After the season-opening Bahrain GP the F1 circus stayed in the Middle East for round 2. Saudi Arabia hosted its second GP weekend since the inaugural first-ever GP, which took place last December. Jeddah Corniche Circuit is known as extremely fast street circuit with blind corners, which make the element of danger very present alongside with the narrow track and close-up walls. Unfortunately there were also other true elements of danger present this weekend. On Friday there had been a missile attack at Aramco facility only 10 km away from the Jeddah circuit. The team principals, drivers and local authorities had discussions till late at night, whether it was safe to continue the GP weekend. In the end the local authorities managed to convince the team principals and drivers, that their safety was guaranteed.
Qualifying session was interrupted and dramatic. Both the first and the second session were red-flagged. In Q1 Williams' Latifi ended up into the wall in Turn 13, ruining both Ferrari drivers' first flyers. The breaking news in Q1 was, that 7-time world champion Hamilton proved unable to make it through to the second segment. Teammate Russell made his way to Q2 easily, but Hamilton's earlier decision to change the set-up of his car had led to his W13 being undrivable.
The red flag episode in Q2 was even much more dramatic. Schumacher in his Haas was setting a competitive lap time, but hitting a kerb threw his car into the concrete wall with massive G forces. It was worrying to see, that Mick was taken to the medical center and later put into a helicopter to be taken to the nearest hospital. Unbelievable but true, Mick didn't seem to get any physical injuries. In the end, the suspension lasted for an hour, until the session was finally resumed.
The battle between Ferrari and Red Bull had been very evenly matched throughout the qualifying. It was Ferrari's Sainz, who claimed provisional pole by 0.044s to his teammate. Perez in his RB18 had delivered outstandingly and was third after his first run. The Alpine duo of Ocon and Alonso were 4th and 5th, leaving the reigning world champion Verstappen modest 6th. However, on the final runs Sainz's pole was seriously jeopardised. At first teammate Charles made it on the top, but Red Bull ace Perez deprived the Monegasque of the pole only a moment later. Perez took his maiden pole by 0.025s to Charles! It took 215 grands Prix from the Mexican to score his first pole, which also makes him the very first Mexican pole-setter in the history of F1. In the end, Sainz and Verstappen locked down the second row, followed by Alpine's Ocon and Mercedes' Russell. Alonso qualified 7th for Alpine, Bottas 8th for Alfa Romeo, Gasly 9th for AlphaTauri and Magnussen 10th for Haas.
Yuki Tsunoda's AlphaTauri came to a halt on the warm-up lap already, and the engine related issue proved so severe, that the Japanese was unable to start to the race. Sainz's SF75 was also hit with a fuel system issue on the warm-up lap, but the Red Team managed to fix the issue before the start.
Pole-setter Perez handled the pressure perfectly and took a great start. Leclerc in the sister SF75 held on to his second place, but his teammate Sainz was overtaken by storming Verstappen. On the opening laps the closest battle was fought between the Alpine teammates Ocon and Alonso. After an intense fight Alonso made it past the Frenchman, moving up to 6th.
The two top teams Red Bull and Ferrari stood out of the crowd in terms of race pace. Russell in his W13 in P5 had no chance to match the top four's pace, and on lap 13 the young Mercedes ace was 11 seconds off the race leader already.
Ferrari opted for a sneaky bluffing strategy. Leclerc was told to box, and the red-suited mechanics came out with the new tyres, which made Red Bull react and call race leader Perez in. The Mexican pitted, but the Monegasque didn't. Perez rejoined the track on a fresh set of hard Pirellis.
Ferrari's bluffing move proved genius. Only a lap after Perez's pit stop Williams' Latifi crashed into the wall, which brought out first virtual safety car and then safety car. All drivers, except for Hamilton, Magnussen and Hulkenberg, had started to the race on the medium compound, and they all pitted during safety car. Perez, who had pitted before safety car, lost positions to both Leclerc and Verstappen.
The restart took place on lap 21. Charles made convincing work in the lead, keeping Verstappen behind him. Sainz, however, made a successful overtaking move on Perez, moving up to 3rd. Team radio discussions revealed, that Sainz had given the place to Perez due to the incident at the pit exit (Perez took the 3rd place, although Sainz was ahead of him at the decisive white line). What a disappointing turn for Perez, who had led the race only a moment earlier.
With some 15 laps to go, several teams were hit with technical failures. Alonso, who was driving an impressive race in P7, suddenly lost drive and his pink Alpine was crawling on the track. Bottas in his Alfa Romeo pitted for the second time, but soon after the pit stop the Finn's car was pushed into the pit garage, and the Finn retired. Also Ricciardo's McLaren came to a halt, and virtual safety car was deployed. The pit entry was closed, so Hamilton in P6 was unable to make his one and only pit stop, and this was to cost the struggling Briton many positions.
There were eight laps to go, as the virtual safety car ended. The boiling hot battle for victory was now on. Verstappen attacked race leader Charles in sector 3, making his way to the lead, but passionate Charles stroke back at the finish straight, opening his DRS and passing Verstappen. On the following lap Max had a lock-up in the heated battle against Ferrari ace Charles. With only three laps to go, Max had learnt from his failed overtaking move and now attacked Charles at the finish straight. Max's move proved victorious and P1 was in the hands of the flying Dutchman.
Williams' Albon and Aston Martin's Stroll collided with each other with two laps to go, and the yellow flags brought small relief for Max in the lead. Charles gave his absolute everything until the very end, but Verstappen drove to the chequered flag as the race winner, leaving Charles the runner-up. Sainz completed the podium, which made the day superb for the Red Team. Perez was left fourth in the end, with Russell 5th, Ocon 6th, Norris 7th, Gasly 8th and Magnussen 9th. Hamilton had to settle for tame P10 and a single point only.
The red-suited drivers now have a double lead in the drivers' championship standings. Charles has 45 points and Carlos 33. Verstappen is currently third with 25 points. Ferrari have an outstanding lead in the constructors' standings with 78 points to Mercedes' 38 and Red Bull's 37 points. Things look extremely promising for the Red Team at the moment. From the Middle East the F1 circus moves to Australia for round 3. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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