Fast Lanes and Tight Corners: Jeddah F1 Race Analysis

Race five of the calendar is here, and that is Jeddah. It’s shaping up to be a good championship with not knowing who is going to win from race to race. The way it should be, may I add. The Saudi Arabian circuit is the fastest street circuit on the F1 calendar, and it only made its debut back in 2021. The length of the track is 6.174km, including 27 turns. With it only being held here four times, Max is the only repeat winner so far, with Hamilton winning in its first year and Perez winning in 2023. This brings me to saying Red Bull has the record for the most team wins at present. Each race at the track so far has featured a team finish with both cars on the podium. These teams are Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari. Qualifying may play a crucial part in the 50 lap race as every podium finish except one has come from the first two rows of the grid. The finish rate stands at a high 82% with 64 out of 78 cars reaching the chequered flag in the last 4 seasons. So now you’ve had some facts, and let’s unpack Jeddah!

Tsunoda had a practice section he’d probably like to forget as in practice 2, he touched the wall with his front left, which then put him to go into the outside wall, causing a red flag. It’s McLaren that shows a strong performance across all 3 practice sessions with Norris outperforming team mate Piastri in the last practice. Moving on to qualifying and it was a very close call as to who was going to get the top spot. George Russell, Piastri, and then Verstappen all broke the lap record at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in a thrilling battle, with pole secured by just 0.010s Norris crashed out in the early stages of Q3 as he went through the chicane and over the kerb at Turns 4 and 5, leaving him to take the tenth spot. Not exactly what the McLaren driver wanted when he’s cleaning on to the top spot in the championship. So we have Piastri starting in second, third Russel takes and completing the second row we have Leclerc. In fifth position, we have Antonelli, sixth spot Sainz, seventh Lewis, eighth Tsunoda, and ninth Gasly.

It’s lights out and away we go! It was a close start with both Oscar and Max being alongside each other. Max keeps his lead. However, he did go off track. Yuki and Gasly make contact and not even two laps in we have a yellow flag. Gasly is out of the race, whilst Yuki makes it back to the pits, but the decision is made to retire the car. Meanwhile, Jack and a few others dive in for early tyre changes, a decision that I struggle to see logic behind. Lap 4, and as the safety car comes in, the stewards have made the decision to give a five second time penalty to Max for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Lap 13, and it’s a fight for sixth place between Norris and Lewis. Norris makes the move to take sixth place. Hamilton gets the boost of pace on the straight down to the first corner and takes the place back. The same happens on the following lap, but on lap 15, the McLaren driver is able to make the move stick and pass Lewis. Lewis is on the radio stating, “I’m just sliding around here, mate. I can’t turn the rears.”

McLaren forces Red Bulls hand by pitting on lap 20, Max stays out, but with the five second penalty, he has a tough race ahead if he wants that first place. Max pits on lap 21. He rejoins in fifth place. There was very nearly another safety car as Gabriel and Alonso almost tag eachother. Gabriel moved under breaking, and it was all a bit too close for comfort. Halfway through the race and Piastri in third is doing well to hold of Max in fourth. Having a breath stint leading the race Lando comes in and pits for mediums, although we thought it would be his entering in to the pits to be under investigation, it is actually when he exits that is due to a potential of crossing the line, the outcome being no further action. Meanwhile, on lap 37, Leclerc has DRS down the straight and, with a nice slipstream, passes George to take that final podium place. Then, not a lot happens from then to the end of the race. Piastri wins by 2.6secs from Max, who takes second. Leclerc manages to fend off Norris and takes third. Norris takes fourth, Russel takes fifth, Antonelli in sixth, Hamilton in 7th, double points for Williams with Sainz in eighth and Albon in ninth and to complete the top ten you have Hadjar.

Overall, the race was quite good, I did think there would be another safety car, but there was still a fair bit of action happening, more in the middle of the pack than at the front. Piastri, as predicted, is now leading the championship, but there’s still not too much in the points that the season becomes boring. I’m really happy for Williams, having produced their best start to a season since 2016 and currently being fifth in the constructors championship. They have got to be happy with that. I still find it amusing watching how long Lance Stroll can hold that tenth place in the championship for. I have everything crossed for Max that he can close that gap and hope he continues to race for Red Bull beyond this season despite the rumours. We next have Miami, and I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I’m not a fan. I think Miami is more about the hype around it and the appearance, rather than the actual race, but who knows, maybe it will surprise me.

Current Driver Standings

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Car	Pts
1	Piastri	AUS	McLaren Mercedes	99
2	Norris	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	89
3	Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	87
4	Russell	GBR	Mercedes	73
5	Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	47
6	Antonelli	ITA	Mercedes	38
7	Hamilton	GBR	Ferrari	31
8	Albon	THA	Williams Mercedes	20
9	Ocon	FRA	Haas Ferrari	14
10	Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	10
11	Gasly	FRA	Alpine Renault	6
12	Hulkenberg	GER	Kick Sauber Ferrari	6
13	Bearman	GBR	Haas Ferrari	6
14	Hadjar	FRA	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	5
15	Sainz	ESP	Williams Mercedes	5
16	Tsunoda	JPN	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	5
17	Alonso	ESP	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	0
18	Lawson	NZL	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	0
19	Doohan	AUS	Alpine Renault	0
20	Bortoleto	BRA	Kick Sauber Ferrari	0