Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK heads to Doha as the sport makes a welcome return to the Losail circuit for the Qatar Grand Prix. It's the first race in the country since its inaugural event, in 2021, and the team will aim to seize the early initiative in the relatively unknown venue as it pushes for performance in the closing stages of the 2023 season.

Qatar is a modern place. The skyscrapers in Doha's business district - an architectural smorgasbord that is best enjoyed from across the water, at the excellent Museum of Islamic Art, itself the work and vision of I.M. Pei - are as much a testament to the future-oriented approach of the country as its shiny new metro and other sporting and shopping marvels that sprouted up in recent decades, not least for last year's football World Cup.

Long gone are the days when the tallest building in town was the Sheraton hotel, perched at the north end of the Corniche: the pyramid-like structure looks diminutive now, dwarfed by its towering neighbours, and stands as a reminder of a bygone era for a state that moved on with the times.

And yet, for all the steel-and-glass bravado exhibited in the ubiquitous towers, for all the opulence on display in the finest malls one can compromise their wallet in, there's a romantic side to Qatar, one that can be found away from the latest addition to its architectural compendium. In Doha, you're never far from the soul of old Qatar.

The Katara Cultural Village may give you a hint of what the past would have been, but it's Souq Waqif where this all comes to life. Like a scene lift from Aladdin, or a setting for One Thousand and One Nights, the Souq takes you back to a more visceral, authentic Qatar. Labyrinthine alleyways, merchants, voices and noises from yesteryear come back to life; the smells of food, of spices, transport you to a different world, one of dhows, of pearl divers and of traders.

Souq Waqif may not be fully original: most of it burned to the ground in the early noughties. But it's authentic, having been rebuilt and restored according to how history had it, even demolishing newer buildings to bring back to life those of tradition. Take a stroll through the maze of streets and you realise nothing is placed willy-nilly: there's a reasoning for why things are done that way, for how the animal souq is laid out or where the falcon souq is placed.

As Formula One and Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK return to the shores of the Gulf for this old-new race, the track in Losail will aim for the same result: a new experience, deeply steeped in the tradition of the sport. We'll be ready to fight, and to enjoy one of the most incredible venues on our calendar.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "We head to Qatar with the determination to extract all we can from our weekend. We came back from the Asian double-header with no points added to our tally, but there were still some positives to take: we had decent pace in Suzuka, and we were not too far from our direct competitors, as we learned more about the upgrade package we recently introduced. What we missed was to put everything together when it mattered and, as we head to Doha, this is what the entire team must work for. We have to be at the top of our performance from the only practice session on Friday onwards, even more crucial than usual with a Sprint Event. By putting our focus onto extracting more performance from our package, we'll be able to make that extra step forward to get back into the top ten."

Valtteri Bottas: "Suzuka was an unfortunate weekend, with my race ending after just a couple of laps when I felt our car had some potential. I was glad to go back home to Europe for a couple of days after the double header; I kept busy training and working at the sim, to understand our upgrades further, and now I'm eager to get back on track. I have raced here in Qatar in 2021 already, and it will be interesting to be back racing with the new cars. There are still many opportunities for us to return to our point-scoring ways, starting from this weekend already: this is a Sprint Event, and with limited practice time, we must get the most out of our car, and place ourselves in favourable positions on the grid both on Saturday and, even more important, on Sunday. Our competitors aren't that far away, and as usual this season it will be a matter of hundredths of a second: I am confident that if we do our homework well, we'll have a positive chance to achieve good results here."

Zhou Guanyu: "We've been working hard, following our return from Japan, to analyse the data gathered from the new upgrades to further maximise them. Although we didn't bring home points in Suzuka, I was pleased with our performance, and I reckon we made a further step in terms of speed which now can allow us to fight just outside of the top ten - with an aim to improve even more. For the first time this season, we head to a track where I have never raced before; I have been working hard at the sim to come prepared, as we will have limited practice sessions this weekend. Sprints allow even less margin for mistakes, so it will be extremely important to be at our very best from Friday onwards: we have twice as many chances to score points this weekend, and I am ready to put up some nice battles in the field."