Pushing to the limit in Lusail: Alex Dunne’s dream race weekend

MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne takes on the task of designing his dream race weekend from scratch. His perfect weekend takes us to what would be a brand-new venue for Formula 3 in Lusail, Qatar, for a high-speed test for the drivers.
Here is what he came up with…
WHERE WOULD THE RACE BE HELD?
“That’s a tough one. I think I’d go with a track that I haven’t driven because some of the tracks we don’t get to go to look quite cool. I think I’ll go with Qatar. It’s a super high-speed track and I love the higher speed tracks, it’s a lot more enjoyable to drive especially on a Qualifying lap.
“When you’re in the high-speed corners, pushing to the limit, that’s a great feeling so I think Qatar would be good because it’s such a high-speed circuit. You see the level of the F1 weekends there, it’s so hot and the deg is quite high, so you have to be really good on tyre management but also on fitness, that’s quite a big thing in Qatar.
“It not only looks like a really nice track to drive but it also brings in a few more things for the drivers to manage and makes things a bit more interesting.”
DAY RACE OR NIGHT RACE?
“I think I’d keep it as a night race. Middle of the day might be a bit too hot.”
WET OR DRY RACE?
“Dry race for sure. I’m a fan of wet races but I think with the nature of the Qatar circuit, a dry race is best.”
WHICH CELEBRITIES WOULD YOU INVITE AS GUESTS?
“This is a tricky one. First pick I’ll invite Adam Sandler. I think he’s quite funny. I’m trying to think of other sports people. Chris Hemsworth too because he played James Hunt in Rush.”
WHICH MUSIC ARTISTS WOULD YOU HAVE ACROSS THE WEEKEND?
“Let me have a look at my playlists and see if I can pick one. I’m going to go with Frank Ocean.”
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WHAT WOULD THE PODIUM LOOK LIKE?
“I think I’d add a car lift and also something I’ve seen at other tracks was at the podium in Barcelona, the building the podium sits on is in the shape of the track which I think is quite cool, so I’d probably do something similar.”
WHAT WOULD THE TROPHIES LOOK LIKE?
“Out of all the trophies I’ve had in the past, I always liked the ones in the shape of the track, but I already said that about the podiums so that’s a bit of a boring answer.
“It wouldn’t be possible in realistic terms but I think having your trophy in the same design as the car you raced, maybe they make a third, second and first trophy for everyone ahead of the weekend and then pick out the trophy for whoever finishes in the podium, so it’s in the colours of your car.”
ANYTHING ELSE?
“For an ideal weekend, I think it would be nice to have our weekend mirror what F1 have with FP1, FP2 and FP3 with more tyres than what we have at the moment. I think we can be limited in Practice so having more time to learn everything in Practice would be nice.
“In terms of Qualifying, I would also like it to be like in F1 with Q1, Q2 and Q3, I think that’s quite cool and if you have strong pace to make it into Q2 and Q3, traffic is much less of an issue. So having Q1, Q2 and Q3 where cars are eliminated would make our lives at lot easier.
“Also, the tyre would be the softest compound we have, all the Qualifying’s have to be on the Soft. It gives you the best feeling on a push lap so to have that would be nice as well.
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“Racing format, I do quite like the format of racing in F3, Sprint Race with a reverse grid is good if you’re a team that was lacking that final bit of pace in Quali or are on the back foot in the top 12. You get an understanding of the car in clean air in the reverse grid and the chance to score some points.
“In terms of the Feature Race, I’d like it to be a little bit longer, same distance as the F2 Feature Race with a pit stop in there. I think there’s been a few times this year where, sometimes anyway, we race at tracks where it’s difficult to overtake, so that makes it hard to come back.
“I think having a longer race with a stop gives more of a chance of something happening and more of a chance to get back to the front and that would be quite interesting giving the drivers more things to think about.”