With the manufacturers' title secured at Japan, Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing now turn their focus to the other jewel in the 2023 crown: The drivers' title. And if it seems that the coronation has practically started before the race has even begun, that's because Verstappen can theoretically clinch his third championship on the trot after the Sprint race.
Verstappen stands on 400 points, followed by teammate Sergio Perez at 223, Lewis Hamilton at 190, Fernando Alonso at 174, Carlos Sainz Jr. at 150 and Charles Leclerc at 135. With 34 points being the maximum a driver can grab from Qatar -- win the Sprint for eight, win the main event for 25 and one for setting the fastest lap -- Verstappen will drive away with the crown if he leaves Losail International Circuit with a lead of 146 points over Perez.
Perez needs to finish third with Verstappen struggling to push the celebration to the next round at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Should Perez win both the Sprint and main race at Qatar, then Verstappen need only finish sixth or better to reign supreme. And the prospect of Perez winning the sprint, let alone the main race, is a distant one at the moment. He is coming off one of his worst, if not the worst, outings of the season, by not finishing at Suzuka in a race that was fraught with mistakes and over-driving right at the start. While the trouble off the grid at beginning was not his fault, he looked like a driver who believed he needed a great result and simply overthought every turn and braking point, creating more questions than answers.
Something is clearly in Perez's head, and perhaps that something is Liam Lawson, who has been nothing short of a revelation at AlphaTauri as a substitute for the injured Daniel Ricciardo. It was a minor surprise on the grid that Lawson was not named a part of AlphaTauri's main setup for 2024 — the team will stay with Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, while the New Zealander will again serve in the reserve role. Perhaps Perez, who is under contract at Red Bull through 2024, is worried the team may sideline him for the quick Kiwi? Who is to say. If teams are sniffing around Lawson all that has been on the hush-hush, and he also hasn't actively said he wants out of AlphaTauri, so perhaps the deal is simple: Wait and your turn will come in 2025 at Red Bull Racing.
How to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Qatar
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 8
- Location: 3.37 mile (5.419 kilometer), 16-turn Losail International Circuit, Losail, Al Daayen, Qatar
- Time: 12.55 a.m. ET
- TV: ESPN
- Stream: fubo (try for free)
What to watch for
Designed originally with Grand Prix motorcycle racing in mind, Losail is fast and flowing with a terrific long straight making up almost a quarter of the circuit's length. Passing usually comes with drivers making a high-speed dive down that long straight and into Turn 1, out-braking the other car and flinging the car right through the turn and then left through Turn 2. That move is aided by the lone DRS zone of the circuit that activates just after Turn 15 ahead of the final turn at 16. In other words, this is a track Red Bull Racing should eat up like ice cream. With over-running the track's circuit a problem at Losail -- and a lot of other circuits -- this time around will try to deter drivers from leaving the limits of the track surface by using concrete slabs as curbing at the outer limits of key curbs. Yikes.
A two-stop strategy was the winning call at previous race and will likely be the page most teams will be on at Losail, which is sporting new asphalt that the teams have reported as being smooth. The new asphalt is thought to be not too abrasive but also in the mid-range for adhesion. Pirelli will be bringing compounds similar to what was used at Suzuka last time out, so we'll see the C1 hard (white sidewall), C2 medium (yellow) and C3 soft (red). There are no support races for this Grand Prix, so no disparate rubber that doesn't mix well with the Pirellis. That also means it will up to the F1 drivers to get the track rubbered in.
With it being a night race to avoid the daytime temperatures that reach 104 degrees, teams expect the range to be between windy 86-92 degrees when they are running the Sprint and the main event. In fact, it could be wind — expected to be gusting between 27 and 34 mph — that may be the trickiest bit for the drivers to figure out as it can completely change the balance on the car in an instant.
