Formula 1 continues the “Three Deserts Tour”, which closes the season. From Las Vegas, where the winner of the title was decided ahead of schedule, the ‘great circus’ with 1,400 tons of precious cargo took off on eight Boeing 777 freighters on one of the longest voyages of the season: 13,000 kilometers, across 11 time zones, only to land 24 hours later in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
Formula 1 departs on Monday, November 25 and arrives in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday. Team mechanics and Formula 1 staff will immediately start unpacking and installing equipment so they are ready to go live with the first official events on Thursday morning.
The long flight from Vegas to Doha was a rare opportunity for team staff to get some sleep before the penultimate leg of the season. The long season has exhausted everyone; the winter holidays, which start in a few weeks, will be one of the main topics of discussion this coming weekend.
The stage in Qatar has a very short history in Formula 1; the first time the race will be held in December – almost two months later than in 2023. It will not be warm, but the weather forecast promises a strong northwest wind, which will cause a lot of trouble despite the artificial grass around the track with sand on the asphalt every day .
All three phases of the “desert series” take place under artificial lighting, and from the point of view of television images this is by far the best option. During the day, the track laid out in the sand looks boring, and after sunset, with the help of modern visual effects, you can paint any picture that will impress the audience and satisfy the vanity of the owners, a modern version of “A Thousand- and-a-night.”
The debut of the artificially lit circuit in March 2008 on the Moto GP calendar made a strong impression. The organizers of racing series wanted to increase the popularity of their competitions with a podium under the light of spotlights, the owners of other circuits thought about how to install a similar system at home.
Losail was once the largest permanent sports venue with artificial lighting in the world, but time is passing – now on the Formula 1 calendar six stages take place after sunset and the Qatar Grand Prix fades slightly against the backdrop of the lights of Jeddah and Las Vegas.
In Qatar we will see the last stage of this year with a sprint on Saturday, the fifth of the season and the 12th in history. There will be plenty of points to be won (15 in the sprint and 44 in the race), which will almost certainly decide the 2024 constructors’ title. The prestigious title has somewhat lost its former significance, but continues to determine the distribution of the prize money and is second only to the victory in the individual competition.
McLaren arrives in Qatar with a 24-point lead over Ferrari. The Scuderia calms the vigilance of its rivals with the fact that the circuit is not suitable for their car, and indeed, in terms of the number of points earned at Losail, Ferrari is only in fifth place, but this season is unique, and the De forces are almost equal, so nothing has been decided yet.
It will be interesting to see the outcome, but McLaren’s luggage is likely to include championship jerseys celebrating its first victory in the Constructors’ Championship since 1998. There is no doubt that Ferrari has adopted such jerseys. But only one team will wear them.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
