What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Qatar Grand Prix.
RaceFans has held polls on every F1 race since 2008 to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.
Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.
What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:
Rate the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix out of 10
- 10 (2%)
- 9 (6%)
- 8 (10%)
- 7 (18%)
- 6 (19%)
- 5 (11%)
- 4 (6%)
- 3 (7%)
- 2 (6%)
- 1 (14%)
Total Voters: 126
Loading ...1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’
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- Rate the Race: Circuit ratings
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
Debates and polls
- Will Verstappen race on with Red Bull until the end of 2028?
- Will Alonso win a world championship title with Aston Martin?
- How long should Red Bull give Ricciardo to prove he’s not lost his touch?
- Were stewards right to penalise Alonso over his driving before Russell’s crash?
- Are Williams right to bench Sargeant so Albon can race after crash?
Ciaran (@ciaran)
8th October 2023, 19:33
Could have been a catastrophe with those tyres, so calling it dull is a minor miracle!
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2023, 19:33
A decent race even if not for all the right reasons.
Billy Rae Flop
8th October 2023, 19:35
3 at best.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 21:53
Agreed. It was shockingly boring despite conditions and events that should have led to a good race.
Mark (@blueruck)
9th October 2023, 13:42
exactly how I voted – F1 made the best of bad situation.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th October 2023, 19:36
At least they were flat out in each stint instead of saving tyres forever… but still very dull.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
8th October 2023, 19:36
A mostly forgettable 4
MadMax (@madmax)
8th October 2023, 19:37
Track limits and tyre rules disaster, and dull rocketship win.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
8th October 2023, 19:40
0 for been a sprint gimmick weekend.
0 for Pirelli turning F1 into a farce again.
0 for the mandated tire stint life taking away a lot of the strategy.
0 for DRS been too powerful.
0 for been a soul-less, lifeless track in the middle of the desert.
1 for Russell producing a few proper overtakes.
So 1/10.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
8th October 2023, 19:41
Forgot something.
0 for track limit nonsense.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 21:55
Yeah, that track is truly soulless and lifeless.
Call me crazy, but during the first year they raced there wasn’t there sort of like almost a tunnel section with walls close on both or one side?
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th October 2023, 8:48
I would give a -1 for that…..
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
8th October 2023, 19:44
garbage race. Just put out sprinklers, at least you wouldn’t have to worry about tires exploding.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 21:57
Bernie was right. I don’t care if it would be somewhat artificial. Rain and mixed condition is the ONLY time these races are interesting and when driver skill can make a big difference (aside from drivers in a death spiral alongside GOATs like Perez and Stroll).
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th October 2023, 8:20
I mean, we got a lot of rain this year, but they don’t even drive in the conditions they get any more. Zandvoort there was heavy rain for only a few mins, starting from a fully dry track, with about 10 laps to go, and yet they couldn’t finish without someone crashing on intermediates (inadequate tyre for the conditions), red flagging and waiting for the rain to decrease, so that intermediates were the best tyre again.
Nick T.
11th October 2023, 9:46
True, but there’s still a higher chance of a good race and I think the Dutch GP was probably the best GP of the season.
Gusm.ai
8th October 2023, 19:46
Prediction for 2024: FIA will use this rule again voluntarily.
It created the “action” Liberty seems to desire.
And to be honest, it is gimmicky but made the race watchable.
Otherwise, this race would be a procession as some would get into hards during safety car and everybody else between laps 10-20 will get hards until the end of the the race.
lynn-m
8th October 2023, 19:47
as i said in the live chat.
That was the definition of everything wrong with the racing in F1 & an example of the quantity over quality approach.
Lots of cars passing other cars but no real competitive racing or good fighting for actual position. Most of that passing is rendered all too easy due to DRS and/or tire life differences. When it’s like that it all gets very forgettable.
And this silly tire stint length is making things really tricky to follow (In the initial stints). It’s like a formula e race where the order is yoyo-ing everywhere due to power usage which makes it really hard to know who’s actually where and the race as a whole becomes a bit confusing to follow as a result. Thankfully it settles down later on in the race but those initial 20-25 laps were just pretty difficult to follow.
Imre (@f1mre)
8th October 2023, 19:52
I’d be interested how today’s car would race with refuelling allowed and properly durable tyres.
Today’s race was strange to me. They were overtaking each other too easily. I’m not exactly sure why. And not only in the DRS zone. The tyres were okay all race.
Oh and this track is just awful. I have no clue which corner is which. Everything looks the same. Even an oval has more character than this.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
8th October 2023, 19:56
Absolutely agree about the track.
Pit straight and Turn 6 were the only identifiable spots, with the latter only because of George :)
Gusm.ai
8th October 2023, 19:58
Overtakes seemed easy because everybody were out of position.
So a staunch defense would be meaningless.
