The Losail circuit’s revised pitlane entry that was described as a “dramatic” redesign by the FIA has been revealed at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Losail is likely to be a temporary host of F1 following Qatar’s addition to the 2021 calendar ahead of a 10-year deal beginning in 2023, unless it is significantly altered, as it has been built for motorcycle racing.
The entry to the pitlane on the normal layout starts quickly after the final corner and last month FIA F1 race director Michael Masi revealed it would “change dramatically”.
Scariest corner in Qatar Losail for the F1 race will be pit lane entry 90 deg right hander, skirting inside the final turn. It will be taken as fast as possible between wall and barrier, the 80kph speed limit is 400 mts later. Track’s very smooth, perfectly cambered, easy kerbs pic.twitter.com/Pq2oQNMa8c
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) November 18, 2021
Now, the pit entry begins before the final corner and will feature a corner around 60-degrees into the pitlane.
The pitlane speed limiter begins after that 60-degree turn too.
Various sausage kerbs, double kerbs and additional TecPro barriers have also been installed around the track.
The diagram above from Masi’s event notes shows the layout and the positioning of the pitlane speed limit line.
Track limits will be policed specifically at Turns 4, 12, 13, 14 and 16. At these corners going all four wheels beyond the white will result in a lap time being deleted and in the race it will count as one of three strikes before a fourth offence earns a referral to the stewards.
