Sirine Boudjadi heads to her first Formula 1 Grand Prix at Lusail International Circuit (LIC) and discovers what really happens when the city, the crowds and the track come alive for race weekend.

I’ve spent years around people who treat Formula 1 like a religion, enough to pick up some of the basics. Working on a feature about it for fact November issue only sharpened that curiosity. But nothing in my research prepared me for the jolt of being at Lusail International Circuit when the lights went out.

Before the Grand Prix, we got the full spectacle: Porsche Carrera Cup cancelled after a Lap-2 accident, a tight F2 race won by Victor Martins, a Qatar Airways flyover, a drone show lighting the sky as if warming us up for combustion. By the time the F1 Drivers’ Parade rolled out on Sunday, people were leaning over fences, waving flags, chanting names like they were calling gladiators. Even as a newbie, I could feel the tension rising like static.

Then came the moment. Engines on, floodlights blazing and me suddenly aware that every “vroom” I’d heard on television was a lie. When the five red lights disappeared, the whole race flipped in seconds. Verstappen jumped Norris into Turn 1 and locked onto Piastri, and from that moment the tension never dropped. McLaren had dominated Saturday, Piastri on pole, Norris just behind, but an early Safety Car scrambled everything. With tyre-stint limits keeping strategies tight, Verstappen stayed ice-cold, timed his moves to perfection and slowly took control. By the final laps, he was gone. Piastri held on for second, Sainz took third, and the championship gap shrank to just 12 points heading into Abu Dhabi.

Fireworks started and fans spilled onto the track. Within seconds, they were standing on the same asphalt the cars had just raced on, looking up at the podium with the whole circuit lit up above us.

A Whole World Built for Fans

Beyond the roar of engines, the whole weekend was built as a total-fan experience. From Friday to Sunday, right after the track action, the concerts transformed the circuit into a different kind of arena.

On Friday night, Seal kicked off. Saturday brought Cheb Khaled with his Raï vibes. And on Sunday? Metallica closed the show.

Between races and concerts, the event’s Fan Zone was a world of its own. Families, hardcore fans, first-timers… everyone could find a slice of fun. You could build a mini-F1 car at the LEGO ‘Build The Thrill’ pit lane, test yourself on sim-racing rigs, try a virtual pit stop, get a driver selfie, or dive into an immersive 4D cinema.

Traditional Qatari culture was honoured too: there were henna stands, craft stalls (pottery, weaving), Arabic coffee and dates, blending modern spectacle and local heritage. Logistics were impressively smooth. The LIC app held everything: your ticket, your gate, your parking area… and the whole system synced with the metro, the Lusail Tram and the electric shuttle buses that ferried fans to the circuit. The 3D venue maps made navigation strangely effortless for an event of this scale, and digital tickets kept queues moving. It’s rare for a large-scale event to feel this easy to navigate, but LIC genuinely did. And whatever you needed, one of the 665 volunteers (representing 107 nationalities) was always there to help, thanks to LIC’s extensive Volunteer Programme.

I walked out knowing two things: one, nothing beats seeing F1 in person. And two, curiosity may have brought me there, but the adrenaline is what will bring me back.