Lusail International Circuit
The Qatar Formula 1, MotoGP and WEC rounds are held on the Lusail International Circuit just outside of Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Originally the circuit was referred to as the Losail International Circuit which was its first English-language name, but it was renamed Lusail for the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar.
Circuit history
Construction began on the circuit in 2003 and was completed in 2004, just over a year later. Over 1000 people worked on the project to build the circuit and it cost a little over $58 million to construct.
When it was first built, it was designed more for motorbikes than F1. Having won a contract to host a round of the MotoGP in 2004, the circuit was constructed in a hurry to be ready for the MotoGP race held in October that year, which it was.
Layout
There’s only ever been one circuit layout used at Lusail – the Grand Prix layout:
- 5.419km / 3.367 miles long
- 16 corners
- 4.2 metres of elevation change (basically flat)
- Fastest corner: Turn 12 – over 275kph in an F1 car, nearly flat out
- Slowest corner: Turn 6 – a tight hairpin at under 100kph for F1 cars
- Full throttle: F1 cars are flat out for around 75% of the lap
- Longest straight: Start – finish straight is 1.07km / 0.66 miles long
Night racing
When the circuit was first built it wasn’t actually designed to host night racing. But in 2007, the circuit decided to add floodlights to allow races to take place after the sun had set, and more importantly, when it was a bit cooler.
The project to install the lighting at the circuit was mammoth. Musco Lighting won the contract, and as one of the USA’s leading outdoor lighting suppliers they had great pedigree, having previously provided floodlighting at the Daytona International Speedway and have since done so at other circuits such as Yas Marina, Jeddah and Bahrain International.
Having done some digging I’ve pulled together some technical statistic that show the size of the take of illuminate the venue. At Lusail they installed over 3,600 lighting structures, over 310 miles of cabling, dug and drilled through more than 7 miles of desert sand and rock and installed the whole lighting set up in 175 days.
To power it they installed 44 generators and the lighting, in total, required around 13 Megawatts of power to run – enough to power around 3000 homes which is just bonkers. One source claimed that in total the 44 generators consumed around 1,000 litres of fuel an hour – good job it’s cheap in Qatar!
In 2021 the lighting system got an upgrade, replacing the original metal halide (HID) lamps for more efficient LEDs – over 3,600 of them in total. The 44 generators remained, but the new setup only required somewhere around 5 Megawatts.
2023 renovation
Formula 1 first raced at Lusail in 2021 as a last-minute replacement for other race which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It skipped 2022 due to the World Cup being held in Qatar, then was due to return to the calendar in 2023, but before it did so it underwent a big renovation project.
The renovation project was more to the buildings, facilities and infrastructure surrounding the track than the circuit itself. Infact the track layout was left untouched.
Grandstands were built (spectator capacity went up from 8,000 to over 52,000), the world’s longest pit building (402 metres) was constructed which held 50 garages, new fencing was erected, new barriers were installed, new VIP buildings and a new paddock area were all added.
The heat
The Lusail circuit is in a desert, and it gets hot. Very hot. The 2023 Qatar Grand Prix was one of the most brutal in modern F1 history, and not for the racing, but for the conditions.
It was held in early October and despite being a night race the drivers faced cockpit temperatures reaching 50°C. Esteban Ocon was sick in his helmet and managed to finish the race (somehow), Lance Stroll said he was drifting in and out of consciousness and fainted once he got out of his car, and Logan Sargeant retired with intense dehydration.
Georg Russell said it was the most physical race he’d ever competed in. The FIA made changes, and right so, and the Qatar GP now falls at the end of the season – late November or early December – when temperatures are more manageable. Check out this year’s Qatar GP schedule to see when the race is held.
Formula 1 contract
Lusail International Circuit holds a 10 year contractor with Formula 1 to host the Qatar Grand Prix. It hosted its first race in 2021, missed 2022 due to the Qatar World Cup, and will host rounds of F1 from 2023 all the way up to and including 2032.
