The combination of punishing heat and high cornering speeds took its toll on several Formula 1 drivers in the Qatar Grand Prix.
Logan Sargeant, who was already unwell before the race began, withdrew after 40 laps. He was subsequently taken to the medical centre and released.“Following Logan’s retirement from the grand prix, he has been assessed and cleared by the medical team on-site after suffering from intense dehydration during the race weakened by having flu-like symptoms earlier in the week,” said Sargeant’s Williams team in a statement.
Other drivers also struggled. Sargeant’s team mate Alexander Albon was also taken to the on-track medical centre to be treated for acute heat exposure. Esteban Ocon told his team he was sick in his car on the 15th lap of 57. Nonetheless, he finished seventh.
“I was feeling ill lap 15 and 16, I was throwing up for two laps inside the cockpit,” said Ocon. “And then I was like, ‘shit, this is going to be a long race’.
“I tried to calm down, I tried to remember that the mental side in sport is the strongest part of your body and I managed to get that under control and finish the race. But, honestly I was not expecting for the race to be that hard.”
Lance Stroll, who came in 11th after penalties, said he started to suffer with around 20 laps to go and was “passing out in the car” at times. Kevin Magnussen also reported he was almost sick in his car.
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Despite the race starting after nightfall, the air temperatures was 31C when it began. There was little wind, unlike in previous days, to offer anything in the way of cooling.
Charles Leclerc believes it was “the toughest race for every driver in Formula 1 of our career – for everybody, no exception and I don’t believe the one that says it’s not.”
The circumstances of the race also made it particularly gruelling. Yesterday’s 19-lap sprint race was interrupted by three Safety Car periods, but only one occurred during the grand prix, meaning the drivers had little respite.
The drivers were also required to do no more than 18 laps on a set of tyres during the grand prix. That meant less tyre management took place and the race was run at a quicker pace.
“I think there were many things adding up,” said Leclerc in response to a question from RaceFans. “Obviously, the heat was extremely warm, we have a track where there are lots of high-speed corners.
“But I think the most significant part is the fact that we had to do three stops and that meant no tyre management in the high speed, which meant quali laps after quali laps.”
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Leclerc said F1 will have to think twice before attempting a similar kind of race in such temperatures. “This, I think, maybe next year if we find ourselves in the same situation we’ll have to discuss in between us drivers,” he said.
The conditions were so tough drivers found it difficult to see at times, said Leclerc. “This is something we maybe will have to discuss because at one point, it’s not even a physical preparation, it’s just dehydration at such a level that you and your vision is so much worse. Your heart rate is going to the stars and it’s very difficult to control all of this so it was really, really difficult.”
“It’s difficult to put into words and to explain how tough it is,” Leclerc added. “Especially with the G-forces. When you have a lot of dehydration you can drink, but the drink is more tea than anything else because it’s at 60-plus degrees. So it’s extremely difficult to hydrate yourself and again, with the G-forces you don’t see as well.”
Lando Norris said F1 “found the limit” of what drivers can withstand in today’s race. “I think it’s sad we had to find it this way,” said the McLaren driver.
“It’s never a nice situation to be in. Some people are ending up in the medical centre or passing out, things like that. It’s a pretty dangerous thing to have going on.
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“But it’s not a point where you can just go ‘the drivers need to train more’ and do any of that. We’re in a closed car that gets extremely hot in a very physical race.
“It’s frustrating, I guess on TV it probably doesn’t look very physical at all. But clearly, when you have people who end up retiring or in such a bad state, it’s too much for the speeds we’re doing, it is too dangerous.”
Next year’s Qatar Grand Prix will take place at the beginning of December, when temperatures should be cooler. But Norris said F1 must avoid repeating the conditions which occurred today.
“I know that this race next year is later on in the season and it will be a lot cooler a few months later. But it’s something that needs to be thought of, and I’m sure we’ll speak about it because it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
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2023 Qatar Grand Prix
- Albon fears Qatar GP conditions risked creating dangerous “wet bulb effect”
- Alonso: New-spec fireproofs and pre-race anthem timing made Qatar heat worse
- Magnussen admits he took “too long to learn” Losail circuit
- Analysis: Sargeant’s Qatar radio reveals his painful struggle to end point-less run
- Alfa Romeo ‘finally understand their upgrade’ Bottas believes as team target Williams
David
8th October 2023, 21:38
If the drivers are all struggling to cope they could:
A. Take a pay cut
B. Leave and do something easier
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
8th October 2023, 21:47
Look, there’s a late heat wave here in the UK and today it was about 26 degrees. We’re also suffering from a surge in mosquitoes where I live so we couldn’t open the windows. That combination was enough for me to struggle to watch the whole race from my comfortable couch!
How those guys drove for over 90 minutes, flat out, wearing multiple layers and a helmet in double the heat is beyond me.
