In Pictures: Saudi Arabia 2023
The Formula 1 circus arrived in Jeddah for the second race of the 2023 season. The circuit suffered some minor alterations to the layout to increase safety and improve visibility with the addition of rumble lines, beveled curbs, re-profiled walls, and the relocation of the third DRS zone. Jeddah is the fastest street circuit in the F1 calendar… 72% of the lap is spent at full throttle…
* Charles Leclerc was set to receive a 10-place grid starting grid position for new electronics in his Ferrari.
* Lewis Hamilton and Angela Cullen announced their departure after seven years together.
This was the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix!
FRIDAY
FP1
As had happened in Bahrain, FP1 was not as representative as Qualifying and the race are both at night, with a lot cooler temperature than daytime. Nevertheless, most drivers came out onto the track for their respective installation laps, many going directly to their first timed laps, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez topping the charts early on. Jeddah was Sergio’s first pole position (and only one to date) in F1.
And after a pretty uneventful hour, it was both Red Bulls ahead of both Aston Martins, ahead of both the Mercedes and the first of the Ferrari.
Max Verstappen did the fastest lap, a 1:29. 617, followed by Checo Perez, and Fernando Alonso… Mmmm… That’s how they finished in Bahrain…
FP2
Practice Two was a lot more representative as it was run at the same time of Qualifying and the start of the Grand Prix. Interestingly, air temperature wasn’t as cool as expected, although the track temperature was more than 10° cooler than the previous practice run.
Everyone went out and times started to drop bit by bit, first with Sainz in the Ferrari, then with Alonso in the Aston Martin, then Verstappen in the Red Bull, then Alonso again. It was a good show to watch, and not even ten minutes have gone into the session!
After the first half hour, less than 1.5 seconds separated the entire field with Verstappen on top, just ahead of Alonso and Perez. Traffic did play a bit of havoc in some of the qualifying runs.
Most of the second part of the session was devoted to long runs using different tire compounds.
FP2 ended with Max Verstappen the fastest, followed by Fernando Alonso and Checo Perez. But remember, it was just practice… Or so they said…
SATURDAY
FP3
Third and final practice session of the weekend started… One last run under the Sun!
Unfortunately, AlphaTauri mechanics detected an issue on Nick De Vries’ car and proceeded to change the Power Unit, no practice for him. And since the practice takes place at an unrepresentative time for the race, not everyone was kin to go out, and after five minutes, only Stroll and Alonso had gone out for their installation laps. By the ten minutes mark, only McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had joined the Aston Martin duo on track.
INTERESTING FACT: Two drivers have used the number 81 in F1, Maurice Trintignant, during the 1951 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, and Oscar Piastri in 2023.
As had happened the day before, traffic played a large part in many a driver’s timed laps. In the end, it was Max Verstappen setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far, a blistering 1:28.485, 0.285 off last year’s Pole Position lap. He was followed by Perez and Alonso… again…
QUALIFYING
The moment of truth, this was the second Qualifying hour of 2023.
Q1
Cars went out at a snail's pace, trying to get as much free air ahead of them as traffic played havoc amongst many drivers’ timed laps.
Logan Sargeant impressed everyone with a very fast lap that placed him (momentarily) first, but his lap was (controversially) deleted for track limits. Then had a bit of a moment when his Williams spun round at Turn 22, ruining his tires. Meanwhile, Lando Norris clipped the wall in the final corner, damaging his McLaren.
After the first round of Qualifying, it was Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Nick De Vries, Lando Norris, and Logan Sargeant knocked out of Qualifying. Upfront, Both Red Bulls, followed by both Aston Martin, followed by both Ferraris, then came Hulkenberg, Russell, Zhou, and Hamilton the Top-Ten.
Q2
13 of the 15 remaining cars went out immediately, and as in Q1, everyone were fighting for track position. And after the first few timed laps have been completed, Verstappen reported a problem and went, albeit very slowly, to the pits. It appeared to be a drive shaft issue, losing drive.
At the end of this game-changing session, it was Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Max Verstappen, not going through to the final shoot-out. Perez did knocked Alonso out of the top of the charts in his final Q2 lap. Leclerc and Sainz a bit behind the Top-Two.
Q3
And then there were ten. And what a fantastic in the end it was the other Red Bull getting Checo Perez his second Pole Position in Formula One… His first was also at Jeddah, in 2022… so he joins Jean Alesi as the only drivers in history to have multiple career pole positions but all at the same venue (Alesi has two career poles, both at Monza).
The final order of Qualifying was Sergio Perez on Pole, followed by Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and Pierre Gasly.
Leclerc started twelfth as he had a ten-place grid penalty.
INTERESTING FACT: Last time Aston Martin started in the front row for a Grand Prix was Roy Salvadori at the 1959 British Grand Prix at Aintree.
““You really feel Formula 1 cars coming alive in this place... Max has been really strong this weekend, hopefully tomorrow we can have both cars up there””
SUNDAY
Temperature for the night race at Jeddah was around 26°C and with about forty minutes to the start of the Grand Prix cars came into the track for some installation laps and to take their respective places on the Grid.
