TeamTalk Saudi Grand Prix: Analysis & Opinions on a great race
F1 NewsWednesday, 30 March 2022 at 09:43
Now that the dust has literally settled on the 2022 Saudi Grand Prix weekend, we have our GRANDPrix247 Team of pundits sharing their insights on a great race amid the controversy.
Formula 1 did the right thing by opting out of the Russian Grand Prix and all things Russian, with the "No War" slogan bandied about by drivers, and consequently, the sport has closed the door on that country hosting F1 for the foreseeable future.
However, a week later in Saudi Arabia, while we watched qualifying in Bahrain, on 12 March, 81 people were executed for their political beliefs. Think about that.
Formula 1 always a whore for money, put aside the "No War" t-shirts and took their show to Jeddah.
And on Saturday rebels reminded everyone that the kingdom is actually a warzone too, by firing rockets into a nearby Aramco fuel depot - which might have easily been the Jeddah Corniche had the rebels wanted to change aim.
This of course overshadowed the entire weekend in Jeddah, almost cancelling the race as all watched the skies with a wary eye, wondering what would drop out of the blue next.
Nevertheless, the 2022 Saudi Grand Prix did happen.
And, it was a cracker and that's what we focus on, so without further ado, here's what our GRANDPRIX247 team had to say after Round 2 in Saudi Arabia.
Dave Terrien: From the pure sporting side the Saudi race was great
As a general comment after the Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, no one is dominating! We have clearly a group of three teams, where Red Bull and Ferrari have a bit more pace, but Mercedes should be back in the game soon considering their race pace.
In the fight for fourth-best manufacturer Alpine, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri, and Hass confirmed their good form from Bahrain, but there is no clear team dominating the midfield. Notably, the three other Mercedes-powered teams (Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams) actually seem to have closed the gap on the Silver Arrows.
Based on this, the season should produce some good fights at all levels but what we learnt from Jeddah and what is really interesting are the small details:
- Drivers within the same team are struggling on a different type of tyres (PER is more comfortable on Medium while VER prefers the Hard) and not only does it show that the performance line is very thin, but it also shows current hierarchy could evolve quickly as drivers and teams adapt
- Tiny changes in set-up make a massive difference in car performance with drivers struggling to find the right balance
- Ferrari and Red Bull have almost similar performance and the very interesting point is that the performance difference seems to lie in strategic set-up (running more or less downforce hence favouring straight or corner speed but also impacting tire degradation) but not really on the genuine performance of the car which should allow for a long-lasting and more consistent fight over the season as tracks' specifications will require evolving set up strategies.
- Verstappen and Leclerc have respect for each other. These guys started taking each other out on karting tracks while fighting for European and World Championships in the grassroots of the sport. They are from the same generation, and they are the young blood, there is no need for them to take down an F1 legend when they fight each other, and it seems to bring less tension into the game.
- Maybe the rules are clearer, and the tension is far from being at its maximum since we are only at the second round, but the clean fights were refreshing, clever and very strategic. Maybe Max is also a bit more mature.
- Whether purists like it or not, the Jeddah track creates great races.
The downside of the race is the TV feed provided by F1 management to the broadcasters. We are happy to see fans cheering in the grandstands but please not at crucial moments; let us watch the race and the on-track action. Cars are beautiful and drivers are fighting, this should remain the main focus before anything else
Now bring on the Australian Grand Prix!
(David Terrien)
Damien Reid: FIA’s new crash tests saved Mick Schumacher's life in Saudi Arabia
Aside from being a brilliant race, the biggest takeaway for me from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is that – again – the new rules work, but I’m not talking about the aero package this time, even though Verstappen and Leclerc’s battle plus the early fight of the Alpine teammates Alonso and Ocon showed once more that Ross Brawn has nailed it.
No, I’m talking about the crash structure of the 2022 car.
We too easily give the FIA a hard time when things go wrong – as we should because there needs to be checks and balances – so equally, we should applaud them when things go right, and Mick Schumacher’s 33G, 272kph side-on impact in qualifying could have ended his life if it weren’t for the FIA’s new crash tests introduced for this year.
