2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, March 25 - 27

[JPower]

I think Ferrari might be concerned by RB, if this car is that fast while being "so" heavy

Why? The F1-75 almost hasn't been touched since Barcelona while the RB18 has received multiple developments in that time period. I'm sure there will be plenty of development to keep things even.

[f1316]

My reading between the lines, when Leclerc talks about lacking straight line speed, is that he might be questioning the call not to push the PU to its top modes (which is the rumour about what Ferrari is doing with its first unit; supposedly they will turn it up more with the second). If it’s the case that they have a bit more grunt up their sleeve then it’s a different picture.

That said, places like Melbourne and Imola don’t really put a premium on horsepower so I suspect they will play to Ferrari’s strengths. If they win those races - which would mean 3/4 - while playing it safe in the reliability side, that’s probably the right call.

[LM10]

My reading between the lines, when Leclerc talks about lacking straight line speed, is that he might be questioning the call not to push the PU to its top modes (which is the rumour about what Ferrari is doing with its first unit; supposedly they will turn it up more with the second). If it’s the case that they have a bit more grunt up their sleeve then it’s a different picture.

That said, places like Melbourne and Imola don’t really put a premium on horsepower so I suspect they will play to Ferrari’s strengths. If they win those races - which would mean 3/4 - while playing it safe in the reliability side, that’s probably the right call.

Yea, I think that RBR has been pushing the PU more than Ferrari. At least we know rumors of Ferrari having not pushed it yet.

[ferkan]

No VSC and Leclerc wins. No yellow flag and Leclerc gets his position back, he was on Max gearbox but no DRS on main straight.

In Melbourne they will be neck and neck but I think Ferrari has that one. Binotto implied it today kinda...

[LM10]

Just finished watching. What a race that was! Leclerc or Max, both deserved a win today.
A bit of an unlucky one for Perez, though.

Would have not expected to just see one real SC today and it was an avoidable one on top of that. Really amateurish mistake from Latifi.

[LM10]

Honestly VSC is very boring and interfer in a bizarre way in the race.

I think Ferrari might be concerned by RB, if this car is that fast while being "so" heavy

I don’t think there are any concerns whatsoever. While RBR has brought some substantial upgrades already (front suspension, sidepods etc.) Ferrari’s car is the one from pre-season testing.
RBR completely solved their porpoising and are able to ride the car as low as possible by the looks of it and still don’t bounce around. Ferrari has it under control too, but porpoising is still apparent with certain setups. So alone by solving that they should gain performance.

[Spoutnik]

I think Ferrari might be concerned by RB, if this car is that fast while being "so" heavy

Why? The F1-75 almost hasn't been touched since Barcelona while the RB18 has received multiple developments in that time period. I'm sure there will be plenty of development to keep things even.

RB will bring further upgrade too probably. Furthermore, they'll try to be closer to the weight limit which will improve every aspect of the overall performance

The concern is also that if you are able to stay closer to the car ahead, and your top speed is pretty good you don't need a very high speed advantage to make a pass. Today, for example, Verstappen was very far back at the restart but finished in the gearbox of Leclerc in turn one
Also, if RB do improve in qualy idk if it's possible to pass this car on track for a Ferrari without a massive pace advantage

[Watto]

Must say, Lewis drove a great race, I was wondering how he would do with a car that was off the pace a little. he did very well.

The DRS zones are an interesting one It didn't seem as powerful for Charles as it did for Max when he was behind but, I wonder if having 2 so close was an issue?

Charles was mighty smart in using them the last 2 races but I wonder if 2 almost in a row is too much? Lifting letting Max (or anyone) the use of DRS to overtake only to gain its use a few corners later , a great tactical call and very smart but I wonder if its not what the rules were designed for.

Was some great racing between Max and Charles today.

[fritticaldi]

Once again the Williams cars there to reshuffle the standings. This time both Latifi & Albon. Latifi was heavily criticized by 1997 F1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve on French TV. Villeneuve claims Latifi shouldnt be in F1.

