Race Recall: Jeddah

Checo looks back at the time he made history at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

This

weekend

return

the

lightning-fast

Jeddah

street

circuit

for

the

third

time

the

Team’s

(and

the

sport’s)

history.

In 2021 Saudi Arabia became the third race in the Middle East to take place under floodlights, joining Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

The average lap speed is a blistering 250kph, second only to Monza as the fastest track on the calendar. This is despite its 27 corners, most of which are slight bends so the drivers can keep the loud pedal pinned to the floor.

The Bulls Take Jeddah

Saudi Arabia made its debut in 2021 as the penultimate race of the season. The first race saw the Mercedes’ of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas take control in P1 and P2 with Max qualifying in P3.

The race finished with Hamilton in first while Max was able to climb up to P2, setting up the tightest final round in F1 history – and we all remember how that turned out!

When the Team returned to Jeddah last year it was off the back of a double DNF at the season opener in Bahrain. But Max was keen to forget about the last race and get his season on track. He was able to take his first win of the season in Saudi Arabia after an excellent back and forth with Charles Leclerc that lasted for the final few laps of the race.

On lap 42 of 50, Leclerc was leading, but Max was closing on the Ferrari Driver, at the end of the lap Max attacked and swept past the Ferrari under DRS. Leclerc immediately struck back and using drag reduction on the main straight at the start of lap 43 he powered past Max to retake the lead. The cat and mouse game began and at the end of the lap Max attacked again on the next lap, once more closing under DRS ahead of turn 27, but this time he locked up and Leclerc held the lead as they began lap 44.

The Battle Of The Race

With five laps to go Max attempted to make a move into turn one. Leclerc positioned his car well though and the World Champion had to back out of the attempt. He closed again rapidly, however, and at the end of the lap put his car almost alongside the Ferrari. That gave him the perfect opportunity at the start of lap 47, and with the aid of DRS on the main straight he swept past the Ferrari to take the lead. Leclerc wasn’t finished, however, and almost immediately he was on the attack, looking to pressure Max into a mistake. Leclerc would have one last chance, at the end on the final lap, but while Leclerc got close in turn 27 and his rear wing opened to give him an extra boost of speed it wasn’t enough and Max roared across the line to take his first victory of 2022.

Even though Max took his first win of the season at the race in Saudi Arabia, the weekend also saw Checo take his maiden pole in his 215th race in Formula One.

In the first runs of Q3 Checo found himself in P3, but when he went out for his final run, he knew that he needed to beat Leclerc’s time of 1:28.225. He went out and set an absolute flyer, besting the Ferrari’s time by 0.025s to claim his first pole.

An Unforgettable Moment For Checo, And For Us

Talking to Checo about that achievement, he’s quick to point out that even though the car was only two races in, he knew the RB18 was a winner. “The lap felt great and I knew I was on pole because the lap felt very special,” he said. “I felt comfortable in the RB18 straight away, so the pace was there, probably not from day one because I had to adapt to the car, but it was really good to get up to speed with the car.”

Heading back there this year, Checo feels even better prepared and that he could improve. “Last year I struggled a bit because of not really understanding the tyres, but it’s something we’ve done a lot of work on in the winter and I feel prepared.”

Checo enjoyed Saudi Arabia last year – obviously – an he’s looking forward to being back on the street circuit. “The track offers a great challenge. It has a lot of blind spots, which isn’t nice, but generally it’s a high risk, high reward track,” he concluded.

That First Pole Feeling