The cars gained 38kg over the break largely to allow for stronger crash structures with a nose that absorbs 50 per cent more impact energy and sides that are twice as strong against lateral impacts.
Mercedes and Red Bull both failed their crash tests in January after Haas passed and went back to the drawing board until they got it right.
My first thought seeing Mick’s crash was of Roland Ratzenberger. His crash in the Simtek at Imola, on that God awful weekend in May 1994, was frighteningly similar.
A high-speed, high G-force, side impact with a concrete wall, yet Mick remained conscious, returned the next morning and is eager to get back in the car for Melbourne whereas Roland died. I quietly thanked the Gods of racecar safety - and the FIA, that young Mick will be on the grid at Albert Park.
The Jeddah circuit bites, but the almost ‘green flag’ race with just one Safety Car for Latifi showed that after two race weekends' worth of experience, the drivers now acknowledge this and drove to the conditions of the track rather than their pre-race expectations.
The saying that the right pedal moves both ways is especially applicable here, as Jeddah needs to be treated with absolute respect. Do that as Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Perez et all did for 50 laps and you end up with the sensational race we were treated to on Sunday. (Damien Reid)
Mark Kay: Take a bow Ross Brawn, Nikolas Tombazis, Pat Symonds and Rob Smedley
Of course, more conservatively it may be a little early for some to make the call, but I am confident that we’ve seen enough to confirm that the new for 2022 F1 technical regulations have been a success and achieved exactly what they were designed to do: more sustained close proximity racing, and more overtaking.
In Jeddah, the examples continued, the brilliant early race battle between Fernando Alonso and his teammate Esteban Ocon, and the race long but brilliant late-race battle between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are just some of those.
The new generation can race hard with mutual respect. During the closely fought and often brutal 2021 Championship between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen, many were of the opinion that it was the newer generation of drivers that were not only overly aggressive but also lacking in respect for their opponents.
And yet in 2022, the start to the Championship has not only been full of tough hard racing between protagonists Verstappen and Leclerc but also refreshingly mutually respectful. It has made a nice change.
The Hamilton/Mercedes reign is over. Make no mistake about it. After the second round of this year’s season, Mercedes are in deep trouble.
The W13 appears to be suffering from "porpoising" the most in comparison to any other car on the grid, their mid-corner low-speed carry appears diabolical even though they are compensating for "porpoising" ground effect deficiencies with much draggier rear wings, and the GPS data is clearly indicating that their already frozen 2022 power unit is wanting.
I have read and heard on numerous occasions that the W13 has so much ‘obvious’ potential to unlock, but I just can’t see it and it has me wondering what it is that I’m missing!
Sergio Perez has stepped up. 2021 was a tough year for Perez as he settled into his new team at Red Bull Racing and he found himself coming to grips with a chassis designed more around Verstappen’s preference of a more front end inclined balance.
Nevertheless, with a ground effect car being more rearwards balanced inherently, in 2022 Perez looks to be far more comfortable, and looking ominous to be a far more consistent Constructors' points' contributor. It may have only been sheer bad luck that the deployment of the safety car on lap 16, the lap after his lap 15 pit stop, cost him the win in Jeddah. (Mark Kay)
Jad Mallak: The Ferrari F1-75 and Red Bull RB18 will be closely matched over the course of the season
Apart from the unfortunate events that marred the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the sporting side of the race showed us that we are set for a thrilling Title battle this year between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
The two have served an enthralling on-track fight during the final laps of the race around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, always on the very limit, but keeping it clean and on the black stuff. How long will the respect between the two last is anyone's guess, but let's hope it does.
It seems the F1-75 and RB18 will be closely matched over the course of the season, with the performance advantage swaying either way depending on the nature of the circuit, which should be another factor surely making the Championship this season more interesting.
What caught my interest is the array of reliability issues several teams suffered in Jeddah, with Ferrari almost a DNS with Carlos Sainz because of a wiring loom issue, Yuki Tsunoda failing to start, while Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, and Valtteri Bottas also retired during the race.
