Sprint race and night event makes set-up a “guessing game” – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says Red Bull may have to take risks with their car set-ups for this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix due to the limited practice time.

Formula 1 returns to the Losail International Circuit this weekend for only the second time after a one-off race in 2021. Unlike that inaugural event, this weekend will be a sprint round, which means teams will have just a single hour of practice before cars are locked under parc ferme conditions for the remainder of the weekend.

Speaking to media including RaceFans on Thursday in Losail, Verstappen said that the reduced practice time makes getting his Red Bull set-up correctly will be crucial.

“I think we normally should be quick here, but again, it’s only one practice session, so it’s about making sure that once we hit the ground running that the car’s in a good place, a good window,” he said. “But normally, it should be a nice track for us and we just want to have a good weekend.”

As a night round, with both Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s grand prix taking place under the lights, Verstappen is conscious that the hot, sunny conditions expected for Friday’s sole free practice session will make it difficult for teams to prepare their cars for the races.

“It’s never going to be very straightforward for anyone out there,” he said. “Of course, if you hit the ground running in the car feels amazing – then great, perfect. But it’s very rare that it’s like that with one session.

“Then again, it’s too hot. So then you go to qualifying with different conditions. It makes it a proper guessing game about, ‘okay, well we did FP1, we might be quite happy, but then what would we do for qualifying?’, because it’s a lot colder and the balance and the tyres – everything changes. So there’s a lot that you have to get right and for sure some teams will be better than others, of course I hope that we are on the better side, but I guess we’ll find out.”

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Verstappen will almost certainly clinch his third-consecutive world championship this weekend in Qatar due to his immense lead in the drivers’ standings. Despite the strong probability he will do so in Saturday’s sprint race, Verstappen reiterated this preference for the traditional grand prix format.

“It’s not like it came out of the blue that I was going to win the championship here or next week, so I don’t think it really changes a lot,” said Verstappen.

“But it’s more – I think, for the drivers as well – I prefer just the normal racing format. I think it’s just a bit more exciting and especially in qualifying you could go more to the limit because you know more of what you have done in practice. For example in Suzuka, if you do FP1 there and then go straight into qualifying, you risk having big shunts. It’s just not as fulfilling.”

Verstappen says his main focus for the weekend is on Sunday’s grand prix, rather than simply clinching the championship as early as possible.

“We’re having an amazing year and we just come into this week and we want to win again,” he said. “Of course, I know that if I win or whatever I achieve on Saturday, then you win the championship. But I think we’re very focussed on the main job anyway, just to have a good weekend.”

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