What to expect from the Saudi Arabian GP 2021
Written by Nikhil Published 5 December 2021
(The Jeddah Corniche circuit from the skies!)
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia is a brand new addition to the 2021 F1 calendar, claiming to be the fastest street circuit in the world. But calling it a "street" circuits seems like a bit of a stretch as it only saw the light of day a few weeks ago and is essentially a regular circuit with walls. It also boasts the highest number of turns of any circuit this season, with 27 turns. An abundance of high speed corners, narrow width, and very few heavy braking zones means overtaking is going to be immensely difficult as compared to other circuits.
Wing Angles
An interesting sight was the preference of medium-downforce rear wings as compared to the thin Monza spec rear wings we expected to see, given the high speed nature of this track. Mercedes also seem to run a lower wing angle in FP3 as compared to the Friday practice sessions. The Red Bulls seem to feature a lower wing angle throughout the three practice sessions.
Dangers of the track
Right from the beginning, when this track was initially proposed as a concept, there was talk on the dangers of this track and this could be seen over the practice sessions. Various different dangerous situations were witnessed over the three practice sessions, most notably, Charles Leclerc's high speed crash at the end of FP2, as he lost the rear end at turn 22, and the lack of a safe amount of run-off area meant that he went charging towards the barrier, almost helplessly at over 150 km/hr.
Earlier in the first practice session, we also saw the track being extremely dusty and the F2 practice session also got delayed because of the same.
Another risk that Lewis Hamilton pointed out was the dangers of cars slowing down on their cooldown laps, especially on the exit of turn 11 and on the run to the last corner of the track. Traffic on the way to the last corner is especially dangerous as the cars are going at speeds of over 310 km/hr and cars going slowly are a serious hazard.
Tire Choices
Over the three practice sessions, Hamilton has used all three tire compounds but interestingly, the pace differential between the mediums and the softs is almost negligible. Will we see many teams opting for the yellow striped tire in qualifying over the softs? We will have to wait and see.
Title Fight Intensifies
Max Verstappen has a chance to carve his name in the history books by winning the 2021 driver's championship if he scores 18 or more points than his championship rival that he has been wheel to wheel with all season, Lewis Hamilton. But the season might go down to the wire to Abu Dhabi, as both Max and Lewis have shown exceptional pace throughout the practice sessions.
As we were waiting for qualifying to unfold, we were also made aware that Lewis Hamilton had been called to the FIA, for ignoring double waved yellow flags, but upon further investigation they deemed it to require no further action or penalties.
Qualifying may also be key to a good race as overtaking might be a challenge on this high speed narrow track.
Qualifying under the lights!
As the cars go quicker than ever before under the shimmering lights on the narrow and tricky challenge that is the Jeddah Corniche circuit, Lewis Hamilton claims what could very well be a decisive pole position. He starts ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas, and crucially ahead of Max Verstappen, his greatest rival this season.
Q1 saw the unfortunate and rather surprising departure of both the Aston Martins, Lance Stroll as well as a very bewildered Sebastian Vettel. Q2 created a bit of tension in the Ferrari pitwall, that later turned into disappointment, as Carlos Sainz struggled repeatedly in turn 11. He unbalanced the car numerous times running over the kerbing at the exit of turn 11 and into turn 12. He starts 15th in the race. However, the pitwall didn't look all that grim as Charles Leclerc qualified an impressive P4, ahead of Sergio Perez.
Q3 was as dramatic as Formula One gets. It began with Lewis Hamilton making an error on his first flying lap of the final qualifying session of the evening. He went out again and put in the fastest time to claim provisional pole. However, Max Verstappen gave it absolutely everything on his final run, smashing two purple sectors despite making a tiny error that probably cost him a tenth. He was absolutely flying until at the final turn, he locked up and hit the wall as he eagerly and annoyingly went on the throttle too early. He walked out of the car, quite obviously devastated and heartbroken by what could have been.
However, points come on Sunday, so don't forget to tune in to watch the race on Sunday, 17:30 GMT under the lights near the dazzling shoreline of gorgeous Saudi Arabia!
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