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Drivers have voiced their concern following a “brutal” Qatar Grand Prix held in tortuously hot conditions that were “on the limit”.
Max Verstappen won the race ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, the trio describing it as one of the toughest, if not the toughest, races they’d ever completed in.
Temperatures were above 30 degrees throughout the 57-lap race, with humidity around 80 percent.
On top of that, the encounter effectively became a sprint as rules to protect the Pirelli tyres from failing essentially mandated a three-stop strategy.
It proved too much for Logan Sargeant, who was forced out as he felt unwell in the car.
“Following Logan’s retirement from the Grand Prix, he has been assessed and cleared by the medical team on-site after suffering from intense dehydration during the race weakened by having flu like symptoms earlier in the week,” Williams confirmed.
His team-mate, Alex Albon battled through to the finish but was also worse for wear.
“Following the Qatar Grand Prix, Alex was taken to the medical centre to be treated for acute heat exposure,” the team announced.
“He has now been assessed and cleared by the medical team.”
The situation led Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to voice their concerns about the race.
“I think today we probably found the limit,” suggested Norris.
“I think it’s sad we have to find it this way, it’s never a nice situation to be in, you know, some people are ending up in a medical centre or passing out, things like that.
“It’s a pretty dangerous thing to have going on.”
Verstappen added: “I was not looking forward to it. It’s just too warm.
“[It] has nothing to do with more training or whatever, I think some of the guys who are struggling today, they are extremely fit, probably even fitter than me.
“It’s just the whole day, it’s like you walk around in a sauna, and also then in the night, humidity goes up.
“The other races are quite long,” he added.
“Singapore is almost like a two-hour race and it’s very, very warm. I think it’s also quite on the limit of what should be allowed.
“A few things to look at, but this was definitely way too hot.”
George Russell finished fourth and was seen raising his visor in an attempt to cool himself at points.
“I was so sick in the car,” he admitted.
“I wasn’t physically sick, I felt ill during this race. I do ask my engineer to give me encouragement just to try and take my mind away from it.
“I do a lot of heat training in the sauna, and so you push your body to the limit. Sometimes, you just need to get out of the sauna – sort of how I felt from about lap 20.
“I opened my visor for the whole race and it was hot air, but it was better than no air. It was brutal.
“Inside the cockpit was over 50 degrees, you’ve got your fireproof race suit on, the physicality of the car – the car was still bouncing as well, a lot of F1 cars are still bouncing around.
“It was just crazy.”
