In Qatar, extra ten minutes of practice had to be held due to tire problems. A big surprise was seen in the sprint qualifying sessions that started late, when Oscar Piastri took first place.
International Motor Sports Federation FIA announced on Saturday, that a safety risk has been found at Qatar’s F1 circuit in tire tests. The tires wear so much on the Qatar track that it lowers the air pressure and can cause dangerous situations.
Because of the problems, extra ten-minute practices were organized on Saturday. If the tire problems continue on Saturday’s sprint day, each driver will be forced to make three pit stops in Sunday’s actual race.
The background of the problems are the sharp curbs of the Losail track. The MotoGP series of motorcycling is also contested on the track, so the curbs are different from many other F1 tracks. The tires are dangerously worn in the so-called pyramid curb stones.
The track boundaries of corners 12 and 13 are also modified. The additional ten-minute practice sessions organized to familiarize yourself with the track mean that the start of Saturday’s sprint time trial was also delayed by 20 minutes.
The problems are surprising in that sense, as no team or driver publicly reported the problems after Friday’s practice or qualifying. Motorsports media Motorsport according to the report, the problem came to light when the tire manufacturer Pirelli made checks on the tires being used.
The schedule change was announced only three hours before the start of Saturday’s sprint time trial. The cobblestones already spoke volumes in Qatar the previous time, when the race was held in the country in 2021. Even then, the tires were severely worn.
F1 statistics guru Sean Kelly opened up on Twitter about the exceptionality of the situation. According to Kelly, the last extra practice had to be held during the F1 weekend in 1996 in Monaco. Then, with the heavy rain, it was decided to hold extra exercises. At that time, there was a rule according to which before the race held in the rain, some of the previous practices or time trials had to be done in the rain as well.
Motorsport, on the other hand, compared that Saturday’s tire drama was the biggest in Formula 1 since the 2005 US GP. At that time there were two tire manufacturers in the F1 series: Michelin and Brigdestone. Michelin had so many problems with their tires at the Indianapolis track that only six drivers using Bridgestone tires drove the race.
Verstappen in third to secure the championship
Red Bull With Max Verstappen there is a chance to secure this season’s F1 championship already in the sprint race on Saturday.
In sprint qualifying, Verstappen beat McLaren to third Oscar Piastri and by Lando Norris behind.
Rookie driver Piastri took a handsome first place in tonight’s sprint race.
Verstappen broke the track limits with his first move of the final section, and with his second move he was no longer able to match the speed of the McLaren drivers.
Lando Norris also greedily sought the first square for the sprint of the evening, but made a mistake on his last move. Piastri defeated his teammate by 0.082 seconds. Verstappen lost to the Australian by 0.192 seconds.
– Really, really great. I didn’t expect this, Piastri gave a fresh air on the team radio.
Valtteri Bottas was 13th in the sprint time trial. The Finn left everything for one bet in the second section, but it didn’t bring a result like Friday. Bottas finished ninth in the qualifying session on Friday.
The sprint competition starts on Saturday at 20:30.
Updated at 17:15. Added Sprint time trial results.