Race week review
There are many stories one could tell about the weekend of the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. One might mention that Sergio Perez claimed his first pole position in Formula 1 or how we did not know whether there would be a race or not on Friday evening. Regardless, there was plenty to report on.
Beginning the weekend, Nico Hulkenburg flew to Jeddah in the case Sebastian Vettel could not provide a negative Covid test to fly to the country. They wanted to give him the best chance possible to race and waited until Friday morning to see if there would be a change in test results. Unfortunately him, this was not the case and he was to miss a second consecutive race weekend.
An update to the physical track itself was that there were changes made due to safety reasons; these were adjustments to the corners to improve sight lines, moving barriers and widening the circuit in certain areas.
Friday was a good day on track for Charles Leclerc, he topped the charts in both FP1 and FP2. Although he did come in contact with the barriers at Turn 4 in the second practice session, he seemed to be in good spirits.
Near the end of FP1, smoke could be seen nearby the circuit. The smoke was caused by an attack on an Aramco oil plant, Yemen’s Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility.
The start of the second practice was delayed as team bosses and drivers were called into an emergency meeting.
Later that night, after the second practice session had been completed, another meeting was held where the serious question of the safety of the drivers and fans were being raised.
Talk circulated the paddock that there were up to five drivers who did not want to continue with the race weekend in fear of safety. The drivers could be seen in many photos, discussing for hours the gravity of the situation up until 2.30am.
In the end, after continued talks with Ross Brawn and other team principals, who came to speak with the drivers, the decision was to go ahead with the race weekend. The authorities had confirmed that safety measures were in place and that the event was secure.
Leading on from this, it appears that drivers would like to have more of an input on where races are held in the future. It only seems fair to allow them to have more of an influence on the sport’s policy.
On Saturday, Sergio Perez made F1 history and became the first Mexican driver to get pole position.
In Q1, Yuki Tsunoda was unable to participate in the qualifying session due to a suspected fuel related problem. Nicholas Latifi lost the rear of his car at Turn 13 and hit the barriers, bringing out a red flag.
The most surprising part of qualifying came when Lance Stroll knocked Lewis Hamilton out of Q1, dropping him to 16th place, meaning this was the Brit’s first Q1 exit since Brazil 2017.
Following Tsunoda, Latifi and Hamilton out of Q1 were Aston Martin reserve driver Nico Hulkenburg and Alex Albon.
Quite a scary scene occurred when Mick Schumacher had a high speed crash in Q2, heavily damaging his car. The incident on board and from the stands were terrifying to see. A lengthy red flag was brought out to remove him from the car and he was then taken to hospital for precautionary checks. His team put out a statement saying that he was out of the hospital and in the hotel. Although, he was to miss Sunday’s race.
After the restart, Magnussen and Gasly knocked out the two McLarens, continuing with a difficult start to the season. Alongside Andeas Seidl’s team and Mick Schumacher, Zhou and Stroll also did not qualify for the top 10 shout-out of Q3.
After the first runs in the final qualifying session, it looked like Charles Leclerc might have had a second pole position of the season, but with a late run of a final flying lap, Sergio Perez put in an extraordinary lap to snatch pole by 0.02s.
His teammate, Verstappen could only clinch fourth behind the two Ferrari’s, while Ocon had a great session for Alpine in fifth and Russell qualified sixth for Mercedes — the only Mercedes powered driver to reach Q3.
Alonso beat Bottas for seventh place, before Gasly and Magnussen, completing the top 10.
There was some movement on the grid due to Daniel Ricciardo’s three-place grid penalty for impeding Ocon during qualifying and also the fact that Mick Schumacher would not participate in the race.
Before the race there were more worries, Carlos Sainz’s car seemed to have an issue that the team were working to fix under the FIA’s supervision. It wasn’t too long before Sainz’s issue was resolved, but shortly after, Yuki Tsunoda reported that he’d “lost the engine”. His AlphaTauri would not take part in the race on what was a dismal weekend for the driver.
The race produced plenty of entertainment, with lots of over taking, luck and interesting strategy plays. Max Verstappen claimed his first victory of the season in another great battle with Charles Leclerc, making it seven seasons in a row he has claimed a victory. Read below for greater detail of the race.
Race report
It was another brilliant race weekend for 2022, with the Red Bulls eager to fight after missing out on points last weekend.
After reliability issues last weekend, Red Bull was able to be back on the top step of the podium with Max Verstappen winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. After a costly pitstop just before a safety car, teammate Sergio Perez was only able to finish in fourth place.
For the second time in a row this season both Ferraris were on the podium, with Charles Leclerc in second and Carlos Sainz in third. The Monegasque showcased excellent racing skills when fighting alongside Max Verstappen for first place, and both drivers were clean and quick throughout.
It was another uncharacteristically difficult weekend for Mercedes. While George Russell was able to finish fairly strongly in 5th place, teammate Lewis Hamilton only finished in 10th place after struggling throughout the weekend.
While it was a similarly difficult weekend for Aston Martin, they finished the race with both cars, which many of their close competitors had been unable to do. With Hulkenberg in 12th place and Stroll in 13th, the team left Jeddah with no points, but hopefully improvement is on the way.
Esteban Ocon finished in 6th place for Alpine, after a good battle on track with teammate Fernando Alonso, who unfortunately failed to finish the race. These two teammates never fail to keep their battles clean and composed, and I’m sure we’ll see much more of that this year.
McLaren had a significantly better weekend than in the Bahrain opener, with Lando Norris scoring the team’s first points of the year in 7th place. However, Daniel Ricciardo did not finish, stopping on track by the pitlane, which then temporarily closed and stopped drivers being able to pit.
Pierre Gasly scored points yet again for Alpha Tauri, in 8th place after failing to finish last week. The reliability issues continue for the team, however, as Yuki Tsunoda did not even start the race, as a driveline issue forced the driver to stop on the lap to the grid.
After scoring points in his debut, Zhou Guanyu finished in Jeddah in 11th place, once again showing a strong performance in his new car. Teammate Valtteri Bottas did not finish the race due to rising engine temperatures which caused him to retire in order to save the engine.
A heavy qualifying crash for Mick Schumacher meant that the German driver did not race on Sunday. However, the returning Kevin Magnussen scored points once again in 9th place, which will have no doubt pleased the team.
Finally, it was a dismal weekend for Williams with both cars retiring during the race. Nicholas Latifi suffered a crash that brought out the safety car which changed Perez’s race, whereas Alex Albon had to retire due to a puncture suffered after an on-track battle with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
By Leslie & Tara
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