In the round-up: Alexander Albon says Williams need to understand why his car was so quick in the sprint race.
In brief
Williams surprised by sprint pace
Albon rose from 17th on the grid to cross the line eighth, before being promoted to seventh after Charles Leclerc’s penalty. He said his car “came alive” in the race.
“A bit of carnage, which always helps, a good strategy and a good pace, actually,” Albon said.
“The wind dropped massively today in the race – the first time it’s done it all weekend – and the car became alive. So the grip I had, it felt equal to all the top cars around me, if not quicker. A bit of a surprise and something we actually need to understand a bit why but it puts us in a good place for tomorrow.”
Lawson rues “big mistake”
AlphaTauri rookie Liam Lawson admitted he had made a “big mistake” by spinning out of the Qatar sprint race.Lawson retired from the opening lap of the race after losing control of his car into turn two. It was his first failure to finish any race he has participated in since stepping into Daniel Ricciardo’s seat.
“Obviously a big mistake for me and I’m obviously very sorry to the team,” Lawson said. “It just really caught me out.
“Turn one was really good, [I was] on-line, had made up some places. Then turn two, I saw a lot of cars having big slides, but by then I’d already committed to, I guess, the speed that I was taking in and they checked up and I basically just lost it. So yeah, big mistake.”
Pirelli to hold meeting with teams
Formula 1 tyre suppliers Pirelli are set to hold a pre-race meeting with all ten teams prior to today’s Qatar Grand Prix.
Pirelli alerted the FIA on Friday night to concerns over suspected damage to their tyres caused by high kerbs at the Losail circuit. As a result, the track limits were moved 80cm closer in between turns 12-14 with a contingency plan of enforcing a compulsory minimum of three tyre changes in the race, should further tyre examinations reveal causes for concern.
RaceFans understands that a meeting will be held between Pirelli and teams this afternoon ahead of the race, to discuss the findings of their analysis.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Pirelli to be awarded new F1 tyre deal (BBC)
'Pirelli is to be awarded Formula 1's next tyre contract but it is likely to be the Italian company's last, BBC Sport has learned. Bridgestone was approved as a potential supplier by governing body the FIA but commercial discussions saw F1 chairman Stefano Domenicali choose Pirelli. The deal is set to be announced in the days after this weekend's Qatar race.'
Meet the team behind Max Verstappen's success (Sky Sports)
'Sky F1's Karun Chandhok meets some members of the Red Bull team who have contributed to Max Verstappen's incredible success.'
Max Verstappen breaks unique 40-year F1 streak after title win in Qatar sprint (Independent)
'Max Verstappen has become just the fifth driver in Formula 1 history to clinch the world title on a Saturday – and the first in 40 years. It marks the end of a streak dating back to 1983 of drivers clinching the world title on a Sunday, the traditional day of a grand prix race. The last title-clincher on a Saturday was Nelson Piquet in 1983, who won the championship at the season finale in South Africa – with the grand prix held at Kyalami on a Saturday.'
Peter Bayer: ''He was in the simulator on Monday and he said that he could, you know, go almost until the end, but it was not 100%. And we didn't want to rush things.And given that, again, on the other hand, we have this amazing luxury of having a top third driver who can jump into the seat, with Liam… together we decided to give him a bit more time and he should be in the car in in Austin.''
BMC launches the Teammachine R in collaboration with Red Bull (Cycling News)
'BMC, who has enjoyed a partnership and collaboration with Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) for some time now, has launched its latest road bike in the form of the Teammachine R. Following on from the launch of the new Speedmachine time trial bike around a month ago, the brand is now also releasing its new road frame which it is calling 'the ultimate race bike'.'
'Qatar Creates, the movement which curates, celebrates, and promotes cultural activities within Qatar, today unveiled two custom-design racing helmets created by Qatari artists in partnership with Pierre Gasly, the Formula 1 driver for the Renault Alpine Team. Crafted by Qatari artists Shouq Al Mana and Alanoud Al Ghamdi, the helmets blend sport and culture in their intricate designs.'
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
⭐⭐⭐
What an amazing year! It is incredible to be part of this team, @redbullracing 🙌 Thank you to everyone at the track and back in the factory for all the effort that has gone into this year to achieve this, we can all be very proud 👏
To be a three time World Champion… pic.twitter.com/b1VmK1rO9H
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) October 7, 2023
F1 race winner has a nice ring to it 🧡 pic.twitter.com/mP9ClICqpM
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) October 7, 2023
— Nicole Piastri (@NicolePiastri) October 7, 2023
Congratulations on your third F1 world title, Max. 🏆🏆🏆
You’ve driven a remarkable season – and you’re joining a special group of champions! pic.twitter.com/fkKMD8FP8i
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 7, 2023
A very well deserved title! 👏🏼🏆
Congrats @Max33Verstappen! pic.twitter.com/pY4qbOJJGw— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) October 7, 2023
nights pic.twitter.com/wo1TcnS8vi
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 7, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
As Max Verstappen becomes a three-times Formula 1 world champion, iCarbs has praise for Verstappen, Red Bull and Adrian Newey…
I personally think the RB19 is the best car I’ve seen in quite some time and would probably prefer to have this than any of the other Mercedes cars between 2014 – 2020.
Listening to Adrian Newey’s podcast and the recent F1 article talking about the RB19 pretty much confirmed it for me. The car is much easier to set-up, designed better, compromised better, weak on only one circuit so far, predicable – for at least Max – and all they needed to do from the RB18 was to shed weight (slight oversimplification). However, Max still needs to get into the car and do the work, but if he’s not going to get a realistic challenge there is no reason for him to panic, worry, feel pressure, etc.
A well deserved title for him and is setting records that I’m expecting to be very difficult to beat.
iCarbs
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Rob Tsintas!
On this day in motorsport
- 40 years ago today the CART IndyCar series held its first race at the Las Vegas venue Formula 1 left the previous year, now converted into an unusual semi-oval. Mario Andretti won
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
8th October 2023, 2:46
.
I’d like to see the scenario where the drivers says I really think I did the right thing by spinning out of the race.. one of my best moves ever……….”
Red Andy (@red-andy)
8th October 2023, 7:47
Closest I can think of is Hamilton’s race at Monaco in 2008, where he hit the wall and had to pit, but the timing of his forced stop actually worked out really well and helped put him on course to win. Even then I’m not sure he actually suggested that hitting the wall was a good thing…
S
8th October 2023, 7:48
Verstappen could have done just that, and officially finalised the championship during the GP rather than the sprint.
But as it turns out he’s not really that interested in that aspect of the sprint/result and, unlike a bunch of eternally dissatisfied ‘fans,’ doesn’t require the fanfare of the main event to validate his and his teams’ performance over the course of the entire season.
notagrumpyfan
8th October 2023, 9:35
Piquet JR?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th October 2023, 10:38
Not quite a spin, but Michael Schumacher’s off-track excursion in the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix worked out pretty well for him.
asz
8th October 2023, 11:47
It is not as obvious as you make it out to be.
Sure, they will not say ‘best move ever’ but you might hear ‘was forced to’, ‘had no choice but’, ‘had no room’, ‘the track surface was’, ‘the tyres were’, ‘the car this or that’ etc. Or referring to ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ whenever things go wrong.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
8th October 2023, 12:36
I was being somewhat tongue in cheek to be honest. Though even then I was referring to taking pride in such an eventuality, rather than the failure to admit a mistake.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
8th October 2023, 11:02
I wonder if Pirelli will announce their new deal in the meeting with the teams…