| Races | 2 (2021 – 2022) |
| Laps | 50 |
| Circuit lenght | 6174 m |
| Race distance | 308.750 km |
| Fastest race lap | 1:30.734 (Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W12, 2021) |
| Record lap | 1:27.511 (Lewis Hamilton, Q3, Mercedes F1 W12, 2021) |
STATS (after 2022)
| DRIVERS | CONSTRUCTORS | ENGINE MAKES | |
| Wins | Hamilton i Verstappen (1) | Mercedes i Red Bull (1) | Mercedes i Red Bull (1) |
| Pole positions | Hamilton i Perez (1) | Mercedes i Red Bull (1) | Mercedes i Red Bull (1) |
| Fastest laps | Hamilton i Leclerc (1) | Mercedes i Ferrari (1) | Mercedes i Ferrari (1) |
| Podium places | Max Verstappen (2) | Mercedes, Red Bull i Ferrari (2) | Mercedes, Red Bull i Ferrari (2) |
| Front row | Hamilton, Bottas, Perez, Leclerc (1) | Mercedes (2) | Mercedes (2) |
| Races led | Max Verstappen (2) | Red Bull (2) | Red Bull (2) |
| Points | Max Verstappen (43) | Red Bull (55) | Red Bull (55) |
2023 SAUDI ARABIAN TIMETABLE
| 1st free practice | Fri 16:30 |
| 2nd free practice | Fri 20:00 |
| 3rd free practice | Sat 16:30 |
| Qualifying | Sat 20:00 |
| Race | Sun 20:00 |
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a new track in the 2021 F1 calendar and is designed to be the fastest street track in the history of the sport, located in the Corniche region, a 30 km long coastal area of the ancient Arab city of Jeddah.
It was designed by Tilke, a company founded by renowned F1 track designer Herman Tilke, which used satellite imagery to consider which parts they could use for the new, extremely fast track.
The track is the second longest in the calendar (6174 m) after Spa Francorchamps (7004 m), and according to the simulations it should have been the second fastest track (average about 252 km / h), slower than the fastest Monza (fastest lap in 2021 qualifying had an average speed of 259 km/h) and faster than the extremely fast Silverstone (the fastest qualifying lap in 2021 was driven at an average speed of 246.5 km/h).
The simulations proved to be quite accurate and even slightly underestimated the speed of the cars – the fastest lap of the weekend, Hamilton’s Q3 pole position lap, had an average speed of 253.984 km/h.
The extremely fast track consists of 27 turns, the most of all tracks in the calendar, and as many as three DRS zones that should help overtaking while one of the most demanding turns is Turn number 13, a long left hander cambered at an angle of 12 degrees.
Although the track is very fast, in some places it is very narrow which means that in case of a collision a safety car will very likely come out, which will affect the strategy in Sunday’s race and collisions in training and qualifying could lead to interruptions.
The night time of the second free practice session (20:00 local time), qualifying (20:00) and the race (20:00) means that the conditions in these key sessions will be significantly different than in the FP1 and FP3 in the afternoon. (17:00).
The first sector of the track has the lowest average speed with rather slow first and second corners, followed by medium-speed turns 4,6,7,8 and 10 while turns 3, 5, 9, 11 and 12 are full throttle.
The second sector starts with a fast banked Turn 13 and after that drivers will barely let go the throttle until the end of the sector before Turn 22, with which starts the third sector and ends the first DRS zone.
After braking for the Turn 22, there is a long period of full throttle until the last Turn 27, before which the second DRS zone ends and then the exit to the start-finish straight where the third DRS zone is.
HISTORY
2021
Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic first ever race in Saudi Arabia after multiple clashes with Max Verstappen and two interruptions and before the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi the title contenders had same number of points.
Hamilton got off to a good start from first place ahead of team-mate Bottas and Verstappen in Red Bull and after ten laps Schumacher caused a safety car to come out.
Mercedes reacted and invited Hamilton and Bottas while Bottas slowing down Verstappen so he wouldn’t have to wait for mechanics to change tyres for Hamilton. Red Bull decided to leave Verstappen on the track.
The race was interrupted three laps later because race control decided it took a long time to clear the track and fix the barriers so Red Bull was given the opportunity to change tyres during the interruption and retain the lead.
Verstappen started worse on the restart than Hamilton who had the inside, but Verstappen regained the lead by cutting the Turn 2 while in the middle of the standings there was a clash of Perez, touched by Leclerc, Russell and Mazepin.
That is why the race was interrupted again in the lap 16 and Ocon was on the pole position ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen because Red Bull accepted the FIA’s ‘offer’ to return Hamilton’s place after Verstappen’s controversial passage outside the track.
Verstappen took the lead ahead of Ocon and Hamilton who was between Ocon and Verstappen in the first turn, and Hamilton regained second place in the next round.
After the collision of Tsunoda and Vettel in the second turn of the 23rd lap, the Japanese received a five-second penalty, and Hamilton and Verstappen had a clash in the first turn where Verstappen cut the first turn.
Hamilton tried from the outside of the first turn, but Verstappen braked extremely late from the inside after which both drivers went wide and cut the second turn.
Verstappen was told by the team to regain the position he tried in the 37th lap, but there was a misunderstanding between him and Hamilton and a controversial contact that resulted in a damaged front wing for Hamilton.
Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for overtaking Hamilton by cutting the first turn and Hamilton overtook Verstappen in lap 43 and came away with a win that helped him to completely close down the points gap behind his opponent, with the help of an extra point for the fastest lap.
Hamilton received a warning for forcing Verstappen out of the track in the last corner after overtaking him in lap 43 while Bottas overtook Ocon in the final meters of the race with the help of the DRS he activated after the last turn and completed the podium for Mercedes.
2022
The second race in Saudi Arabia was run at the beginning of the season as the second race of the championship, unlike in 2021 when it was the penultimate race, and was marked by an exciting fight for victory and Perez’s first pole position.
Perez made a great start and kept the lead ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen passed Sainz on the outside of the turn 2.
Leclerc took the lead in the race after changing tyres after Perez was the only one of the leaders to change tyres under normal racing conditions and the others did so during the safety car that was caused by Latifi on the lap 16.
The Ferrari driver led until the last few laps when Verstappen launched several attacks and Leclerc managed to fight back once as he had DRS on the main straight.
The duo continued to outwit each other and both tried to stay behind the braking detection point for the final corner to have DRS on the main straight, with Verstappen making the decisive move with four laps to go to overtake Leclerc on the main straight.
Leclerc drove the fastest lap and won an additional point, and Sainz could not keep up with the rhythm of the leading duo and had to settle for third place.
Perez is the biggest loser of the leading drivers because he lost the lead when changing tyres, and after the restart he had to give back the position to Sainz because the Spaniard was ahead of him at the safety car line.
