The opening GP of the season at Bahrain showed us which teams had pace, but being the first race of the season with new regulations, most teams struggled with reliability issues meaning that they couldn't extract all of the pace in their cars. But before we get into the nitty gritties of team and driver performances, let's discuss the prominent changes to the track for this season. The Jeddah Corniche circuit - though didn't lead to any major incidents last season - raised a lot of alarms as many drivers, teams and pundits labelled the circuit dangerous. The circuit's fast nature was conflicted by its narrowness and lack of visibility, and drivers couldn't know for certain what could be greeting them after the next corner.
To address these concerns, the track has been widened by 1.5 to 2 meters in certain areas to improve the visibility. These changes will also allow cars to go a bit faster, as even though the layout isn't changed, drivers will be able to run better racing lines, especially at places like the last corner, which will now have a faster exit and lead to higher speeds down the start-finish straight.
The narrow width, low visibility due to the close walls, and high-speed nature of the track could prove to be a dangerous combination
However, the drivers weren't completely convinced that the changes to the track showed much improvement. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz said, "I was commenting with Charles that they just moved the wall, but the driving line will still be close to the wall". "In my opinion this is not much better. It is marginally a very small, tiny bit, smallest ever better", he added. While a layout change is proposed for the circuit, organizers said that there simply wasn't enough time between the 2021 and 2022 Saudi Arabian GPs to implement those changes.
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While the changes might have made the track the tiniest bit safer, there's a threat of Yemen's Houthi attack on the Grand Prix too. The Iran-aligned Houthis said they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday and the Saudi-led coalition said oil giant Aramco's petroleum products distribution station in Jeddah was hit, causing a fire in two storage tanks but no casualties. Multiple meetings were held to discuss whether or not to cancel the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, including a 4 hour drivers-only meeting, and the authorities said that they will not cave in to terrorist threats and will continue the Grand Prix as per schedule, whilst the organizers take care of the security.
Also Read: Saudi Aramco Petroleum Storage Site Hit By Houthi Attack
As for the teams, Aston Martin has also confirmed that Sebastian Vettel hasn't returned a Covid negative test, meaning that the driver won't be available to race for the British team this weekend either. While Nico Hulkenberg will be happy to step in for the fellow German, neither of the Aston Martin drivers will be happy about the performance of the AMR 22.
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Nico Hulkenberg, AMR's reserve driver will step in for Vettel this round as well
Ferrari seems to have the strongest package overall at the start of the season, which was validated by the team's performance last weekend. Charles Leclerc won the Bahrain GP from pole position, while also earning the 1 point for fastest lap of the race on his way, and Carlos Sainz finished the race in second, earning maximum possible points for the team. There are also rumours that Ferrari has kept its engine on a 'conservative' mode, and the team might unleash its peak performance in coming races, whilst studying reliability. Considering the high average speed of the street circuit at Jeddah, Ferrari and its customer teams - Haas and Alfa Romeo - will certainly be at an advantage over their rivals here.
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Haas - a customer team of Ferrari - scored more points in the last race than the last 2 seasons combined, as Kevin Magnussen bagged an impressive P5 finish on his return to F1.
The Italian team however, will face a close challenge from their rivals in Red Bull, as the team claims to have addressed the fuel pump issues that had both their drivers retire from the Bahrain GP. Verstappen also drove an almost epic lap in qualifying at the Jeddah-Corniche circuit last season, before making an error and crashing at the last corner of his final Q3 attempt. After scoring no points on the opening round, the reigning champion will be highly motivated to take the victory at Saudi Arabia, and the Red Bull car might deliver just enough to sustain his charge.
Mercedes might continue to struggle with their issues this weekend too, as the 'bouncing', or 'porpoising' is on the higher side on the silver liveried W13. That adding to all the other issues the team has been facing will put them at a back foot for at least a few more weeks, as they'll hope to rack up as many points as they can until they fix their issues and unlock the performance of their car. The Brackley based team got a 'lucky' podium and a P4 last round, as both the Red bulls failed to cross the finish line.
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As long as the Grand Prix isn't canceled at a later moment due to the treats looming large over Aramco, the Saudi Arabian GP promises to be an exciting race, with the new gen cars making it easier to follow one another through the narrow streets of Jeddah, and if last year's Saudi Arabian GP was any hint, we may be in for a surprising turn of events this weekend. Catch the Qualifying for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at 10:25 PM IST on March 26, and the Main Race at 10:25 PM on March 27.
(Photo Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited)
