2023 Qatar Grand Prix - Lusail, Oct 06 - 08

[scuderiabrandon]

Wait i forgot this was going to be a sprint weekend.

Ferrari's engineers have a + 10 in all stats in this scenario.

They've been fortunate with the tracks that have had sprint races suiting their car. This will be the first one that diverges from that trend.

[organic]

I think Ferrari usuallys runs well but degrade quickly in the heat. Mercedes need the heat to switch on the tyres and they do run well on the hards. Mclarens quick switch on may not be so advantageous here and I am not sure how good their deg is. But this track looks like it will suit mclaren chassis well.
I do not know where to put Aston. Somewhere between Alpine and Alpha Tauri.

At Suzuka temps were very high on Sunday (track over 40, air temp over 25) and Merc had no degradation advantage over Ferrari. If you look at the last 5 races or so, this remains true.

Compare that to the early part of the season, before Austria, you can see they had worse Deg than Merc.

Shovlin echoed this sentiment in comments he made after Suzuka race.

I think this is unsurprising as I would not say Merc had significantly better degradation compared to everyone else earlier in the year: it was more that Ferrari were disproportionately hard on the tyres compared to cars with similar amounts of downforce. So Ferrari are now up to speed in terms of tyre understanding and that advantage for Merc has faded this year

Losail is another circuit that's very tough on the tyres so I think this will once again show Ferrari will be similar to Merc, amr etc on deg

[Farnborough]

I think Ferrari usuallys runs well but degrade quickly in the heat. Mercedes need the heat to switch on the tyres and they do run well on the hards. Mclarens quick switch on may not be so advantageous here and I am not sure how good their deg is. But this track looks like it will suit mclaren chassis well.
I do not know where to put Aston. Somewhere between Alpine and Alpha Tauri.

At Suzuka temps were very high on Sunday (track over 40, air temp over 25) and Merc had no degradation advantage over Ferrari. If you look at the last 5 races or so, this remains true.

Compare that to the early part of the season, before Austria, you can see they had worse Deg than Merc.

Shovlin echoed this sentiment in comments he made after Suzuka race.

I think this is unsurprising as I would not say Merc had significantly better degradation compared to everyone else earlier in the year: it was more that Ferrari were disproportionately hard on the tyres compared to cars with similar amounts of downforce. So Ferrari are now up to speed in terms of tyre understanding and that advantage for Merc has faded this year

Losail is another circuit that's very tough on the tyres so I think this will once again show Ferrari will be similar to Merc, amr etc on deg

I agree with ....Organic.....on this point. They've gone from eye watering in just how fast they went off, to almost entirely palletable in this regard.
Monza was good demonstration of just how long the rears lasted in real committed traction pace as you could see when the shift came and the RB could then match / exceed the traction coming out of Parabolica to get the overtake done. That would have been amusingly short duration had it occurred beginning of season.

They don't look in a bad place for these coming races.

[Bill_Kar]

I think McLaren will be a step above Ferrari and Mercedes, as per Suzuka.

Normally, I would say that Mercedes would pip Ferrari come race day, but the last few races make me think that Ferrari has resolved some of the issues they had on Sundays.

[Wouter]

It's going to be really incredibly hot this coming weekend. The sessions are later in the day and then it will be
about 5 degrees cooler, but still hot.
Which team has suffered from hugely high temperatures in recent months and with what?
With the tires, PU or something else?

[Wouter]

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI HEAD OF MOTORSPORT

Another new beginning in Qatar.

“Formula 1 now returns to Qatar, two years after its debut there in 2021. But in many ways, it’s another new beginning,
as the cars are now very different to the ones we saw a couple of years ago and the Losail circuit has been completely resurfaced,
with modified kerbs as well.
On paper, the track’s main features remain the same – with a main straight just over a kilometre long and 16 corners – but it’s clear that the changes made over the last two years mean that the data collected from the first grand prix is only relatively useful.

.
https://press.pirelli.com/another-new-b ... -in-qatar/

[Juzh]

What was wrong with original tarmac? Still looked like new in 21.

[AR3-GP]

What was wrong with original tarmac? Still looked like new in 21.

Money is no object in Qatar.

[JPower]

The curbs in the 2021 caused a ton of problems for the drivers and cars. Hopefully they've been trimmed down.

[scuderiabrandon]

The curbs in the 2021 caused a ton of problems for the drivers and cars. Hopefully they've been trimmed down.

It was mostly front wing damage. The front wings ran really close to the ground in previous regs. This will not be the case with current regs. Floor damage is more likely.

[AR3-GP]

I think something else to look for is front tire failures which occured in 2021 for Gasly, Norris, and Bottas during the weekend. Supposedly the tires are stronger now, especially after Silversone.

[organic]

What was wrong with original tarmac? Still looked like new in 21.

There were punctures last time. Maybe to do with that? Too high grip -> more cornering speeds -> greater lateral loads -> tyres lose integrity?

[Sieper]

Resurfaced I read. That means redbull will not have much to go by and usually need the time to get the car right. Sprintweekend and all.

[organic]

Resurfaced I read. That means redbull will not have much to go by and usually need the time to get the car right. Sprintweekend and all.

Resurfaced and humidity high forecast. Same as Singapore!

[Juzh]

What was wrong with original tarmac? Still looked like new in 21.

There were punctures last time. Maybe to do with that? Too high grip -> more cornering speeds -> greater lateral loads -> tyres lose integrity?

I dont remember well, but wasn't it assumed punctures were due to kerb strikes?
I don't think too high grip could be cause for resurface, and moto gp hasn't complained about this topic in any way (unless it was done in between?), so maybe its a non issue. Again, why change it then. Could be just due to money no object as said by AR3.