Mika Hakkinen: Qatar Grand Prix

Mika Memories

The 25th anniversary of winning my first Formula 1 World Championship is coming up in a few weeks time, and I still get a lot of questions about that.  Winning the World Championship in 1998 and 1999 was the very best experience, really brilliant, but while I personally gave it everything I also know that I had a fantastic team behind me at McLaren.

It’s been just great to watch McLaren return to competitive form this season with Lando Norris scoring those four 2nd-placed finishes in Silverstone, Hungary, Singapore and Japan.  The team started the year feeling a little frustrating with the car’s performance, but the upgrades which they delivered over three races at the start of the summer have really done their job.

Lando has finished in the points in every race since Austria at the beginning of July and Oscar Piastri has been in the points five times since then, including that brilliant podium finish in Suzuka.  Andrea Stella and the team have really produced one of this year’s big stories, and it’s great to see McLaren fighting for podiums again.  I am sure a win is not far away.  They are ready for it.

Championship Form

We have not been to Qatar since 2021, last year’s World Cup being one of the main reasons the break, but Formula 1 is now in a 10-year contract to hold races at the Local International Circuit and a lot of upgrades have been made.  The new pit complex looks fantastic.

The circuit has been completely resurfaced.  It’s a flat, smooth track filled with medium and high speed corners, there is only one turn where the car speeds drop below 100kph.  High speed aerodynamic efficiency is key, and this is a circuit the drivers enjoy because you can really explore the potential of the car in these quick turns.  The long straight, with DRS, allows for overtaking.

I’d expect Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to be pretty confident this weekend, and Max is focused on winning the World Championship.  He is very likely to do that during Saturday’s Sprint Race, the fourth Sprint event this season, as he only needs finish in the top six.  That seems like a pretty easy task for Max, the race in Suzuka proving that his bad weekend in Singapore was a one-off and not the beginning of a trend.  He is feeling super confident.

The race for 2nd place in the world championships for drivers and teams is a long way from over, and that’s what I am really interested to watch.  With six races to go, Lewis is only 33 points behind Sergio, and Fernando Alonso 16 points behind Lewis in fourth place.  A big result for either of them will have a significant impact on the World Championship.  It’s worth remembering that in 2021 the podium in Qatar was Lewis, Max and Fernando!

In the World Championship for Constructors Ferrari is 20 points behind Mercedes, Red Bull Racing having already clinching the teams championship in Japan.  The Scuderia has scored three podiums since Belgium, including that brilliant win by Carlos Sainz in Singapore, so I feel the team has had a McLaren-style improvement which means Mercedes need to work hard to maintain their small advantage.

Surprisingly only 13 of the 20 drivers racing this weekend competed in the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, so with only a single practice session on Friday before qualifying, it’s going to be a very demanding challenge for them.

Mika’s Tip

On a quick, flowing track there is no doubt that Max Verstappen will be going flat out to win the 2023 World Championship this weekend, but the fight for the remaining podium places in both Saturday’s Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix is going too be intense.  In 2021 Lewis Hamilton dominated this race, but Mercedes will face a strong challenge from McLaren and Ferrari behind Max’s dominant Red Bull.

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