Alex and Franco preview Qatar

Formula 1 has swapped one desert for another, as the ten teams make a more-than-8,000 mile trip across the planet for the penultimate round of the season in Qatar.

This race last year made for a gruelling challenge, with temperatures causing fatigue in cockpits up and down the grid. Its move to later in the year this season should alleviate some of those concerns in 2024.

The team heads into Qatar off the back of some tough results, and Alex Albon is aiming to use that as motivation towards scoring a strong result this weekend.

“It’s no surprise how tough these last few months have been for me and the team,” Alex shared. “But the season isn’t over yet and hopefully we can finish on a high.

"We head to Qatar for our final Sprint weekend of the season and following a successful Sprint race last year, hopefully our luck turns, and we can have another positive result.

"This is still a relatively new track for most drivers, with lots of opportunities for good racing across the weekend. Additionally, with the slight shift in dates for the race, Qatar temperatures will be significantly less than last year, so reliability and performance should look quite different for all of us."

Qatar presents Franco Colapinto with another new circuit to learn, but our young Argentine is optimistic about his trip to the Middle East.

"I’m feeling ready for the penultimate race of the season in Qatar this weekend," he commented.

"It’s the last Sprint event on the calendar which gives me minimal time to learn another new track, but on the other hand we have an extra opportunity to fight for points.

"The aim is to maximise the only Free Practice session to put us in the best place possible for the rest of the weekend. I’m sure the hot and humid conditions will play a factor.

"The entire team will continue to give it everything to finish the season as strong as possible."

Sporting Director Sven Smeets rounds out our preview by paying tribute to the team after a monumental effort to get both cars ready for the race in Vegas, saying: “The team showed great resilience, and it was encouraging to see that Alex was fighting for points when the car was working well.

"This weekend is the last Sprint Race of the season, bringing more opportunities to score points and turn our fortune around. It will be much cooler than last year so it will be interesting to see how that could change the performance for teams across the grid.

"We performed well last year in Qatar so we are confident that we can fight for points again."