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Kevin Magnussen will start inside the top ten for a second consecutive weekend on Sunday, but the Dane was happy to hear that team-mate Mick Schumacher was able to avoid injury after crashing heavily in Q2 on Saturday.

Schumacher crashed at the turn eleven/twelve section of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and brought out the red flags, with the medical team attending to him immediately.  He was later taken to hospital as a precaution, but Magnussen praised the safety of the car for giving his team-mate every opportunity to get out of a horrible looking crash without injury.

“I’ve heard Mick is uninjured which is good and incredible when you see the crash that he had, but the safety is so good with these cars with the fact that you can walk away from a crash like that, it’s impressive,” said Magnussen.

“I think he was having a great qualifying session up until that point and he was up for a good result, so he’ll just need to come back and get on the horse and bounce back.”

Despite missing a lot of running on Friday due to a multitude of issues, Magnussen was pleased to bounce back on Saturday and fight again for a place inside the top ten, although he does not feel he got everything out of his VF-22 or himself when it mattered.

Guenther Steiner has confirmed that Mick Schumacher will not compete in Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after his high-speed crash during Qualifying on Saturday evening.

Schumacher lost control of his VF-22 at turn eleven and hit the wall at high speed, with the car ending up striking the wall on the other side of the track before coming to rest at the exit of turn twelve.

With the session red-flagged, the Haas F1 Team driver was attended to immediately by the medical team before being taken to hospital for checks, with Schumacher potentially set to stay there overnight as a precaution.

As a result of this, and with his car needing a lot of repair work to be ready to race, Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, has confirmed that Schumacher will not take to the track on Sunday despite having qualified fourteenth.

“A very eventful day for us,” said Steiner.  “The best thing is that Mick has apparently no injuries, he’s in the hospital right now and being evaluated by the doctors, so he is in good hands at the moment.

Sergio Pérez clinched his maiden pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Charles Leclerc was in second position, just 0.025 seconds slower than Pérez. Carlos Sainz was in third position behind his team-mate.

Max Verstappen could only finish in fourth position on a day when his team-mate took his first pole position of his career. Lewis Hamilton who was the pole-sitter last year was knocked out in the first qualification session.

The qualifying session started under the lights with air temperatures at 23 degrees C and track temperatures at 24 degrees C at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

After two safety cars which meant we only saw nine laps of green flag racing, Liam Lawson kept his cool to take the race win in the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race in Jeddah.

The Carlin driver took the lead from Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes on lap seventeen, with the Brit driver suffering on old soft tyres in the remaining laps.

While Hughes took the first podium of his Formula 2 career, he was pipped on the line by Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips who took the second step on the podium, with Hughes third.

The 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion, Dennis Hauger, started on pole position and led the rest of the pack early on until the first safety car was brought out on lap two due to Amaury Cordeel making contact with the wall.

Racing was to get back underway at the end of lap six, but a miscue from Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan saw him collide into the back of Logan Sargeant on the restart.

Monolite Racing has confirmed that Han Cenyu and Macéo Capietto will race for them in the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine season.

Cenyu made his single seater debut back in 2020 in the Italian Formula 4 Championship, and last year he took his maiden top three finish when he claimed second place at the Red Bull Ring whilst racing in ADAC Formula 4.

The Chinese driver will now step up to Formula 3 machinery for his third year in cars, and he joins the team he tested with at the end of last year eager to continue his impressive development.

“This is a great opportunity for me, and I can’t wait to hit the track at Barcelona to continue the work started with Monolite at the end of 2021,” said Cenyu.  “I’m pushing very hard to be ready and achieve the best possible results.

“Last but not least I want to thanks all in my new team for having offered to me the chance join the FRECA grid.”

For a second consecutive season, Belén García will run a part-time campaign in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine with G4 Racing.

García will run in races that do not clash with her commitments in W Series and will compete in the opening round of the season at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza next month.  Her other appearances have yet to be announced.

The twenty-two-year-old Spaniard, a race winner in Spanish Formula 4 back in 2019, ran eight races with G4 Racing last year, and she will compete in the fourth car this year alongside Axel Gnos, Matías Zagazeta and Owen Tangavelou where she will be looking to build on her performances from 2021.

“I’m excited to be back in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine with G4 Racing!” said García. “Last year we had an amazing experience and the goal for this season is to keep learning and enjoying as much as I did in 2021.”

