F1's intense Qatar: Karun on temps, tyres and the Mercedes crash

Karun Chandhok F1 Expert Qatar GP: Karun Chandhok's verdict on the big talking points from F1's intense weekend on track at Losail In Part One of an extended feature assessing the many major stories from Qatar, Sky F1’s Karun Chandhok discusses the emergency tyre rules enacted, driving in extreme heat, and the Mercedes collision – plus Verstappen’s historic weekend and Piastri’s star quality Last Updated: 10/10/23 7:43pm Karun Chandhok interviews Max Verstappen on Saturday night in Qatar in the hours after the Red Bull driver clinched his third world title Last weekend's Qatar Grand Prix felt like one of the most hectic weekends I can remember being involved in for a long time.It's funny how things develop in this sport as just a fortnight before that in Japan we were all talking about things being a bit flat in terms of dramatic and controversial stories. This was going to be the weekend where Max Verstappen becoming a three-time world champion was going to be the main focus and through all the chaos, he duly delivered another superbly-executed weekend to score 33 points, and join the list of all-time greats in this sport.It was great to sit down with Max and reflect on his record-breaking season on Saturday night. The paddock was quiet, he had finished his media pen and press conference interviews, got a bit of downtime with his team and family, showered off the sweat from the Sprint race and was in relaxed form when we chatted at about midnight. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Exclusive interview: Three-time world champion Verstappen says it would be a 'beautiful story' if he were to spend his entire F1 career with Red Bull Exclusive interview: Three-time world champion Verstappen says it would be a 'beautiful story' if he were to spend his entire F1 career with Red Bull Questions to answer after unprecedented tyre rule changeThe on-track action was dominated by the issues faced by the Pirelli tyres on the aggressive kerbs around the Losail circuit.Clearly on safety grounds, the FIA couldn't ignore the issue. While a lot of minds were cast back to Indianapolis in 2005 when only six cars took part after Michelin had tyre issues in practice, this time around the governing body moved swiftly and decisively to find a solution so that the show could go on. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Sky Sports reporter Craig Slater rounds up the best of the action from Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix on a weekend that saw Max Verstappen clinch a third successive drivers' title Sky Sports reporter Craig Slater rounds up the best of the action from Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix on a weekend that saw Max Verstappen clinch a third successive drivers' title There was a compromise which meant that nobody was allowed to do more than 18 laps on a set of tyres. The fact this was only confirmed a few hours before the race was far from ideal as the drivers all had used their tyres to varying degrees and some like Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were compromised strategically.Quite how or why we got to this situation is a whole other conversation that needs looking into.Was the FIA warned by Pirelli about this issue earlier this year? Why wasn't a test event run on the new surface? We did of course have issues at Losail in 2021 with people suffering from front-left tyre failures. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Sergio Perez’s struggles continued this weekend, following up a nightmare Sprint crash with three five-second time penalties during the Qatar GP Sergio Perez’s struggles continued this weekend, following up a nightmare Sprint crash with three five-second time penalties during the Qatar GP They have spent a fortune on a new paddock and resurfacing the track since then. Ending up with kerbs which caused issues to the tyres and also didn't really deter people from going over the white lines and getting track limit violations is an odd scenario which seemed a bit of a lose-lose.The Mercedes crash and why McLaren's Piastri has confirmed star status Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Chandhok takes a closer look at the Mercedes opening lap collision between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton Chandhok takes a closer look at the Mercedes opening lap collision between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton The collision between the Mercedes drivers was a real shame for them.Fair play to Lewis Hamilton for putting his hands up and accepting 100 per cent of the blame. There really was nowhere for George Russell to go as he was the meat in the sandwich. Lewis really was the only one with more room to be flexible with