Red Bull reported they changed the rear suspension, both drive shafts, and the gearbox on Max Verstappen’s car after his failure in qualifying. The gearbox was the one used in Bahrain so no penalty.
There were some changes in the drivers' parade in Jeddah: first there was to be a ride in classic cars, then on a truck trailer, and in the end, the parade was canceled. Drivers gave interviews in front of F1 cameras but will not tour the track.
It must be said that Saudi Arabia is not a race like any other in the calendar, with a lot fewer people in attendance than in other venues. It appeared to be made primarily for TV.
In any case, the grid formed in the usual tense atmosphere before a Grand Prix.
The race started with a fast-charging Fernando Alonso taking the lead early on, however, he was penalized with a 5-second penalty for incorrect grid position on the start. The last time Alonso led a lap in a Grand Prix was Germany in 2012… But as soon as the DRS overtaking aid was activated, Perez reclaimed the lead at the end of the main straight.
The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc started advancing but not as fast as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, who started fifteenth and was coming through traffic at an enormous pace.
Then, Lance Stroll was told to stop the car immediately, he did so and went to a car recovery area trying to not impede the race, but the stewards did not think that was enough and promptly deployed a VSC (Virtual Safety Car) and soon thereafter a Safety Car. Most drivers took to the pits for a ‘free’ pitstop, the biggest loser was Perez, although he was able to hold P1 from Alonso and Russell. The big winner was Verstappen, who emerged from the pits in fourth, then came Sainz, Hamilton, and Leclerc.
Hamilton passed Sainz after some strong resistance from the Spaniard, but in the end, the Ferrari could not fight Hamilton’s Mercedes, who was now fifth.
Perez was now leading comfortably, managing his tires. Behind him, a fast-charging Verstappen overtook Russell’s Mercedes, and a few laps later he repeated the move to pass Alonso for second place. Perez and Verstappen started trading fastest laps between them, with Perez keeping around a five-second distance to Verstappen.
During the last laps of the race, Russell was informed that Alonso might have to get the previously served 5-second penalty as he served it during the Safety Car period. Aston Martin informed Alonso as well and a battle between both drivers started, Russell trying to be within five seconds and Alonso to be ahead by at least 5-seconds. In the end, Alonso won, pulling a 5.138 lead over Russell.
Sergio Perez dominated the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix winning over Max Verstappen in second, and on his 100th podium in F1, Fernando Alonso finished third for Aston Martin, 19 years, 11 months, and 24 days after his first…. Behind them came the Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton, the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc, then the Alpines of Ocon and Gasly, and in the final points paying position, Kevin Magnussen for Team Haas. Superb stuff!
Then, the stewards reported a 10-second penalty to Fernando Alonso, losing his third place, now in the hands of George Russell. Alonso was demoted to fourth for not serving the penalty correctly.
A few hours later, the FIA reverted their decision and overturned the second penalty, giving Alonso his third place back… Russell handed the trophy back…
Despite Perez doing everything correctly to win at Jeddah, it was Max Verstappen who impressed the most, so he ended up being voted “Driver of the Day” by the F1.com’s fans.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM:
““I had a wicked race - which is a new word I learnt this week! I didn’t have a great start but after I got back around Fernando, I was able to create a good gap between the rest of the field and me... until the safety car came out and I was reminded of Jeddah 2022… It was a new race after the safety car though and I’m happy I was able to build a gap again and then keep it, even when Max was pushing at the end. Everyone back in Milton Keynes and here at the track have built such a fantastic car for us this season. I love being a part of this Team because of the way we push and the way we deliver, I’m so proud of us. The Team is working at such a high level so it’s really great to be a part of. In the end, we must remember it’s a long season but tonight was a massive team result.””
““The beginning of the race was a bit tricky, it was hard to follow in the train of cars because there was very low grip. At one point it all settled down a bit, I could move forward and the safety car helped a little bit. It was about being calm and overtaking the cars one by one. In general P2 was always the target today. Today was about recovering what was possible, if I had qualified P1 then today would have looked very different. I was catching Checo towards the end of the race but we calculated it wouldn’t be enough to make up the gap to him by the end of the race. I started to feel a vibration in the laps where I was catching and trying to push, I started to feel some instability in the car. Sometimes it’s better to just tell yourself it’s better to bring that P2 home. As a Team we have to work on making sure both cars are reliable because we have a very fast car but I still think we can do a better job. I would like a clean weekend in Melbourne to maximize everything we can. I am happy with the way it is turning it out at the moment but it is still a long season.””
Alonso after being informed of the 10-second penalty:
““It doesn’t hurt much, to be honest. I was on the podium, I did the pictures, I took the trophy, I celebrated with the champagne. Now I have apparently three points less; I don’t have 15, I have 12.””
Alonso after his third place was reinstated:
““I am happy in the end with the result tonight and our second podium. We showed that we can be the second fastest team and we had good pace throughout the race. It was my mistake at the start with the position on the grid, but we pushed to make up that time. Coming into this weekend we were not sure exactly where we would be, so this is good news for us going into the next few races. I am looking forward to Australia next.””
