The new rumble strips at the Losail Circuit concern Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix

In the shadow of past incidents at the Losail circuit in 2021, F1 drivers are displaying palpable caution ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. The memory of damaged tires and scratched cars, attributed to defective kerbs, is still fresh. The organizers, concerned about these repercussions, have therefore undertaken a major overhaul of the circuit. For the first time since 2004, the track surface has undergone a complete renovation. This metamorphosis, coupled with adjustments made to the kerbs, runoff areas, rails and fences, constitutes a major transformation.

However, these changes, far from reassuring, arouse new apprehensions. With today’s powerful cars, more imposing and with a sometimes compromised track vision, navigating around these vibrators could prove to be delicate.

“A nightmare for floors”

Yuki Tsunoda has been particularly worried about this new configuration. In a press conference on Thursday, he discussed the risks posed by these revisited vibrators. “They seem to have opted for more aggressive vibrators. Here, it’s always a question of track limits and they’ve made the vibrators even worse. When you cross the white line, you need to have an appropriate penalty, which seems to lead to a high risk of damaging the car. That’s probably the main point,” he explained to journalists.

“I have already seen the photos,” he adds. “There is clearly a large gap between the curb and the outside of the track. Riding on the curb will not be a problem. But as soon as you get off the curbs, it will be like a complete sliding effect.” He adds with concern that “it is not smooth at all and especially here, with such fast turns where the car is really low, it will be difficult. Even once could be costly, I think.”

The driver seems particularly concerned about the impact on the cars: “I think that this weekend will be a nightmare for floors, that’s for sure.” Discussing his preparation, the Japanese specifies: “I did the simulator on Tuesday. The pictures arrived later that day, so we couldn’t simulate properly, but the pictures look really aggressive and all the engineers are concerned about it – I think the whole team anyway.”

The other drivers cautious, even enthusiastic

The AlphaTauri driver is not the only one to view these new vibrators in a bad light. Carlos Sainz shared similar concerns while being cautious: “I have to see, but it all depends on the track limits. I think we will talk more about the track limits than the actual damage caused by the vibrators.”

His former teammate Pierre Gasly also expresses concerns, but mostly hopes that this circuit will smile on Alpine as much as it did two years ago at their last participation. “It was certainly a challenge the last time in 2021. So, I think we will have to watch these very aggressive curbs closely. Some of them have been altered, so it’s not really something that worries us too much. We will remain vigilant, but the last time, I started in second position, we had an excellent qualification. It was definitely a positive weekend and, you know, Alpine had a very good race with Fernando finishing on the podium and Esteban in the top five,” he acknowledged.

As for Max Verstappen, when asked his opinion on the kerbs, he replied: “I have not seen them yet, but you should not end up on that side then (when it was explained to him how the kerbs are positioned, especially at turn 4). We do not have a lot of floors, but we will manage, otherwise we will fix it.”

Alex Albon, for his part, is frankly enthusiastic: “It looks great. I drove it on the simulator. Lots of fun. I don’t know if anyone else has already gone through it, but the kerbs and all that will be interesting.”

Finally, Fernando Alonso seemed rather optimistic, stating: “I think it’s going to be better, honestly. I think the new generation of cars has been quite decent in the high-speed turns. I think that the big question is the new asphalt : how grippy it is and how dusty it will be in the first free practice session. But yes, the Sprint weekend will obviously add some spice to all of this.”

Eyes are now turning to the free trials this afternoon, starting at 3:30 pm, where the drivers will test the limits of these new vibrators.