PREVIEW: 2022 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Jeddah Corniche Circuit

Round two of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship will take place this weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, home of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The night race joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2021 and was the penultimate race of a close and contentious season. Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural race after a scrappy battle with Max Verstappen.

The second edition of this Grand Prix will take place at this newly-configured high speed street circuit. The Formula 1 circus returns to this track on the coast of the Red Sea after just four months.

What happened at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix?

Charles Leclerc scored a popular victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain last weekend.

Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 as Carlos Sainz took second place after the Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers challenge evaporated in the closing laps in the opening race of the season.

With three laps to go, Verstappen had to retire from the race with reliability issues. Sergio Pérez at the start of the final lap retired as his engine cut out because of fuel pump issues.

This promoted Hamilton to a podium position. George Russell finished in fourth position on his first race as a full time driver for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

Kevin Magnussen finished in fifth position for the Haas F1 team as the team scored their first points since 2020. Valtteri Bottas finished in sixth position in his debut race for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN.

Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso finished in seventh and ninth positions for the BWT Alpine F1 team. Yuki Tsunoda finished in eighth position for the Scuderia AlphaTauri team. Zhou Guanyu finished in tenth position and scored a point in his debut race.

Leclerc took pole position, won the race and took the point for the fastest lap as the Monégasque driver and the Ferrari team made a stellar start to the season.

2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images/DaimlerAG Archive

What happened at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

Hamilton clinched a scrappy win at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the high speed street circuit in Jeddah. Hamilton clinched his eighth win of the season and the point for the fastest lap. Verstappen finished in second position and both drivers went to the final race at Abu Dhabi level on points.

Bottas with a last gasp effort overtook Ocon across the line to clinch the final podium place. Daniel Ricciardo finished in fifth position as he took advantage of the first Safety Car when he stayed out and gained track position.

Pierre Gasly finished in sixth position ahead of Leclerc and Sainz. Antonio Giovinazzi finished in ninth position ahead of Lando Norris.

A stop and start race with Hamilton and Verstappen involved in many clashes on the track. Hamilton emerged the winner and the two arch-rivals went to the bitterly contested final race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on equal points in the drivers’ championship.

The Circuit

The 6.174 kilometer Jeddah Corniche circuit with 27 corners (16 left-handers and 11 right-handers) is one of the fastest tracks on the Formula 1 calendar with an average speed of 252 km/h.

The anti-clockwise, sweeping, super-fast circuit is the fastest street circuit in Formula 1. The circuit has the most corners of any circuit on the calendar. The circuit for this second race has been altered to improve safety as the high-speed corners with the lack of run-off areas and close walls were dangerous.

Some turns (Turns 2,3,14,21) have been widened by moving the barriers back to improve visibility. The final turn has been widened by 1.5 meters and will allow the drivers to carry more speed into the final corner.

Sectors, Corners, and DRS Zones

Sector 1 (Turn 1 to Turn 12) has one of the shortest runs to Turn 1 with a series of fast left and right-hand corners that leads to the fast sector 2.

Sector 2 (Turn 13 to Turn 21) starts with a banked corner at Turn 13 which leads to the first DRS-zone after Turn 19.

Sector 3 (Turn 22 to Turn 27) starts with the second DRS-zone. The final corner at Turn 27 is a fast left-hander leading into the third DRS-zone on the long start-finish straight.

There are three DRS-zones for this race. The first DRS-zone starts at the exit of Turn 19. The second DRS-zone is at the entry to Turn 25. The third DRS-zone starts 170 metres after the final corner.

The new generation of cars this season which can follow closely might lead to better overtaking opportunities in this race.

Credit: Pirelli Media

Tyre Strategy

The white-striped hard tyres (C2), the yellow-striped medium tyres (C3) and the red-striped soft tyres (C4) nominated for this race is from the middle range of Pirelli tyres.

In the first race there was high degradation of the new 18-inch Pirelli tyres and the teams elected to have three pit stops.

The different asphalt surface at this street circuit and the changed time of the race makes the tyre wear and strategy unpredictable at this race.

What should we look out for this year?

Ferrari has made a good start to the season as they scored maximum points in the first race. The Red Bull Racing team will try to redeem itself after the disastrous double DNF at Sakhir.

Mercedes has a challenging job at this high-speed circuit as the porpoising on the straights could affect their lap times. After a great start to the season the Haas F1 and Alfa Romeo Racing teams will be tested at this circuit.

The Alpine F1 team scored a double-points finish and will look at moving up the order. The McLaren F1, Aston Martin and Williams team have a lot of work to do after a poor start to the season.

Leclerc (26 points) is now leading team-mate Sainz (18 pts) by eight points in the drivers’ championship. Hamilton (15 points) is in an unlikely third position. Russell (12 points) and Magnussen (10 points) round off the top 5 positions in the drivers’ championship.

Ferrari (44 points) lead the constructors’ championship by seventeen points over Mercedes (27 points). Haas F1 (10 points) is in third position. Alfa Romeo Racing (9 points) and Alpine F1 (8 points) complete the top 5 positions in the constructors’ championship.

What’s the schedule?

Friday 25 March 2022 – Free Practice 1 – 14:00pm GMTFriday 25 March 2022 – Free Practice 2 – 17:00pm GMTSaturday 26 March 2022 – Free Practice 3 – 14:00pm GMTSaturday 26 March 2022 – Qualifying – 17:00pm GMTSunday 27 March 2022 – Grand Prix – 17:00pm GMT

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