In the round-up: Fernando Alonso was in desperate need of cooling during the Qatar Grand Prix.
In brief
Alonso burned by seat
Alonso said he was burned by his seat during the Qatar Grand Prix and was disappointed to discover his team was not allowed to throw water on him to cool the area during the race.
“I think for Lance [Stroll] and myself, both of us, we were struggling a little bit with temperature in the seat on the right-hand side,” said Alonso. “I got like burned in the first 15 laps so I even asked on the radio if they could throw me some water or something at the pit stop, which apparently is not allowed.”
Teams may not add liquids to their cars as it would increase their weight, which could be used as a way of getting around the minimum mass limit.
Hulkenebrg realised error too late
Nico Hulkenberg admitted he realised he’d lined up in the wrong grid slot too late to correct his mistake. The Haas driver pulled into the space which was left vacant after Carlos Sainz Jnr was unable to take the start.
“I realised and at the same time too late, obviously,” said Hulkenberg. “Just spectacularly blew it up there. Not much to say, obviously that kind of killed our race before it started.”
The hot race took its toll on the Haas driver. “Right now it was a such a tough race I just want to go and sit in an ice bath now for three days and get real again,” he said.
Sharp takes British F4 title
Rodin Carlin’s Louis Sharp clinched the British Formula 4 championship with a second place finish in the second race of the weekend at Brands Hatch. The pole-winner was beaten to turn one by Deagen Fairclough and followed his rival home to secure the title ahead of Will Macintyre.
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Kutskov wins world karting championship after red flag
Kirill Kutskov won an incident-packed World Karting Championship OK class at Franciacorta, which was red-flagged halfway through following a series of incidents including a collision between two drivers contesting the lead:
Steiner’s parting shot
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was unimpressed by Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez’s driving in the sprint race as the pair were involved in a collision with Hulkenberg.
“Nico had a very good day until he ended up in a sandwich between two desperate guys, said Steiner. “None of it was his fault, between the two of them, what can you do? Everyone was fighting and Nico ended up in the middle.”
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, ream representative: ‘Tonight we were able to deliver the race we had been aiming for, for a very long time. We knew we had the potential to score points but we had to execute the perfect race to bring home this result. The strategy was spot on, the pit-stops faultless and the drivers delivered two solid performances, pushing from the first to the last lap with no mistakes.’
Guenther Steiner: ‘The end of this spec car ended worse than it started, so we’re thankful to see the end of it, but today was also not a good day. Nico starting in the wrong grid spot at the beginning didn’t help at all because once you get 10 seconds behind at the start of the race where we are, you have no chance.’
Guillaume Dezoteux, head of vehicle performance: ‘Since Singapore, we have been on a positive trend with our car performance, both in qualifying and the race, but here in Doha, we didn’t manage to achieve the same. We need to analyse the balance evolution and tyre status because we couldn’t match our direct competitors today.’
A physical fight in Losail (Williams)
Dave Robson, head of vehicle performance: ‘Given the build-up to the race and our performance in the Sprint Race yesterday, we were probably expecting a little bit more today, but we were never quite able to find Alex the free air he needed to make really good progress. ‘
How we prep’ an F1 helmet for a night race (Mercedes via YouTube)
How the secret tycoons buying up sport are about to face the limelight (The Telegraph)
‘In recent years, his reputation has been burnished by CVC’s ownership of Formula One. One City figure calls it ‘the deal of the century’.’
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:
|@Max33Verstappen is wearing an updated helmet.#F1 #QatarGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/KOHVNHkT65
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) October 8, 2023
Piastri after finishing second from sixth on the grid: “Nice assistance from whoever bowled everyone over at turn one, thank you. Hardest race I’ve ever done.”#F1 #QatarGP
— RaceFans Live (@racefanslive) October 8, 2023
The lesson of the Qatar Grand Prix was not that Formula 1 needs the artifice of multiple mandatory pit stops, but that it should get rid of the artifice of tyres that degrade quickly, and allow drivers to push flat-out all race every weekend.#F1 #QatarGP #RaceFans
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) October 8, 2023
Did like all the drivers being knackered at the end of the race! Reminds me of Senna and Mansell collapsing in Brazil. Think @F1 should look tough and these drivers nowadays are incredibly fit athletes so it must have been really tough!!
— Tiff Needell 🏁 (@tiff_tv) October 8, 2023
I’m genuinely interested in seeing some cockpit temp data compared between the F1 race today and a hot/humid IndyCar event. Would be interesting from a data stand point and further industry knowledge. Good to see everyone was cleared after the race today.
— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) October 8, 2023
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Toby and Jean!