Drivers will be spared from racing in the sweltering heat they dealt with at last year’s Qatar Grand Prix on their return this weekend.
Last year’s race in Losail took place in ambient temperatures of 31 degrees, but humidity caused cockpit temperatures to reach almost 50C, causing physical problems for several drivers.Williams driver Logan Sargeant, who was ill prior to the weekend, retired from the race due to exhaustion caused by dehydration in the car. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon admitted to vomiting in his car during the race, while Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon were also seen to struggle to climb out of their cars after the chequered flag.
After the race, the FIA announced it would take action for “future situations of extreme weather conditions” due to “extreme temperature and humidity” during the event. The heat was largely blamed on last year’s early October race date. F1’s third visit to Qatar therefore takes place in late November in an effort to avoid similar conditions.
Thankfully for drivers, the later race date appears to have had the desired effect. Ambient temperatures should sit around 20C across the three days of the race weekend, dipping into the high-teens as the sun sets and night falls over the circuit.
With no risk of rain, teams will have consistent conditions for all three days, which will make Friday’s sole practice session very representative for Sunday’s grand prix. Although the sprint race on Saturday starts two hours earlier than Sunday’s grand prix, conditions should be largely the same as Friday’s sessions.
However wind will be a major concern for drivers again, with speeds of up to 30kph expected throughout the weekend. As Losail is a fast but flat circuit, drivers will be exposed to the full effects of the gusts throughout the entire 5.4-kilometre lap.
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Jere (@jerejj)
29th November 2024, 12:08
Temps weren’t the issue last year, but unusually high humidity for the Gulf region as low-30s are nothing new to F1 & typical for the Singapore GPs (as well as Malaysian GPs in the past) with high humidity levels, not to mention some European rounds had mid-30s ambients in 2018-2020.
Additionally, getting paired with the Abu Dhabi GP had literally nothing to do with what happened last year weather-wise, given this year’s race calendar came out long before last year’s edition.
Therefore, the ‘return’ to this time of year was solely about F1’s long-term race calendar regionalization plan, with the event taking place in the first half of October always only going to be a stop-gap after the 2022 hiatus.
Nevertheless, the November-December (& March-April) phase is better overall for the Middle East region as the inaugural Qatar GP, all Abu Dhabi GPs, & the 2020 Bahrain rounds prove, so this weekend’s weather forecast isn’t anything different from the geographical region’s annual averages.
SPArtacus
29th November 2024, 14:05
Because of that one race which would have never happened without the one-off laps limit on each tire set or if someone had just printed a one-page calendar showing Losail’s avg daily temps + humidity, beginning in 2026 all the cars are going to have air conditioner units connected to a cool suit. Embarrassing. Bumper lanes are only a matter of time.
SPArtacus
29th November 2024, 14:30
It’s already fallen to the mid-60s and as night falls it will fall even further, which has led to the cars already being nearly as fast on a dirty track at the beginning of P1 as 2023’s pole time.