It is only the second race in the season, but are the new cars that fragile? Or being new machines some reliability gremlins will keep popping their ugly faces every now and then?
For the second time in a row, the racing was close and we featured several battles across the grid, which is encouraging, and hopefully future races will validate this fact, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to say again that the 2022 cars just look beautiful on track. Can't get enough of them.
Finally, congrats to Sergio Perez on his first career pole, he seems closer to his teammate this year, and while I don't feel he will be fighting for poles regularly in the presence of Verstappen and Leclerc, he will surely be in the mix more often than not this year. Good for him, and good for Red Bull.
Hats off to F1 safety that saved the life of Mick Schumacher after his horrible crash, and full credit to all those working on the safety aspect of the sport. It was such a relief seeing Mick emerging unscathed from his demolished Haas. (Jad Mallak)
Paul Velasco: Charles vs Max is karting on steroids; Mercedes dropped the ball badly
I will tackle the unsavoury political side of hosting the Saudi Grand Prix for an Inside Line on the matter. For this piece, the sporting side, the most important side is my focus.
Anyone who has spent time watching high-level karting will have admired how these two guys were bobbing and weaving, jinxing and jiving the longest cars in F1 history as if they were tiny karts. Smart. Respectful. Fast. Enthralling. Full Gas. All words which spring to mind when reflecting on their duel.
What struck me was how different these two spar with one another; a jab here, a jab there. A swing, a block. Attack, counter-attack. And patience! And how different they approach their racing, Charles all cerebral about it, and Max just foot flat, full send all the time.
Quite the opposite of what we saw between Max and Lewis last year.
There was no respect on track, too many collisions. Just red mist all over the place when those two blokes fight for the same piece of tarmac in 2021. Honestly still trying to process the difference in attitude, the difference in their unwritten rules of engagement that appear to shift depending on the opponent.
All very interesting if you share my theory that Mercedes will bounce back at some point - Lewis vs Max vs Charles is not on the cards yet, but when that happens the new dynamic between three or four (maybe even George) race contenders will further juice up this already juicy contest.
But Mercedes are in trouble no matter where you look. Their customers are suffering... They are suffering. Two races into 2022, all eight Merc-powered cars are nowhere most of the time... Where did that performance in-between seasons go? No one except Daniel Ricciardo calling them out on it.
Why are media/pundits/journos petrified of criticising Mercedes? All being very gentle with them, yet when Ferrari or Renault or Honda are in trouble, it's always the Power Units are shit.
The facts are, and you cannot sugar coat it, Mercedes is rubbish this year, they have a ton of work to do. Saudi Arabia proved it.
The F1 Title fight last year cost them dearly, the price is still being paid. They dropped the ball big time on their own wagons and their customers. It is a crisis and if they don't see it, they need pull their heads out of the sand, apologize to their customer teams and sort things out.
Dipping into my 'Karma-atic interpretation' of races, I would say it went AWOL for Sergio who did such a fine job to claim his first F1 career pole; took long enough - 214 F1 starts. Then he made a great start and went on to control the race. But an ill-timed safety car combined with his pitstop to relegate him to fourth where he remained.
It was pure bad luck, or Karma being a bitch in Saudi.
But, with no proof, my gut says the Mexican veteran did not have the firepower on Sunday night to keep Leclerc and Verstappen at bay. Same with Carlos, in the other Ferrari, he is not quite there in terms of outright pace and race performance compared to the guy in the other Red car.
Leclerc has been ultra-impressive, his sportsmanship after the race was of a bygone age, his demeanour after losing the race was that of a Champion. He conceded that Max got the role of the dice for this one (LEC got it in Bahrain) and instead of attacking all or nothing style, sensibly he kept his gunpowder dry for another time.
He knows it is a very long game this year, some you lose and some you win. Very mature and sensible, the kind of Prost-attitude that wins titles.
Max vs Charles is a Bull in a china shop versus a slick Torero; Mr. Muscles versus Mr. Brains. So as we leave Saudi Arabia and Round 2 (of 23!!!!) for now, the score heading to Melbourne is:
Mr. Brains 45 Points - Mr. Muscles 20 Points
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