McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes enter the Qatar GP as the three main contenders for the top positions. The MCL39 remains untouchable, the RB21 is competitive but slightly behind the British car, and the W16 struggles with cornering speeds. On race day, all three teams will battle on track, although only Max Verstappen seems capable of challenging the superlative McLaren. George Russell, meanwhile, is aiming for a podium, while Ferrari’s focus will be simply finishing the race.
Red Bull makes progress but cannot match McLaren’s pace
Red Bull took another step forward on Saturday in Lusail, achieving a much cleaner balance. Compared to Free Practice 1, when Max suffered from too much or too little rotation, the engineers managed to provide the four-time world champion with a smoother handling experience. During qualifying, understeer emerged as the main limitation.
Still, this was a minor issue compared to Ferrari. Although the RB21 struggled mid-corner, it did not overly disturb Max Verstappen. Overall, his laps were composed, without micro or major corrections. Verstappen noted that certain limitations of the car prevented him from fully extracting its potential.
It’s a shame, as a closer fight would have been exciting. It remains to be seen whether the Austrian car can challenge the two MCL39s over the full 300 km race distance. To keep his championship hopes alive, Max Verstappen will need to chip away points from the papaya-colored McLaren—a task complicated by the mandatory two-stop strategy.
McLaren dominates in load and direction changes
The McLaren, however, remains near-perfect. It consistently delivers high minimum speed through corners, maintaining higher apex speeds across quick sequences and keeping momentum through rapid direction changes. The car tended to oversteer on corner exit, and the steering felt unusually light—not like Ferrari, but still not perfect.
The only car capable of matching McLaren’s minimum speeds was the Red Bull, as expected. The lateral grip generated by these two cars is unique, and in Qatar, it is key to lowering lap times. Max’s RB21 was virtually ahead of Piastri’s McLaren until turn 6, the track’s tight hairpin.
Max carried significant entry speed, making up ground on the MCL39 in that phase. The Woking car, however, had the advantage in sequences with multiple direction changes. While Verstappen was not far off the British cars in mid-corner, he consistently lost time in fast corners. The MCL39’s superior exit acceleration allowed it to regain crucial fractions of a second on the straights.
Mercedes strong on entry but limited in high-speed corners
Finally, the Brackley car, the W16, could not match the progress made by the other two teams in certain corner sequences. Telemetry shows the Mercedes lost significantly in all guided sequences, where strong overall vertical downforce from the floor is essential.
As a result, the performance order places the MCL39 at the top, followed closely by the RB21, with Mercedes trailing. McLaren’s stability through direction changes remains unmatched.
Mercedes’ real strength remains turn-in, especially in combined braking-and-steering corners. Turn 1 and Turn 7 are the two places where Russell and Antonelli claw back the most time over a lap. If they can protect track position early and manage tyres well, a podium is genuinely within reach – even if fighting the McLarens looks a bridge too far.
Leave a Reply