Losail makes changes to address track limits issues

The expansive Losail circuit saw modifications made during weekend last year, with kerbing repainted an attempt to mitigate track limits issues.

Back then, Sergio Perez received three track limits penalties that resulted in a combined 15 seconds worth of time added on to his race.

He wasn’t alone, with Pierre Gasly in the same boat while Lance Stroll and Alex Albon picked up two penalties apiece.

Across the field, there were 51 deleted laps, with breaches at nine different corners around the lap.

In an effort to remedy the situation, changes akin to those employed at other venues have been introduced.

F1 Academy driver Maya Weng, part of the Ferrari Junior Development program, was at the track in the lead up to this weekend’s event, and shared some of the changes she noted during her track walk.

On the exit of Turn 1, a new strip of gravel has been added over the back of the kerbing as a means of natural penalty for drivers running wide.

Behind that, a strip of concrete remains before the original expansive trap.

There are similar changes at other corners while the final sector of the lap has undergone the most attention, with gravel added from Turn 12 to Turn 15.

The kerbs have also been smoothed so they are less aggressive of cars, drivers, and tyres.

Last year, Pirelli was forced to introduce a maximum 18-lap stint length to protect the integrity of their rubber.

It was found vibrations caused by the kerbs were creating issues, forcing the unusual maximum stint-length mandate.

Pirelli will take the hardest three tyres from its range to Qatar for this weekend, as it did in 2023.

In an effort to understand the track changes, the tyre manufacturer has analysed data from teams who’ve visited the venue with previous model cars, and used FIA-provided samples of the revised kerbs in its own testing.

“The pyramid-shaped kerbs have had their tips rounded off at seven of the track’s 16 corners: the first two after the start, turns 4 and 10 and the three from 12 to 14, the section that had most stressed the sides of the tyres,” Pirelli confirmed in its event preview.

“Engineers in the Pirelli Motorsport R&D department have carried out extensive and lengthy tests on the dynamic test beds in Milan, using a sample of the new kerbs supplied by the FIA.

“Furthermore, the engineers also analysed tyres from tests carried out by some Formula 1 teams in recent weeks at the Lusail circuit, running pre-2024 cars.

“Even though the tyres were obviously not identical to those from the 2024 range, the acquired data has still been useful to confirm the results of simulations and the indications from the test bed.”

This weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix is a Sprint event, the sole hour of practice begins at 16:30 local time on Friday (00:30 Saturday morning AEDT).