Amazing athletes.
Manto
9th October 2023, 9:48
Incredible FIA doesn’t let drivers race in wet condition due to danger, or even fines a driver crosaing the track during safety car, but turns to the other side when Arabian money comes in
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2023, 21:48
All these problems definitely lie behind the scheduling & while I’ve already pointed out this, I wonder what was wrong with placing the Qatar GP before the Abu Dhabi for this season already, i.e., December 3 & 10, respectively, with all other remaining events on the same dates, certainly nothing prevented a similar formation to next season’s ending phase.
FOM & FIA definitely should’ve thought about the likelihood of high ambient temps still affecting at this time of year when forming this season’s race calendar last year, so somewhat negligent behavior by them not taking into account drivers’ well-being.
Something to learn for the future is that certain climate zones are to be avoided in certain months, even in October’s first half.
I agree with Leclerc that this race must’ve been the toughest for everyone, not only in F1 but in their racing careers as a whole, from karting to lower single-seaters & beyond, etc.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
8th October 2023, 21:50
Sportswashing doesn’t care about driver wellbeing (or anything else).
If it’s OK for immigrant labour to die building football stadia, it’s OK for a few F1 drivers to nearly pass out / vomit in their helmet etc.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 21:59
Well said.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
8th October 2023, 22:19
+1
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th October 2023, 0:45
+ 1. They should be here at all. It’s not only the conditions. It’s an awful, dull circuit.
Sam
9th October 2023, 7:39
This.
Illusive (@illusive)
9th October 2023, 8:29
+1
Jere (@jerejj)
9th October 2023, 10:11
@sonnycrockett Nothing to do with that as otherwise, the Qatar GP wouldn’t get scheduled at the end alongside Abu Dhabi from next season onwards.
Coventry Climax
9th October 2023, 12:25
Excuse me? When there’s safety, possibly lives at stake?
That must be the understatement of the year.
MichaelN
8th October 2023, 21:52
Sounds bad, fair play to Sargeant for accepting his limits and not carrying on. Hopefully the drivers’ concerns are raken seriously.
As an aside, that’s a great cover photo of Piastri.
AlanD
9th October 2023, 2:23
Michael, good point. It wasn’t suprising that Sargeant tried to carry on, and I was worried that people would criticise him for being a quitter, but when your body is overheating so much that you start vomitting, that’s the point at which the fittest athlete can suffer severe damage. If anything, the team should have just told him to pit and taken the decision out of his hands. I was thinking today that F1 worried more about the health of tyres than the health of drivers.
Mark (@mrcento)
8th October 2023, 21:57
F1 should be a huge physical challenge, but that was clearly well over the line today and a huge safety issue. When multiple drivers, who are superhuman levels of fit, are about passing out behind the wheel, retiring due to feeling unwell and needing either medical assistance or help to extract themselves from the car after the race, something needs to be done to prevent a repeat.
SteveR (@stever)
8th October 2023, 23:52
This reminds me of the cancellation of CART’s race at the Texas Speedway. Because of the extreme banking on the short oval the drivers were pulling 5 1/2 g for extended periods, not the short loading normally felt on a road course. From an article by ABC News from back in the day….
some racing fan
9th October 2023, 0:05
Oh, this Qatar GP is nowhere near that bad. This Qatar GP was pretty bad but CART running on the Fort Worth oval with those cars was complete madness. Those dricers were ezperiencing 5.5 G’s for 15 seconds every lap, or something and it was actually disorienting them to the point of not being able to walk properly.
One comparable situation was the ‘82 Brazilian GP in Rio in conditions so oppressive that when Nelson Piquet won the race, he was so exhausted that he fainted on the podium. Piquet’s teammate Riccardo Patrese had to be lifted out of his car, he was so wrecked.
SteveR (@stever)
9th October 2023, 5:42
Agreed. They were subjected to 5 ± g of lateral acceleration, not vertical as in aircraft, and that was playing havoc with their inner ears.
F1 needs to take a look at this race (not the CART race) and understand what the drivers were subjected to. The drivers need to speak out loudly about what they were experiencing.
Kribana (@krichelle)
8th October 2023, 21:57
I wonder how Hamilton would have ended up if he was in the race. Probably worse than Hungary 2021. He was close to stumbling on the podium that day too.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 22:01
I was amazed Alonso was able to get through the race with his seat burning on top of everything. The old guy is made of steel. This is the first time we’ve EVER seen the drivers struggle like this.
As someone who races in the desert (but without such high humidity), there have been so many races I was dying for the checkered flag and our races are only about 35 minutes.
AlanD
9th October 2023, 2:29
Nick, out of interest, do you race in single seater cars or is it something larger? I imagine just the sheer tightness of the F1 cockpit around the driver makes heat dissipation much harder. I also read somewhere that F1 cars have foam padding around the drivers legs because the G forces in corners are so high that their feet would fly off the pedals, so that foam must also have been a massive thermal blanket.
