Just a couple of days after the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, the F1 area made the quick journey from Manama to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó picks out key stats, trivia and details ahead of the Jeddah F1 race.
Challenging observe – Jeddah is the quickest road circuit of the yr. The observe was designed three years in the past and has been frequently improved since then. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is run at night time, towards the breathtaking backdrop of the Corniche alongside the Red Sea, round 30 kilometres from the metropolis centre.
The highest quantity of turns – The Saudi Arabian GP is held on a really excessive pace observe: the Jeddah Corniche Circuit has 27 corners and is an adrenaline rush for the drivers as they full the observe at a median pace of about 250 km/h, fairly comparable to that at Monza.
Long observe – The observe not solely options the highest quantity of corners, however it’s the second longest circuit after Belgium’s iconic Spa race course with a size of 6.174km. Drivers will full 50 laps in the present day to full the race distance of 308.450km.
Track numbers – There is an offset of 250m between the begin and end line. As for the pitlane pace limits, drivers want to adhere to a most of 80kph in all classes of the weekend.
DRS zones – There shall be three DRS zones. The first one has a detection level positioned on the exit to Turn 17 with the activation zone situated on the exit to Turn 19. The second zone has its detection level on the entry to Turn 22 with the activation zone mendacity on the exit to Turn 25. The detection level of the third DRS zone is discovered on the exit to Turn 27 with drivers permitted to activate their DRS 170m after this exact same nook.
Lap file – Lewis Hamilton not solely claimed the win in the inaugural Jeddah race, however he additionally set the finest lap in 2021 which remains to be the official lap file round the 6.174km observe. The Mercedes driver posted a 1m30.734 as his finest lap on target to declare victory in the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The quickest ever lap – Lewis Hamilton claimed pole place for the 2021 Jeddah race with a time of 1m27.511s which remains to be the finest ever lap round the quickest road observe in F1. Two years in the past, Sergio Perez went on to declare his first profession pole after setting the benchmark with a 1m28.200s. Last yr noticed the Mexican proceed his spectacular kind in Jeddah, securing pole place with a time of 1m28.265s. Yesteday’s qualifying session noticed Max Verstappen submit the quickest lap with a time of 1m27.472s which was just below a tenth of a second faster than what Hamilton managed in 2021.
Middle vary – For the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, C2 is the P Zero White onerous, C3 is the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 is the P Zero Red smooth.
Strategy – The observe floor gives an honest stage of grip, however with out being too abrasive. Considering the tyre efficiency proven on the longer runs accomplished throughout the observe classes, a one-stop tyre technique is the most definitely to be picked by the groups.
Safety automotive – However, pre-race technique calculations might be rapidly thrown out of the window when security automotive makes an look in the race. And the Jeddah Corniche Circuit has proved to be a observe the place security automotive and digital security automotive often make an look.
In truth, there have been a lot of Safety Car and VSC intervals in Jeddah Corniche Circuit’s three appearances on the Formula 1 calendar thus far. In 2021, the security automotive was deployed two instances with the VSC additionally deployed 3 times.
The Safety Car made a single look in the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as the end result of a crash for Williams’ Nicholas Latifi on the seventeenth lap. The digital security automotive was additionally deployed a single time after Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren automotive got here to a halt close to the entry to the pit lane.
Front restricted – The circuit presents a medium stage of grip however the sand blown onto the floor can affect this on the low-abrasion asphalt. The observe, which overlooks the Red Sea, shouldn’t be particularly demanding in phrases of traction and braking, with lateral forces predominantly affecting the tyres.
Changes – There are not any important modifications of significance since final yr’s occasion.
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