[Shrieker]

Once again the Williams cars there to reshuffle the standings. This time both Latifi & Albon. Latifi was heavily criticized by 1997 F1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve on French TV. Villeneuve claims Latifi shouldnt be in F1.

I agree with him.

[Watto]

No VSC and Leclerc wins. No yellow flag and Leclerc gets his position back, he was on Max gearbox but no DRS on main straight.

In Melbourne they will be neck and neck but I think Ferrari has that one. Binotto implied it today kinda...

No safety car earlier and perhaps Lecerc isn't leading. He wasn't really making and more an impression on Perez then Max was in him under green conditions. ; no doubt it helped Max in the end. But was some fantastic racing by the two of them


Looks like Melb should suit Ferarri, but we've had a quite a few races in the last year or so that looked like they would suit a team and didn't , a few changes to the Melbourne circuit too.

[PlatinumZealot]

I think they should clamp down on this… It’s just poor sportsmanship if you ask me and for sure getting an unfair advantage… (good thing no-one asks me anything)…

They can not without changing the rules, even then it would be difficult. They need to make it plain that if the car gets 1 inch of its nose in front for 1 second it is a penalty, then let the drivers decide. Just a tap or lift if you want to chance it

that would be one of the dumbest things ever, SC restart is part of a racing skill, there is a game being played by the lead AND the following cars, the lead car is trying to slow everyone down, so when the reaction game is played, they gain the most, and the following car is trying to bait the lead car into acceleration when it is backing off and/or trying to guess when the lead car will make its move

I personally think that VSC already has robbed some of the action from the races, and preventing restart games would make these periods even duller

I know there is an opinion that SC periods ruin racing, because usually it gives following cars an advantage on the leader, but those sour grapes usually start moaning when their guy happens to lose out

Reason why I say this is unfair is because remember before a SC restart the guy in second is normally waaay behind and the opportunity to close up is already a benefit. In a red flag restart too, the cars are spaced 8 meters. So it's unfair, it's dangerous and it's against the spirit of the rules to close up the way Max does to the point of being side by side. They should ban the practice and re-write the rules as soon as possible or else the whole field will be doing this.

[DiogoBrand]

I just wish we'll start seeing Mercedes battling for 1st and Mclaren for 4th in constructors, then we'll have a guaranteed classic championship.
Only 2 races and we've pretty much had 4 drivers in the mix for the win all the time.

I keep thinking about the need for DRS with the new regulations. We've seen from Jeddah that it's much easier to follow through high speed corners this year, and IMO DRS has become more of a drawback than a benefit to overtaking. It makes overtaking so easy it's not even fun to see anymore. Verstappen in Bahrain almost made a move from 0,9s back on Leclerc stick.

[e30ernest]

I wouldn't say Max lucked out. He put himself in a position to benefit from that by passing Sainz from the start, and keeping tabs on Leclerc the entire race. If anything, it was Perez who had bad luck.

Charles drove amazingly here though. I've always rated him highly even before F1 and he is showing amazing maturity and race craft here. For 2 races now he's outwitted Max, taking advantage of Max' impatience to defend his own position. Well done for Charles here but alas the Red Bull of Max just had really good pace so he eventually could not defend against Max.

I really hope Sainz gets a better grasp of the car. Sainz likes understeery cars, maybe this Ferrari is a bit more on the nose so he could not take advantage of it as much as Charles is. But if Sainz (along with Perez) can get in the mix, this will be another spicy championship year.

The Mercs are nowhere this race. Hoping they sort things out sooner rather than later. A third team in the championship hunt would really add to this year.

[silver]

That was a thrilling race! Shame that Perez lost out to an unfortunate situation. It also once again reaffirms the belief that Verstappen is so far ahead as a racer than Perez. He simply couldn't do to Sainz what Verstappen did to Leclerc. I doubt if Perez would have held on to the lead for the whole race looking at the pace Leclerc was showing.

I disagree. Max had no chance of touching leclerc for laps. He alsmost settled into coming second. Latifi came to the rescue and the other safety cars. No inroads were made until the end until the Redbull were clearly much faster.

It was the same racing conditions for Perez too against Sainz!