Formula 1 drivers are used to going quick, but even they have been a bit taken aback by just how fast things have been in Qatar this weekend.
Indeed, as Lando Norris jumped out of his McLaren after snatching pole for the sprint race on Friday evening, he was wide-eyed about the challenges faced in staying committed through some of Losail’s speedier sections.
“It's so quick around here,” he said. “It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. I mean, the final sector feels like you're just hanging on.”
It is not just a feeling the drivers have though, because the pure numbers tell us everything we need to know about how much of a leap has been made in pace terms since last year.
While we perhaps have not seen the full potential of the cars yet, as that will only come in final qualifying on Saturday night, we can make a comparison between the two sprint shootout sessions we have had across last year's and this weekend’s event.
In 2023, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took the sprint pole position with a lap time of 1m24.454 seconds. In comparison, Norris’ best effort on Friday here was 1m21.012 seconds – which is a leap forward of 3.442 seconds.
Such dramatic gains normally come when circuits change configuration or adjust the profiling of some corners.
However, Qatar’s layout is identical with the only changes being to the shaving of some kerbs and the addition of some gravel strips – which could perhaps be argued should make things slower because there is now a much bigger deterrent to running wide.
So why are the speeds so much faster then?
There is no single explanation for it, but it appears that a host of factors have come into play that combine to make the difference.
Pirelli F1 chief engineer Simone Berra sees a better surface after a year of weathering in, and lower temperatures, as critical to what has happened.
“It was honestly very impressive, and in part, was expected,” he said about the huge drop in the times. “We simulated a 1m21.7s so we were not really far from that, but they were even faster.
“It is probably due to track conditions, which are much better compared to last year. The grip level is much higher.
“We also have F2 and F1 Academy and the Porsche running together with us this year, so obviously this is helping track evolution [with the rubbering in].”
The change of date for Qatar, from early October in 2023 to late November now, has also pushed the event into cooler weather and that has had an impact too.
Berra added: “The much lower temperatures, 20 degrees lower than last year, have a big, big impact.”
The lower temperatures not only help the tyres in delivering more grip and not overheating, but there is also an impact on performance too.
Cooler air is denser – which has a double whammy of helping both engine performance and cars to deliver more downforce.
Another weather factor is the wind, because the conditions in Qatar seemed much improved in terms of wind direction and strength compared to 12 months ago.
As Piastri said: “The wind has dropped a little bit and makes the car a little bit easier to drive.
“But everything's a bit easier than it was 12 months ago here. It feels fun. It's a really awesome track; especially the high-speed sections, which are pretty much most of the track.”
Added on top of the track surface and temperature elements is the fact that teams have had 12 more months to work on car developments – which Berra reckons is worth more than half a second compared to last year.
“This one year has an effect,” he said. “Basically, usually we have seven or eight tenths.
“So if we sum all these factors all together, and then we reach this very interesting lap time - very fast lap time.”
It all leaves F1 drivers braced for a pretty challenging remainder of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, with likely brave calls to come in terms of seeing just how far some are willing to take it.
Analysis of some of the GPS traces through sprint qualifying show just how much faster the cars are going through some of the turns at Losail.
Just taking the swoop through Turn 14 – which George Russell committed to full throttle and ended up confusing his engine – and the gap between last year and this year is eye-opening.
Comparing Piastri’s sprint pole lap from last year and Norris’ effort this time around, the speed improvement through there is in the range of 20-25km/h. And the cars could be going even quicker tonight.
As Norris said: “I struggle too, but I think some of the other cars are close to being flat in most of the corners in the final sector - and that's quite an accomplishment.
“So it feels quick. And when it feels quick, it must be very fast, you know?”