Nick T.
9th October 2023, 19:45
I race sedans. I did race formula, but it was so long ago and so hilariously far from being comparable, I couldn’t say. I do know that I lost consciousness once after getting out of the car and I was in great shape then. We don’t experience nearly the same G’s as those guys. So, I can’t imagine how torturous it got. I was reminded by Leclerc’s comments of the thing that scared me during those races, which was my heart race. It felt out of control at times and your heart is not something you often notice as opposed to your lungs. Anyway, sorry, I can’t really offer any good insight. Maybe we have some formula guys here.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
9th October 2023, 8:18
@krichelle Lewis fan here (maybe a bit less more recently because I don’t care for his politics) but Lewis is a big drama queen & in my opinion is always playing things up for the camera to make things more dramatic. He is incredibly fit yet he’s the only driver holding his stomach or being hunched over after a well fought race. While all the other drivers on the podium continue as usual in the post race celebrations.
N
9th October 2023, 12:37
You realise he was still recovering from ‘long covid’ after that Hungary race.
The ignorance is incredible.
Nick T.
9th October 2023, 19:48
Lewis is a drama queen, but we have no idea how badly (or not) COVID has impacted him over the long run. So many lives has been destroyed by long COVID. BTW, yet another reason I hope we never see the Chinese GP come back.
S
10th October 2023, 2:58
It’s not.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 22:04
For someone’s who really been struggling, I think Stroll did a pretty good job today, especially given the conditions.
Dex
9th October 2023, 0:48
Yeah, very good job indeed. Another pointless race in a decent car.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
9th October 2023, 23:09
Nick, I think you might be suffering from heat stroke or extreme dehydration. You are not making any sense today.
Nick T.
10th October 2023, 7:38
How did Stroll not do a pretty decent job going from nearly the last row to just barely missing out on points? I think he should be replaced. I am merely saying he did a percent decent job for someone who was losing consciousness JB the car.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
8th October 2023, 22:12
Listening to the drivers’ comments after the race, it’s clear that F1 dodged a bullet today. Having athletes pass out due to heat and exhaustion in any sport is concerning, but in an F1 car it could be catastrophic. You could easily have a driver lose consciousness and crash at high speed at an unexpected location and trajectory, which is a situation that the normal safety measures haven’t accounted for. There is a limit to what the human body can endure no matter how well trained and prepared the drivers are, and this race was obviously beyond what was safe for them.
F1 needs to take note of this and ensure that races do not take place in these conditions again, or extra measures need to be implemented to reduce the strain to acceptable levels.
AlanD
9th October 2023, 2:37
Totally agree Keith. It is hard to understand how F1 could be oblivious of the dangers when you consider that in tennis, for example, both the US and Australian Open have had to be suspended because the heat was considered dangerous for athletes. We should also remember that the pit crews were also dressed in flameproofs etc and having to do a lot of sudden heavy lifting of tyres etc. I’m sure they don’t have the same levels of fitness as an F1 driver, and it would have been tragic if one of those guys had collapsed from the heatstress during a high-pressure pit stop.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th October 2023, 10:14
@keithedin They indeed have ensured that by pairing Qatar with Abu Dhabi from next season as part of long-term regionalization plan, although they also need to do the same with any other location that has similar weather conditions at any time of year.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
8th October 2023, 22:18
Seeing him sometimes in the paddock, I’m really shocked Domenicalli haven’t had a broken nose yet. And I’m also shocked so many drivers appreciate him. That corporate talking head and good-for-nothing from his Ferrari days is now directly contributing to endangering drivers’ health, all the while preaching about safety. A big thanks to him for bringing F1 to these camel-grazing grounds.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 22:21
He’s the worst. Talk about an empty suit.
MichaelN
9th October 2023, 0:13
They may not appreciate him, but that’s not really relevant. He’s just a spokesman. The drivers definitely do appreciate the work his bosses at Liberty Media are doing to promote F1, which is the only reason they can get the salaries they’re all very keen to keep.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th October 2023, 0:47
+ 1.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th October 2023, 10:17
@pironitheprovocateur While I liked him more as a TP, I don’t think he’s generally been bad per se as the series boss.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th October 2023, 22:47
This is something the GPDA really needs to work and push F1 and the FIA hard. Last week MotoGP reduced the number of laps of the race because of the extreme conditions in India. It’s something that needs to be available for the powers that be to manage if the situation is critical. Also the logic behind a sprint race in this conditions doesn’t make much sense. It’s double the effort in a shot period of time.
