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

Mercedes arrived in Qatar off the back of Lewis Hamilton’s stunning win in Brazil and it ended the first day of running on top at the Losail track. While it’s not just on one-lap pace where the Black Arrows squad looks good again versus Red Bull, there’s signs of encouragement in the data for Max Verstappen’s squad too

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.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.