Qatar’s F1 competition is an irresponsible activity in many areas. The burping and vomiting of the drivers was a horrible thing, but that was not the whole picture, writes Urheilu’s Roope Visuri.
Roope Visuriruheluth reporter
Several drivers passed out in the medical tent. Currently the oldest driver in the F1 series Fernando Alonso can’t get out of his car, and neither can his teammate Lance Stroll. According to media reports, Alonso has burns on his back. Stroll has passed out in the middle of the race at different corners. He has also lost his sight at times during the race.
Logan Sargeant unable to complete the race due to unwellness. He suffers from heat stroke and dehydration. Esteban Ocon throw up twice during the race. Valtteri Bottas stable mate Guanyu Zhou too reports heat stroke as Sargeant. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc too the dehydration has gone to the level that vision is deteriorating.
Sensational newcomer from the top three of the competition Oscar Piastri lying on the back room floor passed out before the award ceremonies. In recent years, he dominated the F1 series by far and won the Qatar race Max Verstappen asks Piastri and the third place finisher in the race From Lando Norris, is there a wheelchair and collapses on the floor of the back room with Piastr.
The revelations of the main stars of motorsport’s royalty, i.e. the drivers, and their gestures tell everything about how shocking a farce the Qatar race turned out to be.
Just thinking with common sense, at worst the speed of several hundreds of kilometers per hour, fainting, vomiting and impaired vision are a really dangerous combination. Fortunately, nothing more serious happened or anyone died.
Finnish F1 star Valtteri Bottas described the competition to the international media as torture. In an interview with Viaplay in Finnish, Bottas stated that he was in the race like in a sauna from which there is no escape.
Several team managers and drivers were of the opinion that we were now at the limits of whether it made any sense to compete.
Dangerous track with weak tires
And that’s not all. The F1 race in Qatar was a disaster by other measures as well. On Friday, it became clear that the tires on the Losail track wear dangerously due to the combination of sharp curbs and fast corners.
Tire manufacturer Pirelli and the international motor sports federation FIA made an emergency solution on Saturday and decided to hold extra ten-minute practice sessions on Saturday before the sprint day.
F1 statistics guru Sean Kelly opened up about the exceptionality of the situation on Twitter. 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.
Respected motorsport media Motorsport, on the other hand, compared that the tire drama was the biggest in formula one 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.
Now the FIA and Pirelli made such a decision that something similar will not happen again. All three pit stops were mandatory. Of course, it also pushed the drivers even more to their limits in harsh conditions and may have partially influenced the drivers’ clotting.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri namely stated that driving with three pit stops was already brutal in itself. According to the sensational newcomer, the race became one where 57 qualifying laps were run in a row.
It is certain that there will still be a huge aftermath of the race. What’s the point of racing in Qatar, where the track is not safe with the current F1 tires and the wheel is dangerous for the drivers?
Based on the TV pictures, you can’t talk about a huge public celebration either.
Racing in Qatar is irresponsible
The logical reason is, of course, money. Qatar is one of the most profitable races for the F1 organization when it comes to entry fees. Qatar pays the F1 organization 55 million US dollars a year for organizing the race.
The F1 organization and Qatar signed a ten-year contract two years ago, so the income is guaranteed long into the future.
Qatar itself wanted to make Formula 1 its new soccer World Cup. This brings us to one more questionable feature last weekend.
Many experts have stated that the sports competitions organized by Qatar aim to polish the country’s shield.
Qatar has been accused of human rights violations for a long time. They became public especially before last year’s World Cup, when it was reported that thousands of migrant workers had died in construction work related to the Games. According to experts from human rights organizations interviewed by Urheilu last week, the problems have not disappeared from Qatar and also demand the F1 series to take Qatar’s human rights problems seriously.
Competing in Qatar for motorsport royalty seems irresponsible given all of the above.
Of course, the F1 drivers pointed out on Sunday after the race that next year’s Qatar race is not scheduled until the beginning of December, i.e. at a cooler time. However, it still does not solve all the problems in competing in Qatar.