04/10/2023
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: It feels good to be heading to Qatar with the Constructors' Championship secured. The track there is really fun to drive, although it's going to be a tough weekend for all of us as it's so hot there. The temperatures will definitely make it interesting. This weekend is also a Sprint race so we need to make sure we learn as much as we can from the practice session on Friday. The Drivers' Championship can also be won during the Sprint race on Saturday so that is our main aim. Hopefully it will be a weekend to remember!
Sergio Perez: Qatar is a chance to get back to racing for me with two opportunities to win across the weekend. The Sprint format always throws up challenges when it comes to setting the car up, so we will work hard together to ensure we are ready for qualifying on Friday night. The track there can be tricky, as we learnt in 2021, grip is affected by the sand on the surface, so you must be alert. A night race is always fun though and this might be the hottest event we have all season, so it will involve a lot of management across all three days to get the most out of the car. We are coming into this race as World Champions, and for me personally, I would like to show that out on track.
• Max can win the Drivers' World Championship in the Sprint race in Qatar, unless Checo scores six points more than Max. It would make Max the first driver to win the title on a Saturday since Nelson Piquet at the 1983 South African Grand Prix.
• Checo will make his 252nd race start this weekend, tying Jarno Trulli as the 10th most experienced driver in F1 history.
• Oracle Red Bull Racing are currently unbeaten in the Sprint format this season, something that no team has achieved since the format was first introduced during the 2021 season. Checo won the Azerbaijan Sprint, while Max could become the first driver to win three Sprint events in a single season this weekend, having won the Austria and Belgian Sprint races.
• Max scored his fourth hat-trick victory of the 2023 season at the Japanese GP, winning from pole position and setting the fastest lap. Max's Q3 time was 0.581s quicker than any other driver - the largest margin seen at Suzuka for 20 years - while his fastest lap was 1.064s clear of his rivals.
• Checo is one of the few drivers to have raced at Losail Circuit before it became an F1 venue. Checo qualified and finished second in the GP2 Asia feature race in 2009, before coming from seventh place on the reverse-gird Sprint race to take victory.