

    DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 20: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL35M Mercedes during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on November 20, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

    Red Bull are most definitely on the back foot here, with both Mercedes sandwiching Max it could easily be a preview of the podium.

    Talking about RB and them being on the back foot, part of that is because Perez was out in Q2! Not a good weekend so far for him, it’ll be interesting to see what the strategy is for Red Bull considering no-one knows how this race is going to go.

    Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo also out in Q2, which most definitely shocked a few people. Leclerc has been having problems since yesterday, but it just seems like he isn’t comfortable in the car on this track.

    Russell into Q2, Mr Saturday is back, starting P15, which means free choice of tyres and could potentially score some points tomorrow.

    Both Alpha Tauri’s and Alpine in the top 10, the battles between the four cars will be interesting, especially with Alonso he always provides good and clean fights on track and Pierre being so consistent this year, who won’t give up a position.

    Predictions for tomorrow-

    I’m going to say for my top 5 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Sainz.

    Tomorrow should be an exciting race, no-one knows whether it’s going to be a 1 stop or 2 stop so I can imagine teams will be keeping an eye out for tyre degradation.

  • Qatar GP

    This weekend we are in Qatar for the first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix, coming into this weekend, its an unknown track to all the teams, so they will be all starting off on the same foot.

    Going into the final 3 races now the championship is hotting up, with only 14 point seperating Max and Lewis, could we see that gap come down again? Its all to play for!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    McLaren again need a good weekend, two races not scoring points for Ricciardo, and Norris only scoring two points in the last two races. At this moment in time McLaren are just giving P3 to Ferrari, but hopefully with a new track there luck will change this weekend.

    Going in to the final 3 races, the second drivers will come into play which we saw last weekend, where Red Bull pitted Perez to take the fastest lap point away from Lewis and Mercedes. So Bottas and Perez will be putting there all in for the next 3 races so they can help their team-mates win the Championship, and their teams the Constructors.

    I think Lance needs a good weekend, I feel like his struggling with the car the last few races, the last time he scored points was in Turkey. His currently sat in 13th in the Championship, with his team mate sat in 12th, but the points difference between the two is quite big.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top five predictions are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Norris.

    Hopefully, we will see both the McLaren’s in top 10 they need a good start to the weekend, and that would be it, it would also give both drivers the confidence too.

    Maybe a Q3 for Yuki? New track for him as the same for everyone else, but he feels good going into this weekend and he wants to show some people wrong after the last couple of weeks.

    Times for the weekend are-

    Saturday 20th- FP3: 11:00am – 12:00pm (GMT), 12:00pm – 13:00pm (CET). Qualifying: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (GMT), 15:00pm – 16:00pm (CET).

    Sunday 21st- Race: 14:00pm (GMT), 15:00pm (CET).

  • Tyres for Qatar

    The tyres for this weekend in Qatar have been chosen which are the following: C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft), this is the fifth and last time this year that the hardest of all the compounds in the range have been nominated.

    With it being out first ever time here, we have no data from previous years which would normally help in picking the tyres. The circuit has very demanding corners similar to both Silverstone and Mugello, it also has quite aggressive asphalt.

    The start/finish straight is just over a kilometre long, but also has 16 quick corners to make up the rest of the lap this will ensure that tyres will be working hard and could possibly lead to a reasonably high degradation. The track has still got its original surface from 2004 which offers high grip, but with the track being near the dessert the grass around the circuit doesn’t always keep the sand off the track, which could make it dusty and affect grip.

    Turns 12 to 14 form a triple apex right-hander which makes up almost a single high-energy 5.2g corner that is slightly reminiscent of the famous Turn 8 in Turkey- only in the opposite direction.

    Qatar is one of four races held in the evening under floodlights. This could means that the evloution of track temperature of the race could be quite different compared to a normal afternoon race.

    There is no support races this weekend, and the circuit hasn’t been used a lot recently which will mean that there is no rubber laid down prior to the F1 cars. SO expect the drivers slipping around at first, the only way we will see this again is if sand blows onto the track which resets itself.

  • A look into the last 5 races

    Now we only have 5 races left this season so lets take a closer look into them and see what could potentially happen in the next 6 weeks and see who could come out on top at each track…

    Mexico:

    First up starting our triple header we have Mexico, this is a track which both Max and Lewis has won at twice each and Lewis being the last one to win their back in 2019. But that doesn’t mean its going to go his way as the Honda engine thrives in thinner air which favours the high-downforce nature of the car.

    Favourites to win: Red Bull.

    Brazil:

    Again like above it applies to the race at Sao Paulo. Last time we raced here in 2019, Red Bull dominated with Verstappen taking pole and the race win, and if Albon wasn’t hit RB would of took a 1-2.

    RB have a far more competitive car, compared to previous years and this appears to be one of Verstappen’s best tracks. But with the power of the Mercedes engine on what we saw at Austin it could make things interesting.

    We also have the last sprint race of the season here, so this could change things up and we could get a very different result…

    Favourites to win: Red Bull.

    Qatar:

    Now coming into races we have never raced and no past results to look at it makes it difficult to predict who will leave on top. All we can do is guess which car will suit the circuit layout more.

    Looking at it I am more leaning towards Mercedes, as they will gain a lot of time on the Red Bulls due to the 1km main straight and thats only the most possible overtaking spot. But it all depends on track position, qualifying will play a massive part of the Qatar weekend, and as well as this, set up’s, tyre strategy will also play a big part.

    Favourites to win: Mercedes.

    Saudi Arabia:

    Again, the Jeddah Street Circuit is unknown for F1 and the teams so we will be looking at the circuit itself.

    When the words street circuit you initially think of “Red Bull to dominate” but its a completley different circuit to what we are use to. It features some long straights and some high speed sweeping corners, which will benefit the Mercedes more.

    As well as this, Hamilton is known to thrive on street circuits (apart from Monaco this year), where as Verstappen’s aggressiveness has cost him (again apart from Monaco.)

    Favourites to win: Mercedes

    Abu Dhabi:

    Now onto the season finale, Mercedes have dominated here winning every race in the hybrid era, however that changed last year when Max won. But with that being said Mercedes, struggled with their car setups all weekend and had engine issues to add to the problem.

    With the changes coming to the circuit this year as well, making it possible for more overtakes it could change the race completely and we could see both Merc’s having a really good weekend especially if they figure out what set up is the best one.

    Favourites to win: Mercedes.

    I’m very much looking forward to these next 5 races, it will be entertaining to see who comes out on top and as well the fight between Ferrari and McLaren.

  • Qatar joins ‘21 Calendar

    We finally have confirmation on which track will be filling in for Australia this year and that is Qatar…

    Qatar is set to make an appearance on the weekend of the 19th of November, making it its first ever F1 Grand Prix!

    The Qatari circuit is most famous for its association with two wheel racing, with it having hosted the Moto GP since 2004.

    The race is the last of the triple header, with Mexico and Brazil before hand, it should be an exciting weekend considering no-one has raced there so it could go either way!

    It also got announced that Qatar will permanently be on our race calendar from 2023 for 10 years!

    A statement from F1 said: “There was a strong will from Qatar to be helpful to F1, and in the course of this process, the vision for a longer partnership was discussed and agreed for 10 years. The step from the gesture to be helpful to F1 in 2021 to a long term strategy was short and simple and the vision for F1 to be the showcase for Qatar after the FIFA World Cup in 2022 was the driving force behind this long term agreement.”