The times that reinforce Mercedes' strong start to F1's first Qatar GP

Red Bull arrived in Qatar with one thing Mercedes absolutely did not have: a driver with a winning record at the Losail circuit.

Sergio Perez’s 2009 GP2 Asia triumph, which he admitted he could “not really remember anything of” regarding the track as it had “disappeared from my radar”, sits alongside Nikita Mazepin’s second place in one of four MRF Challenge races here in 2014. This is the Formula 1 field’s combined previous experience of the 3.34-mile track.

But Mercedes had its Brazil momentum, and it ended the opening day of track action in Qatar on top.

Valtteri Bottas set the pace in FP2, but there was evidence uncovered elsewhere in that session to give the Black Arrows squad extra encouragement. That said, the full long-run picture is by no means disastrous for Red Bull…

Overall FP2 order

On single-lap pace, Bottas’s best FP2 lap – a 1m23.148s set after his initial run on the softs was deleted because he went too wide beyond the kerbs out of the Turn 7 long right-hand swoop that feeds immediately in the Turn 8 left on the exit – ended up 0.350s clear of Verstappen’s FP1 benchmark.

Pierre Gasly sat in between Bottas and Verstappen, but sources suggest the AlphaTauri driver was running in a high Honda engine mode that perhaps flattered his position.

Although Verstappen topped FP1 with a time only 0.225s slower than he managed in the second session, FP2 started at 1700 local time – in the darkness and the same time conditions as qualifying and the race will take place.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Data Autosport has seen shows that Bottas gained time on Verstappen at various key places around the lap during their respective qualifying simulation efforts.

This began with a 0.1s advantage through the Turn 1 long, fast right, but he was also up against Verstappen in the more technical section of Turns 4-7, with his apex speed at the Turn 6 hairpin a particular advantage.

The Red Bull hit back through the high-speed Turns 14 and 15 – the rapid pair of 90-degree right and left handers near the end of the lap – stuff where the RB16B has excelled all year, before Bottas was back to gaining against Verstappen through the final corner and down the long main straight.

With straightline speed a particular hot-button topic this weekend, it should be noted that Mercedes was clocked at 7.5km/h up against Red Bull on the two laps being compared here.

"The balance felt good, so I only made a few minor tweaks for FP2. That's an encouraging way to start the weekend at a new track" Valtteri Bottas

“It was the first time of course in the evening, so it was important to understand how the car would react,” Verstappen said of his FP2 efforts. “Quite a bit of a change between the medium and the soft tyre for me. That’s why I think on the soft tyre it wasn’t so amazing, but again, the first time here, so a lot of things to understand.”

One really interesting difference in FP2, considering the title fight, was that Hamilton ended up 0.422s adrift of Bottas and down in fourth – one spot behind his fierce rival. The world champion said afterwards that: “I’m a little bit slow, so I need to figure that out”.

One of the main places he was losing time compared to his team-mate was in the higher speed turns at the end of the lap, with understeer a particular issue.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

This is explained by Mercedes opting to “start both cars with different set-ups as we weren't sure how the track was going to be”, per team director of trackside engineering, Andrew Shovlin. A team insider suggested that with Hamilton therefore now set to head back towards his team-mate’s set-up for the sessions that really matter – which Mercedes feels is the better way to go – then the gap between them will inevitably close.

“We've started the weekend pretty well with the set-up,” said Bottas. “The balance felt good, so I only made a few minor tweaks for FP2. That's an encouraging way to start the weekend at a new track, the team did a really good job with their pre-weekend preparations.

“It's not far off the sweet spot, obviously there's always work to do and improvements to find and even with driving, you can't find all the speed available in just two sessions. We'll keep on working. It's hard to draw conclusions from today, practice is practice, but the feeling is okay and that's promising for the rest of the weekend.”

Soft tyre averages

*N/A Williams, Alfa Romeo

But the extra area where Mercedes has a slight edge as the opening day of action ended in Qatar concerns the long-run data-gathering exercises that traditionally finish the second practice session.

As Bottas was producing what Mercedes felt was a good and encouragingly consistent 10-lap stint on the mediums that put him 1.237s clear of Alpine’s 1m29.135s as the next best average on the yellow-walled compound, Hamilton was comparing well to Red Bull’s runs on the softs.

As the table above shows, his stint – which went on for two more laps compared to Verstappen (who’s average is included above) and Sergio Perez – came in quicker. Although the stint difference is on average 0.198s in Mercedes’ favour, the times Hamilton and Verstappen were producing by their respective fifth laps were very close.

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

As fuel and engine modes are the inevitable caveats when assessing this data, it suggests the differences between F1’s two leading squads are very little in reality. So that is also encouraging for Red Bull. Once again, it appears as if things are as close as neutrals would want given this year’s title fight seems to be going down to the wire.

In terms of race strategy, with Pirelli opting to bring the hardest three tyres in its range for Qatar’s first F1 race, this naturally points the teams more towards taking a one-stopper – with the C3 as the soft actually being quite hard to get working as the drivers want it because it is comparatively hard for a ‘soft’.

If the downforce influenced four-wheel machines racing at this MotoGP venue means they struggle to follow each other, then the team not on pole will very likely need to make bold strategy calls

But the circuit improved considerably as the day went on and more rubber went down, although, as with any desert track, sand being blown onto the track was a consideration. That and the high energy corners around Losail meant there was quite high wear levels picked up on left fronts, but Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola suggested this was due to “the set-up used by the cars on this circuit”.

It’s still something Pirelli is going to keep an eye on as the weekend develops, where the track evolution and tyre degradation factors will inevitably be a considerable consideration for race strategy.

If, as the 2009 GP2 race here demonstrated, downforce influenced four-wheel machines racing at this MotoGP venue means they struggle to follow each other, then the team not on pole will very likely need to make bold strategy calls to get ahead.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B, leads Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images