The Qatar Grand Prix 2023 was the 17th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Losail International Circuit in Al Daayen, Qatar, during the weekend of the 6th to the 8th of October.
Max Verstappen won the race from the pole, followed by Oscar Piastri, and Lando Norris completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 54 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 3-3: 4 stops
- Laps 9-14: 10 stops
- Laps 17-18: 4 stops
- Laps 21-22: 5 stops
- Laps 25-27: 8 stops
- Laps 39-40: 6 stops
- Laps 43-44: 8 stops
The fastest pit stop was Oscar Piastri's, stopping the clock at 27.489 seconds during his pit stop on lap 43, while the slowest one was was Nico Hülkenberg's, who stopped the clock at 39.879 seconds, 12.390 seconds slower than Piastri, during his pit stop on lap 13.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 3 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 3 stops strategy.
2 stops
-
3Logan Sargeant
3 stops
-
1Valtteri Bottas
-
4Kevin Magnussen
-
5Lance Stroll
-
-Liam Lawson
-
4Yuki Tsunoda
-
1Esteban Ocon
-
2Fernando Alonso
-
5Pierre Gasly
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
4Oscar Piastri
-
2Nico Hülkenberg
-
7Lando Norris
-
10Sergio Pérez
-
-Max Verstappen
-
-Alexander Albon
-
10Guanyu Zhou
4 stops
-
2George Russell
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.56 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 2 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Losail International Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Logan Sargeant, who could not race due to illness on lap 40, Lewis Hamilton, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 0, and Carlos Sainz, who had a fuel leak on lap 0.
Illness
-
Logan SargeantLap 40
Collision
-
Lewis HamiltonLap 0
Fuel leak
-
Carlos SainzLap 0
Qualifying
Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.441 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:23.778. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was George Russell.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.