The Qatar Grand Prix is the penultimate race of the season and the last to be run to the Sprint format.

It comes just one week on from Las Vegas, 13,000 kilometres as the crow flies from this week's venue in Lusail. Both races and indeed the final one in Abu Dhabi, take place at night, but the weather could not be more different.

Conditions were cold on track in the Nevadan desert, but in Qatar drivers will have to deal with heat and humidity similar to that experienced in Singapore. The Middle Eastern track is particularly demanding for the tyres and that has led to the introduction of an exceptional measure (explained below), restricting the number of laps that can be completed per tyre set. This means the drivers will have to change tyres at least twice during the race.

The three hardest compounds in the Pirelli range have been selected for Doha. The C1, C2 and C3 are the obvious choice at a track where tyres are subjected to energy levels similar to those experienced in Suzuka and indeed, these are the only compounds that have ever been run for this Grand Prix. This trio of compounds has previously been used three times this year, all in the early part of the season, in Japan, Bahrain and Spain.

Most of the corners at the Lusail track are high speed, which means the tyres have little time to recover and the section which works them the hardest is from turns 12 to 14. The track surface which is quite smooth has usually led to graining which contributes to producing a high wear rate on the tyres.

All drivers started the Qatar Grand Prix on the Medium tyre with the exception of Nico Hulkenberg who opted for Hards. The one-stop strategy proved the most popular, with drivers looking to extend the first stint on the yellow-banded tyre, managing to make it last well past the half race distance. The run of pit stops to switch to Hards began on lap 34, during a red flag period. The Safety Car made three appearances and during the final two of these, some drivers decided to go for a sprint finish, pitting again for a set of Softs. However, the softest compound suffered from too much performance drop-off and the gamble didn't deliver the hoped-for result.

The Lusail circuit was originally conceived as a motorcycle racing track, which is clear from its rather unique layout; fast and twisty with a straight that is over a kilometre in length. The circuit on the outskirts of Doha, presents the drivers, cars and tyres with some unusual challenges. It boasts 16 corners, ten of them right handers while its desert location means that sand often gets blown onto the track, inevitably influencing track evolution. In an effort to prevent this, there are several areas of artificial grass around the circuit.

High temperatures are a distinctive feature of the Qatar weekend. Despite the fact the race is held at night, the high humidity, added to the residual heat built up during daylight hours, makes the cockpit a very demanding environment, to the extent that, in previous years, some drivers have felt unwell come the end of the Grand Prix. From a tyre point of view, track temperature can lead to the appearance of graining even if, as is clear from earlier races this year, the current range of compounds seems to be more resistant to this phenomenon.

Keyword: The Number of Laps

Every set of tyres supplied to the teams at the start of the race weekend can cover a maximum of 25 laps of the Lusail track. The laps will be counted cumulatively across all track session, including laps run under the Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car.

Laps to the grid and formation laps and those completed after the chequered flag in the Sprint and the Grand Prix will not be included in the count. As the Qatar Grand Prix is run over 57 laps, each driver will inevitably have to change tyres at least twice. Before the start of the Grand Prix, Pirelli will inform the teams how many laps are still available for each set.

The limitation, agreed with the FIA, F1 and the teams, was decided on to prevent the tyres from reaching their maximum level of wear, as happened last year, when tyres were nevertheless used past their working life, through management of their degradation. However, doing this puts excessive strain on the tyre's construction.

Statistics Corner

This weekend's race will be the fourth running of the Qatar Grand Prix, previously held in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Max Verstappen is the most successful driver in Doha, having won for the past two years, which also makes Red Bull Racing the constructor with the most wins. In 2023, the Dutchman sealed the championship title in the Qatari capital. He has also set two of the three fastest race laps, but has only started from pole position once. In the first year, 2021, Lewis Hamilton won from pole for Mercedes.