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The 2023 F1 Qatar GP is going to be an interesting race especially with Max Verstappen losing out in the sprint to Oscar Piastri. To add to this, it's safe to say that the championship celebrations are going to continue late in the night as well. Could that affect the Red Bull driver in the race?
To accompany him on the front row we have George Russell who had an impressive sprint with the soft tires. The second row will feature Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso as well followed by Charles Leclerc in P5. So with the sprint Saturday coming to an end, what can we expect from the 2023 F1 Qatar GP? Let's take a look.
#1 Max Verstappen wins the 2023 F1 Qatar GP
The race pace from Oscar Piastri was decently competitive and gave an idea of what McLaren could do in the 2023 F1 Qatar GP. The only problem is that the car is starting too far down the order. Oscar Piastri starts the race in P6 while Lando Norris is P10.
That's just too far down the order to make any significant impact. It's hard to see the Mercedes duo proving to be too much of a resistance, especially since Red Bull did not run into any problems in the sprint either. We're backing Max Verstappen to win the 2023 F1 Qatar GP even though the race might not be straightforward.
#2 A McLaren finishes on the podium
Looking at the impressive race pace shown by both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, it's safe to say that the two drivers are going to make strong progress through the field. However the starting position could prove to be a concern. Neither Ferrari nor Aston Martin appeared to have a strong race pace during the sprint so that might help Oscar but overall a podium still seems achievable, especially with the tire wear suffered by everyone.
#3 The race will be chaotic with multiple tire stops
During the 2023 F1 Qatar GP, there are going to be issues with tire wear, there are going to be issues with track limits, and to make things worse, there will be issues with the lack of overall grip on the track. It's too easy to make a mistake on this track and as we've seen in the sprint, it's too easy to beach the car.
With multiple stops in store anyway as well as a safety car expected to make an appearance, the 2023 F1 Qatar GP is going to be a very interesting one.
#4 Ferrari is going to struggle with tire wear
Ferrari appeared to fall off a cliff in the sprint as both Sainz and Leclerc started losing time even to George Russell who was on the same tire. While it might be a bit premature to predict something like this, it does appear that the Ferrari duo could struggle with tire wear in the race.
With Charles Leclerc starting the race in P5, he will be hoping to secure a decent haul of points but it's hard to predict what would happen, especially with Sainz starting the race out of position outside of the top 10.
#5 One of the Mercedes drivers secures a podium
While Mercedes did appear somewhat confident about its prospects for the race on Sunday, it's hard to see the team challenge Max Verstappen for the win. There is however one thing that could happen and that is the team splitting strategies of both the drivers with one starting on medium tires and the other on hards.
It remains to be seen if something like this works but with the kind of driver caliber that is at the disposal of Mercedes, the team will have at least one driver on the podium for the 2023 F1 Qatar GP.
