Weekend Tip: Spectacle on four continents 🎥
TO SEE ON THE INTERNET OR ON TV This weekend, Formula 1 will race for the first time in Qatar, and the World Rally Championship will conclude in Monza. In Macau, there's sure to be plenty of smash-and-grab again, and in Florida, the first Sebring 24-hour race.
THE RACE's video explains the background to the Qatar Grand Prix and its history with MotoGP at the center, the Losail Circuit and the starting position in the Formula One World Championship.
The GP squad makes its first stop in Qatar this weekend. The 5.418km Losail International Circuit lies just outside the capital Doha and features mainly medium-fast and fast corners. This is partly because the track is mainly designed for motorcycle racing.
Position battles in Turn 1
MotoGP has been racing there since it opened in 2004. Only the touring cars have held World Championship rounds in Qatar so far.
There are a total of ten right turns and six left turns. The home straight is over a kilometer long and leads to a strong braking zone before turn 1, a hairpin. This is also the only DRS zone on the track and the best overtaking opportunity when braking from the slipstream.
No preliminary decision yet
Although the Losail Circuit is, to a certain extent, a journey into the unknown for everyone involved, the current hierarchy is unlikely to change much. The only question is whether Mercedes will retain the upper hand, as it did a week ago in Brazil, or whether Red Bull Honda will strike back.
Despite the defeat to Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen still leads the drivers' championship with 332.5 points against 318.5. Even if the Briton retires, there can be a preliminary decision at the earliest two weeks later on another new GP track in Saudi Arabia.
Alfa Romeo Sauber bids farewell to both drivers
For the retiring Sauber duo Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, it will be the third last opportunity to increase their points tally and that of the Hinwil-based team. As Alfa Romeo Racing announced this week, Chinese Guanyu Zhou, who is currently second in FIA Formula 2 (the decision will be made in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi in December), will be teammate of Finn Valtteri Bottas, who has been known for some time as the new spearhead, in the 2022 season.
Swiss television will report live from qualifying on Saturday, November 20, on SRF info from 2.55 to 4.10 pm. On Sunday, the Qatar GP will be broadcast from 2.30 to 4.50 p.m. on SRF zwei. Commentators from the Zurich studio will be Michael Stäuble and Marc Surer.
End of the WRC era in northern Italy
Not far from the Swiss border, the 2021 World Rally Championship will be decided this weekend. At the ACI Rally Monza, the 25-year era of World Rally Cars will also come to an end. From 2022, the WRC cars will be replaced by Rally1 cars with hybrid drive and e-fuel instead of gasoline.
The title fight in the drivers' WRC is an in-house affair for the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team.
Of the 16 special stages, eight will take place in the Autodromo and the others in Monza's mountainous hinterland.
Toyota provides the world champion
Either Sébastien Ogier will celebrate his eighth world championship title at the end of his last full WRC season or team-mate Elfyn Evans will put the crown on his head for the first time.
The Frenchman brings with him a 17-point lead over the Welshman; moreover, Ogier won a year ago at the WRC premiere of this race previously known as the Monza Rally Show. Toyota also leads the constructors' standings with a 47-point advantage over the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team. With 52 points still up for grabs, a seventh-place finish by one of the three Yaris WRC drivers is enough for Toyota.
Servus TV, which is also free to air in Switzerland, will report from the ACI Rally Monza on Sunday, November 21, from 12 p.m. to around 2 p.m. (preliminary report, Power Stage and post-event report). On Saturday, SS8 (7.30 a.m.) and SS10 (11 a.m.) will be livestreamed under this Link on the Internet, as well as the SP15 (10 a.m.) and SP16 (12 p.m.) on Sunday.
A Swiss among loud Chinese
Similar to last year, the 68th Macau Grand Prix 2021 will be a pure affair for drivers and teams from China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan due to the strict Covid 19 conditions (long quarantine for foreigners). Nevertheless, there is a Swiss on the grid. How so?
Alexandre Imperatori, who is married to a Chinese woman and lives in Shanghai, is competing in the Macau GT Cup in a Porsche 911 GT3 R. As in 2020, the race does not count as the FIA GT World Cup. The professional from Freiburg, who often races in Europe during the year (in 2020, for example, at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and Spa), recently won a round of the Chinese Endurance Championship in Shanghai. He knows the Guia Circuit in Macau very well.
As the studio photos of his Porsche show, Alexandre Imperatori will start under the Swiss flag.
Spectacle on the Internet
As in 2020, the actual Macau Grand Prix is reserved for the Chinese FIA Formula 4. The four other Chinese touring car and GT races also promise plenty of spectacle over two days on the official YouTube channel live or, because of the time difference of several hours, on the Internet.
Hair-raising maneuvers and crashes are the order of the day on the notorious Guia Circuit right through the city of Macau. It's worth taking a look.
In Asia, the Macau Grand Prix has roughly the same status as the Monaco GP in Europe. But the Guia Circuit would be too narrow for Formula 1.
First 24-hour race at Sebring
The 24H Series was to conclude this year's season with the 24 Hours of Sebring. Never before has such a long race been held on this archaic race track in the heart of Florida.
With Daniel Allemann, who last won with the German Porsche team Herberth at the 12H Hungary in October, there is a Swiss in the tight circle of favorites. They also include some U.S. teams familiar with Sebring with their GT3 sports cars.
Swiss VW team defends the title
It's all about the sausage for Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing with its two top VW Golf GTI TCR in the touring car category. The number #1 car leads the championship, but a Belgian, British and the second Autorama car with the #112 are also still in contention for the title. Since 2019, it has always been won by the Swiss.
Jasmin Preisig and Fabian Danz will alternate with Austria's Constantin Kletzer and Norway's Emil Heyerdahl in the #1, and 2019 TCR multi-champion Miklas Born with Finland's Antti Buri and Kari-Pekka Laaksonen and Italy's Roberto Ferri in the sister car #112.
Waiting for the material
Because the material of the teams from Europe, transported by ship in containers, arrived too late due to storms in the Atlantic, the practice sessions have to be postponed by one day and the 24-hour race from Friday/Saturday to Saturday/Sunday (start 1 p.m.). By Friday morning local time, however, the material was not yet on site! Whether there will be a livestream as usual, will be published on the homepage of the 24H Series.