Adrián Muñoz, the Sporting and Technical Manager at G4 Racing, says the team are delighted that García is back with them for a partial campaign in 2022, and he expects the young Spaniard to step up her performances and improve as the season goes on.

Sami Meguetounif and Dilano van’t Hoff will race for MP Motorsport in the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine season, the Dutch outfit have announced.

Meguetounif took part in four FRECA races at the back end of 2021 as a guest driver and showed signs of promise despite the category being totally new to him, having spent the year racing in Formula 4 in both the Italian and ADAC championships.

The seventeen-year-old set competitive lap times during pre-season testing at both the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain and the Circuit Paul Ricard in France, and he feels his integration within the MP Motorsport team has been smooth ahead of his first full FRECA season.

“I’m very pleased to be joining MP for my first full FRECA season,” said Meguetounif. “The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine is an extremely competitive environment and teaming up with a proven race-winning team will help me make quick progress as I move forward in the season.

“Testing with the team has been a very satisfying experience – we’ve been quick from the off. This has given me the confidence that I’ve made the right decision to go with MP.”

Charles Leclerc went top once again in free practice three to put the Scuderia Ferrari in a great position ahead of qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

After having the quickest time in both free practice one and two, Leclerc continued his great start to the season as he set the fastest time in the last few seconds of free practice three with a 1:29.735 on the soft compound tyre after recording twenty-three laps in the session.

Leclerc pipped his rival Max Verstappen who finished second in the session having only completed twelve laps with his best time being only three hundredths of a second of the Ferrari with a 1:29.768 on the soft tyre also.

Verstappen’s team-mate, Sergio Pérez was third quickest with a 1:29.833 after recording sixteen laps and the other Ferrari man Carlos Sainz Jr. went fourth with a 1:30.009 after completing twenty-two laps.

With Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing clearly ahead of the rest of the pack, Valtteri Bottas for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN and Esteban Ocon for BWT Alpine F1 Team set the fifth and sixth fastest times of the session as they kept up their current great form going into qualifying later on.

2021 French Formula 4 Champion Esteban Masson and ADAC Formula 4 race winner Victor Bernier will both race for FA Racing in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2022, joining the already confirmed Nicolás Baptiste.

Masson took six wins, ten podiums, nine pole positions and five fastest laps on his way to the French F4 title, and he was impressive during pre-season testing at both the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and Circuit Paul Ricard.

The seventeen-year-old says he is honoured to be racing in the team founded by two-time Formula 1 World Champion, and he is eager to get racing next month.

“It’s absolutely wonderful that I will be making my FRECA debut with FA Racing – I’m truly honoured to defend the colours of Fernando Alonso’s team,” said Masson.

“We worked well together in testing, and I’m sure we will be able to make quick progress from that. I’m ready to get going!”

Formula 1 bosses have spoken out about their concerns about returning to Saudi Arabia beyond the 2022 event following the terrorist attack on an oil factory on Friday, although not all Team Principals were against the event continuing.

Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has put some negative attention on Formula 1, with plenty of condemnation that the sport races in the country already, but Friday’s attack less than ten miles away from the track has raised further concerns about whether or not it is logical to hold a race in the country.

Talks went on until the early hours between the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, Team Principals and senior Formula 1 and FIA officials about the 2022 event, with the decision made to continue with the racing despite the terrorist threat.

However, Jost Capito, Guenther Steiner and Mike Krack, the Team Principals of Williams Racing, Haas F1 Team and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team respectively, have all said talks about future events in the country will likely take place.

“We are not in charge of the calendar, but the situation here is for many years,” Capito is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “I think there was a missile attack during the FE race at the beginning of last year, and there were no worries about coming here at the end of last year. So the situation for this weekend hasn’t changed at all.

Following the apparent terrorist attack less than ten kilometres from the Jeddah Cornice Circuit on Friday, extensive talks between drivers, senior team members and the FIA took place on Friday evening to discuss the concerns about continuing the Grand Prix weekend at the track.

An attack on an oil facility near the track threw the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix into doubt, and although teams were quick to come out with a statement saying they will commit to racing, drivers came together for a long, four-hour meeting on Friday evening running into Saturday morning to discuss and raise their own concerns.

