Spherical 18 of the 2023 Components 1 World Championship takes place this weekend in Qatar, and it may probably see Crimson Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen safe his third title. He wants to finish the weekend with a niche of a minimum of 146 factors over teammate Sergio Perez. At present the hole stands at 177 factors.

The Qatar Grand Prix was first held in 2021 as a alternative for a canceled Australian Grand Prix, and from 2023 it turns into a everlasting fixture on the calendar. The race takes place on the Losail Worldwide Circuit which is situated on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital metropolis of Doha, and incorporates a ring of synthetic grass designed to maintain sand from piling up on the monitor floor.

The monitor stretches 3.43 miles and usually performs host to bike races, together with a spherical of MotoGP. Because of this, it incorporates a quick and flowing nature, with the main focus very a lot on medium and high-speed corners. There are 16 corners in whole (10 right-handers and 6 left-handers) and the primary straight is nearly a fifth of a lap, with the top of this straight being the one DRS zone.

The Losail Worldwide Circuit was opened in 2004, and its monitor floor dates again to that date, making it one of the crucial abrasive on the calendar. Because of this, Pirelli has nominated its hardest compounds: the C1 because the white exhausting, the C2 because the yellow medium, and the C3 because the crimson tender.

Losail Worldwide Circuit, residence of the Components 1 Qatar Grand Prix

As a result of excessive temperatures in Qatar, the race is held at night time. This implies the evolution of monitor temperature over the course of the race could be very completely different in comparison with a daily afternoon race, with the potential for a giant drop-off because the race goes on. Trying on the forecast, we needs to be in for fantastic climate all through the weekend.

This yr’s Qatar Grand Prix will characteristic the Dash race along with the primary race, which we have beforehand seen at rounds in Azerbaijan, Austria, and Belgium. This season, the Dash race has been made a standalone occasion somewhat than the qualifier for the primary race, as was beforehand the case. It nonetheless has championship factors on the desk for each drivers and groups, nevertheless.

The Dash race takes place on Saturday, with the conventional qualifying session moved as much as Friday. The primary race takes place on Sunday.

Going into the weekend, Verstappen leads the 2023 Drivers’ Championship with 400 factors. Perez is second with 223 factors and Mercedes-Benz AMG’s Lewis Hamilton is third with 190 factors. Within the Constructors’ Championship, Crimson Bull was named the title winner on the earlier spherical in Japan due to its 623 factors. Mercedes is second with 305 factors and Ferrari is third with 285 factors. The earlier winner in Qatar was Hamilton driving for Mercedes.