"Then there's the temperatures. The desert gets quite chilly in November without the sun shining on things, and the track surface gets down to just 11° C (52° F); by contrast at the recent Singapore GP, also at night, the track temperature was more like 36° C (97° F). So, low aero and mechanical grip, an unusual layout compared to most F1 tracks, and very cold temperatures all combine to create potential surprises, shaking up the usual running order."
"We saw this last year, where the Mercedes shined in the cold, able to keep their tires in the right operating window, something the team wasn't able to do at hotter races. But it was hard to tell much from Thursday's two practice sessions, one of which was interrupted due to problems with a maintenance hatch, albeit not as serious as when one damaged a Ferrari in 2023."
"Very little of any use was learned by any of the teams for qualifying on Friday night, which took place in at times damp, at times wet conditions-so wet that the Pirelli intermediate tire wasn't grooved enough, pushing teams to use the full wet-weather spec rubber. Norris took pole from Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with Williams' Carlos Sainz making best use of the opportunity to grab third. Piastri would start 5th, behind the Mercedes of last year's winner, George Russell."
Nighttime desert temperatures fell sharply, with track surfaces dropping to around 11° C (52° F) compared with about 36° C (97° F) at Singapore. Low aerodynamic and mechanical grip and an unusual circuit layout combined with cold conditions to create potential surprises and shake up the running order. Mercedes showed strong cold-weather performance by keeping tires in the correct operating window. Thursday practice revealed little after one session was interrupted by a maintenance-hatch problem. Qualifying ran in damp to wet conditions, forcing full wet tyres. Norris took pole, Verstappen won the race with Norris second; Piastri finished fourth, leaving Norris 30 points ahead of Piastri and 42 ahead of Verstappen.
Read at Ars Technica
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