Such was the longevity of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) meeting, it would be clear that not all drivers were convinced that the security at the circuit was sound enough to be safe, and the race was in doubt until further talks involving team officials, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Formula 1’s Managing Director of Motorsport, Ross Brawn, took place in the early hours.

A statement from the FIA on Saturday morning highlighted some of the concerns but declared that the rest of the Formula 1 weekend, including support races, would be going ahead as planned.

“Formula 1 and the FIA can confirm that following discussions with all the teams and drivers, the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will continue as scheduled,” read the statement.

Yuki Tsunoda felt Scuderia AlphaTauri had a good Friday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, even though the Japanese racer’s day was shortened after a driveline issue saw him stop on track towards the end of the second free practice session.

Tsunoda finished an impressive sixth fastest in the first session on Friday and tenth in the second, and he felt the AT-03 felt good throughout the day.  However, he knows there is still time to find if they want to be a genuine top ten contender come the important sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

“Until the last few moments in FP2, the car had felt okay today,” said Tsunoda.  “There are still lots of things to work on at the moment, but we’ve been able to gather a lot of crucial data across both cars, which is still hugely important so that we can learn more about them and find a clearer direction to go with this car.”

Tsunoda hopes the team will be able to solve the problem that befell him late in the day on Friday and put a fix in place to prevent it happening again, and he will be using final practice on Saturday to work through the final set-up work before Qualifying.

“Hopefully we can understand the issue we’ve had tonight and get it fixed for tomorrow’s FP3, so we can then put it altogether when it comes to Quali,” he said.

Charles Leclerc and Scuderia Ferrari were fastest in both free practice sessions at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Friday, but the day was not without problems for both team and driver.

Having won last weekend’s opening race of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit, Leclerc arrived in Saudi Arabia on top of the championship standings and with confidence, and despite a brush with the wall that damaged his front suspension, that confidence remains intact.

Leclerc started the weekend topped the time sheets in the morning session with a best time of 1:30.772, and he improved to a 1:30.074 before his brush with the wall ended his session.

“It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise good day,” said Leclerc.  “In FP2 it was a small mistake, but not one that makes me lose confidence. I expected the front to slide around more and I clipped the inside wall at turn 4.

“Focusing on tomorrow, I think the pace is there. It’s a bit of a shame we couldn’t get the high fuel laps done, but we should be in the mix for tomorrow.

After suffering a crash in Friday’s Free Practice session, Charouz Racing System’s Cem Bölükbasi has been declared unfit to participate in Saturday’s Sprint Race and Sunday’s Feature Race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

Bölükbasi suffered a concussion in the accident and remained in hospital overnight for precautionary checks. In an update posted to his verified twitter account, the Turkish racing driver said, “I am ok with no health problems. After all necessary medial examinations and as a precaution I have been declared unfit to participate in the races today and tomorrow due to the nature of the incident.”

“I am very much looking forward to stepping back into my car and join my team at the next official test in Barcelona and from there to the third round of the championship in Imola by being prepared the most powerful way, mentally and physically. Thanks for your support as always.”

The 2022 FIA Formula 2 season is the former F1 Esports Sim Driver’s first season in the category, after previously competing in the 2021 Euroformula Open Championship.

As stated in his official statement, the next time we will see Bölükbasi out on track will be during the mid-season Formula 2 tests which take place on the 12 – 14 of April at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

In a weekend that would see him compete back to back in the 1000 Miles of Sebring and then the Twelve Hours of Sebring, two-time Le Mans winner and 2013 DTM champion, Mike Rockenfeller left feeling disappointed in what could have been.

In what some call “Super Sebring”, Rockenfeller and his teammates, Kamui Kobayashi and José-María López, experienced heartbreak behind the wheel of their #48 Ally/Action Express Cadillac DPi car.

Around two hours into the race, they were competing for outright victory at the Twelve Hours of Sebring when brake issues saw them drop down the order and out of contention for a win. They would eventually finish in sixth, five laps down from the eventual race winner, the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy to have been able to drive for two really competitive teams on the same weekend,” Rockenfeller stated. “On a personal level, though, Super Sebring has been a shocker. Luck has just not been on my side.” However, Rockenfeller was quite to note the pace of the car and the efforts of his teammates.

“First and foremost, the #48 Cadillac was great to drive out of the box,” he added. “José-María [López] and Kamui [Kobayashi] hadn’t driven the car until today, but they were immediately competitive and their efforts were key in giving us the chance to win.