Drivers expect Losail to be ‘physical’

Among the twenty drivers who make up the F1 grid in 2021, only Sergio Perez and Nikita mazepin know the Losail circuit since they have already raced there, respectively in GP2 Asia and MRF Challenge, at the start of their careers. For all the others, the first laps of this circuit were done at the factory, on board the simulator. Although the Qatar Grand Prix was announced in September, drivers have only recently had the opportunity to experience Losail due to a compact schedule. According to them, settings favoring aero downforce and a series of quick turns should be a major challenge.

“It’s a fairly fast circuit”, told Lando norris To Motorsport.com. “There aren’t a lot of big braking zones so it might be very physical. I don’t know how good the race will be, at the moment I have no idea. But it has to be. sounds like a fun circuit. “

“It’s going to be very quick”, added Pierre Gasly. “It’s hard to compare it to any other track we’ve visited so it’s going to be a challenge. From a driving point of view, and having tested it on the simulator, it looks promising. The speeds will be going to be. high, there will be long corners, high-spinning corners, so it might be difficult to follow each other. But we’ll see. “

“Probably, it will be very physical in terms of g taken. The minimum speed in the corners is quite high. São Paulo is still very difficult because it is an anti-clockwise circuit but in a triple header. [trois Grands Prix de suite, ndlr], your neck hurts from the first race to the last. “

Time has passed since Pérez’s only visit to Qatar in 2009. As a result, the pilot Red Bull no longer has such a vivid memory of the circuit and had to refresh his memory in the team’s simulator. And the data collected makes him think that the advantage of Mercedes in a straight line, perfectly illustrated at the São Paulo Grand Prix, will not be as powerful this weekend.

“We will see what we can do in Qatar”, Pérez said. “I think it will be different, top speed probably won’t be that important there so hopefully we’ll be a lot more competitive. I think it’s a strong downforce circuit, very fast. hope the pit straight is not too long! “

At Losail, Mercedes and Red Bull should logically monopolize the outposts, regardless of the length of the main straight or the angle of the corners. In any case, this is the opinion of George russell, who admitted that structures with greater resources were always advantaged by going to new circuits.

“[Les nouveaux circuits] smile at teams performing better simulations, that’s for sure “, commented the pilot Williams. “Because behind the scenes, they are a little more on top than the teams at the back of the grid. [ces circuits] always offer opportunities. The track is constantly evolving, the drivers have to learn it, the teams have to learn it. So if your team is doing well, you should be able to make the most of it. “