Middle East 2024 - Day 3 - 12/1/2024 - Qatar Grand Prix

This was a very lazy morning, given how late I got back to the hotel the night before. I slept through breakfast (which closed at 10) and gave up on any sightseeing plans. The only thing of note from the morning and early afternoon was that it was kinda cool to hear the Muslim call to prayer echo out over the city a couple of times.

I had a late lunch at the Thai restaurant in the hotel before heading out to the track. I wore pants this time around, as the shorts from the day before were not the best idea when the temperature dropped from the low 70s (Fahrenheit) to the mid 60s during the evening/night, along with the constant breeze; I brought along a thin hoodie again, though I probably would have been better off with my puff jacket. And If I was thinking ahead before the trip, I would have packed my long sleeve Mercedes t-shirt, instead of (or in addition to) the two short sleeve ones.

I decided to try the reverse of the metro route that I had taken back to the hotel the previous night, though giving myself plenty of time in case there were any issues. I walked to the DECC metro station and took the train to Lusail QNB, then the shuttle to the track. This went much smoother than taking the Uber the day before. It took almost as long (a little under 1.5 hours), but there were no significant delays at any point. They gave away free water at the shuttle stop, just as they did on the grounds at the track. I got to the track around 5p, a couple of hours before race start. I mostly stayed at my seat watching pre-race activities while killing the time. I do want to give a shout-out to the track for the best bathrooms that I've experienced so far at a race (not that they were spectacular, but much better than port-a-potties), though that may be because this was my first time in the main grandstands.

The race turned out to be a huge disappointment for Lewis. First a slow start that dropped him a couple of places, which turned out to be a false start that later yielded a 5 second penalty, then he was lacking pace, then a puncture that dropped him out of the points. George did better to finish 4th, though he had a mix of bad and good fortune. Max won the race, as he has done for all three races that I've seen in person so far - it's infuriating how good he is.

I didn't hang round too much longer after the podium celebration, leaving the stands around 9:15. The journey home was much more efficient this time around, I suspect because many people were staying for the Maroon 5 concert. I was on a bus headed to the metro station by 9:50, and made it to the DECC station by 10:40. I was hungry, so I stopped by the food court at the City Center Doha Mall for a quick bite (a veggie "philly" sandwich) before heading back to the hotel. It turned out that I could have gone to one of the hotel restaurants, which was open until 11:30, but I didn't know that at the time. In any case, I was back in my room by 11:35.

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.