When the position was really at stake – like between alpines, AM, perez – the fight was on.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th October 2023, 0:40
I agree. The circuit is awful! There are just no landmarks. They could be anywhere on the circuit and the only section which is obvious is the pit straight. All that gravel and sand with no character whatsoever.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
8th October 2023, 19:48
As a McLaren fan: 9/10
As an F1 fan: 6/10
Monosodico (@monosodico)
8th October 2023, 21:40
I second this
Niefer (@niefer)
8th October 2023, 19:53
Vapid as a series of sprint races put together.
Repulsive track limits policy (which harms the flow of the track, btw).
The pinnacle of motorshow, ladies and gents.
David BR (@david-br)
8th October 2023, 19:53
3. Tedious.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
8th October 2023, 19:53
Not too bad, considering. 8/10
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 22:50
Not too bad earns an 8/10 for you?
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
8th October 2023, 20:05
A brilliant circuit (if it were two feet wider), and the current crop of cars can really race here. Horrendous conditions, why host a race here in October? Mandatory pitstops are bad. As are safety cars for being stuck in gravel 100m from the race track.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
8th October 2023, 20:07
Decent. Bit of action, good strategy on show, Mclaren 2-3
PacificPR (@streydt)
8th October 2023, 20:19
Never done this but I gave it a 1. Track limits + the whole tyre farce. It wasn’t a real race. Either drop the track limit rules or find a better solution. Or even better stop racing at those glorified parking lots.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th October 2023, 0:37
+ 1.
kuvemar
8th October 2023, 20:26
No, just no. Luckily we had a great sprint this weekend.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th October 2023, 8:36
Yes, in the end my prediction it was gonna be hard to beat that sprint by the main race was correct.
For a while I thought it could actually be an even better race when I heard about the 3 stops, but didn’t live up to it, 7 because there was a lot of action in the midfield, but the max tyre life made it hard to differentiate strategy wise.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
8th October 2023, 20:43
1/10.
Denis (@denis1304)
8th October 2023, 21:14
I don’t know what race have you lot watched, but this was the first race since a long time, where all drives had to push 100% off the race.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
8th October 2023, 21:27
Why I gave it an 8.
Nick T.
8th October 2023, 22:51
Too bad that didn’t make it exciting.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th October 2023, 0:34
Well I didn’t know what the reception would be to this but I see I was not alone. 5/10 for me.
No race at the front and no real enduring battles. Race was mainly about tyres and DRS. There were just a few decent passes.
Demonstrated a lot with what is wrong with modern F1. I was watching the highlights but it was late and I was bored so I turned off with more than 20 laps remaining.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th October 2023, 0:36
Oh forgot to mention the circuit is awful! No character whatsoever with those huge gravelly run off areas and nothing else. It makes Bahrain for instance seem amazing.
S
9th October 2023, 2:25
It wasn’t amazing – but it wasn’t because of the track, the tyres or the enforced strategy.
It was ordinary because it was F1 – and they somehow manage to engineer all the fun out of even the most exciting set of conditions.
5.
At least it wasn’t just a complete procession the whole time, which it almost certainly would have been otherwise.
melanos
9th October 2023, 2:48
Hard to keep track of the real positions with so many pitstops. But watching a driver leisurely crossing the track was worth the price of admission.
Tricky (@tricky)
9th October 2023, 11:06
I know this will go against the flow, but I would say well done for finding a set of compromises to run this race.
I have long thought that such an occasional multi-stop requirement would be interesting at some of the duller circuits (Bahrain, Paul Ricard), but once a year maximum.
As they went three into turn 1 I was sure Max was going to get hit and we would have another GP with a different winner, and of course he was the only one not to get touched!
Coventry Climax
9th October 2023, 11:46
I read about the tyre limits shortly before the start, and decided to not watch, as I said I would in a reply to another article here. Funnily, my wife picked up her knitting gear and watched it, while I continued on building my sailing boat.
I read in the papers today about the absolute chaos that Qatar was, and the posts above aren’t very positive either.
Plus, I made good progress on my boat, so that was time well spent.
So, for the first time in about 50 years, I willingly skipped a race, to later find out it was the right decision.
Does that count as a -1?
Paul A (@paul-a)
9th October 2023, 15:08
Zero for the race — Pirelli’s tyres, attendant FIA limits and teams’ inability to use strategy, redesigning the track (more or less new, FIA approved) during an event, track limit pseudo-enforcement, amateur mistakes at start (grid and turn one), very close to a predictable DRS snooze-fest but nice to see Maclaren back in the mix.
+1 that I couldn’t get suitable airline schedule bookings, so stayed home and saved a tidy sum…
And congratulations to Canadian TV feed of Skysport; they systematically insert their advertising at the worst possible moments. Just as I was screaming “I don’t give a doo-dah” about some irrelevant product, a well-known laxative appeared on the screen…
S
10th October 2023, 2:50
You were seriously considering going to this???
Of all the events to buy tickets for….