I remember an interview with Maradona back in the early 90s when the players organized together to fight for better conditions against FIFA. He said “why Blatter and the lot are making us play at 2 pm in the extreme heat? Because they are not the ones putting the shorts on”. Something similar happens here…
some racing fan
9th October 2023, 0:07
Maradona was making reference to the ‘94 World Cup, when Argentina had to play Nigeria at the open-air Cotton Bowl in Dallas in 35C heat, and then at the Rose Bowl near Los Angeles where the conditions were comparably oppressive.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th October 2023, 10:17
@fer-no65 Sprint may have been unideal in this year’s climatic conditionsn, but a non-issue next year with wholly bearable temps on November 29-December 1.
Joe
8th October 2023, 23:52
Cry about it to the Asian slaves who work construction in these countries.
Nick T.
9th October 2023, 19:51
The stories of what happens to the Nepalese in these places are just disgusting. Renal failure and death being common.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
9th October 2023, 0:10
In football, they mandated drinks breaks when the temperature is over a certain point. Tennis has similar limits for athletes welfare.
Where would you draw the line in F1? It’s a slippery slope to competition caution or shorter heat races… (no pun intended)
AlanD
9th October 2023, 2:41
Brun, they have plenty of regulation for driver safety in other areas, helmets, Hans device, limits on porpoising to avoid rattling the brain to bits, helicopter on standby at all times,… but they don’t quibble about those because it doesn’t affect which country they go to, doesn’t affect their revenue streams.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
9th October 2023, 10:40
I guess you could enforce a minimum 1 minute pitstop, where the driver takes on board cold liquid with salts, electrolytes etc.
AlanD
9th October 2023, 17:45
@sonnycrockett, That is a really good suggestion though I could see it creating a problem on a short circuit where one car might not be able to pit because the sister car is sitting in the pit box. It might also mean that drivers who hit someone else and need to change the front wing don’t suffer much penalty in a multistop race because the mandatory stop time is more than enough to do a wing change.
I do think there is merit in arguing that all pit stops should be a minimum of, say, 15 seconds. My reason for thinking this is that I like to see races won on track, not by a team being able to change tyres 0.3 seconds faster than the next driver. In the past when pit tops cost ten seconds or more, there was a real option for different tyre strategies, and races were a bit less predictable, less certain how many more times drivers were going to stop.
S
9th October 2023, 1:54
About time they mandated that F1 car cockpits be sufficiently ventilated right from the footwell up, then.
Still, this isn’t a new thing in motorsport. These F1 guys would probably pass out in a touring car with cabin temperatures exceeding 60 degrees C even when it’s not hot outside.
The least the teams could do is install a coolsuit icebox somewhere in the car. A couple of Kg’s and a handful of litres of space…
But then, the teams don’t really care about their own drivers wellbeing anyway. Only to the extent of spouting meaningless words – not to the point of actually doing something about it.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
9th October 2023, 2:35
It’s just utterly sad that events like this and Imola are only going to trend more often.
MichaelV12 (@michaelv12)
9th October 2023, 10:19
And yet – Carl Scarborough died from heat stroke/dehydration at the 1953 Indy 500 and several drivers had serious heat problems that same year – 70 years ago.
Similar temperatures were registered at the 1937 Indy 500 as well.
Cooling off in the 1950s:
https://youtu.be/RSrupUPAcDg?feature=shared&t=10
GechiChan (@gechichan)
9th October 2023, 5:59
Mad respect for Alonso, who despite the conditions and a “burning” seat, still managed to finish so high, fighting the young ones as usual. I loved the “throw a bucket of water on me” comment during the pit stop, he was so calm and collected, even though it seemed like an emergency.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
9th October 2023, 8:22
In the end, the safety measures hastily put in place to avoid an issue with the tyres proved to be a dangerous idea. Thank you Pirelli.
S
9th October 2023, 8:47
Please elaborate – what danger or safety issue was presented as a result of the temporary changes?
If you are referring to the weather – I don’t think that was Pirelli’s fault.
MichaelN
9th October 2023, 9:06
Various drivers noted that they spend far less time nursing the tyres, and had to perform at the limit virtually the entire race without any respite.
Seems like a good thing to me in general, but the combination of conditions and a lack of experience with such racing probably increased the toll it took.
Illusive (@illusive)
9th October 2023, 8:28
F1 being greedy for oil money.
MadMax (@madmax)
9th October 2023, 8:38
Now that sounds like a pretty huge safety issue, probably much more than the tires or a driver crossing the track under SC. It should not be allowed to race under such conditions. Overheating and dehydration are very serious matters.
And the teams should really solve their heat-flow issues, causing burning seats and discomfort in the cockpit. Maybe put some sensors and DSQ when certain limits are reached.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
9th October 2023, 11:25
The lowest point in F1 since Suzuka 2014.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
9th October 2023, 14:13
Not sure what was worse, drivers passing out from the heat or the whole Hamas leadership watching everything unfold from the safety of their main offices downtown in the capital of Qatar.
asd
9th October 2023, 15:12
Yeah, good point…