Despite strong deliberations from them, Race Control ultimately chose not to red-flag the race at the end. Providentially, that was just the right call because it proved fruitful.
By Lap 15 of the Qatar Grand Prix, the violent heat wave that had swept across Lusail had finally begun to dissipate. The heat dispersion was a relief to everyone who was suffocating, and even to the drivers whose cars began to stabilise.
It was a seventeen-minute span of peril for everyone in the north of Doha. The Qatar Grand Prix made history as the first race ever to experience a full-blown heat wave, a race that quivered on the edge of a suspension. All teams were already on standby for the emergency as news had come in from the marshals for a possible red flag that never came.
"...And look at that…we might just make it through after all..."
