The opponents? No. A difficult car to drive? Not even. A complicated climate that can make the race almost hell? Neither. What worries the Formula 1 drivers at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the Jeddah track.
The high speeds to be maintained for over 5 kilometres, adding them for 60 laps, mean that the concentration and precision threshold must be sky high for an hour and forty, without prejudice to any Safety Car entries or interruptions with red flags displayed. If that wasn't enough, there is also the asphalt factor to take into consideration: smooth and unlikely to cause significant degradation to the tyres, thus allowing the riders to be more aggressive on the accelerator and less calculating in managing the tyres.
Yesterday the drivers raised the alarm, aware that the 2024 single-seaters are already far superior in performance compared to the 2023 ones at the same time last year on the Saudi track.
“I think physically it is definitely the most difficult race, or one of the most difficult of the season,” explained Charles Leclerc. “The fact that it's a street circuit, but with so many fast corners, obviously takes you to the limit of the car and every little bump has an effect on the car.”
“When you lose the rear at high speed it's not a good moment. So it's all very challenging. In addition obviously to the high-speed corners. You have to be very precise and this makes things very difficult, because if you make a mistake of even just 5 centimetres, you don't go. long or wide and that's it. If you touch the wall it's done. So finding confidence on a track like this is much more difficult than other tracks.”
Max Verstappen added that having Jeddah as the second round of the year makes things even more complicated: “It's an anti-clockwise track, with a lot of G-force in the first sector. The walls are very close, so concentration always has to be 100% “.
“On some circuits you can relax a little on the straights or other sections, but here the straights, for the most part, aren't even straight. You're constantly turning, you have a lot of G-force to deal with, so your body doesn't have to time to rest.”
The 3-time Red Bull world champion added that the roughness of the asphalt significantly affects the driver's vision. Turn 22 was the subject of numerous interventions by the drivers. “That curve has been like this for a couple of years. It's definitely one of the bumpiest sections of the track, even if it's not very serious,” said Oscar Piastri. Verstappen added: “Turn 22 is getting bumpy. Vision is difficult there.”
“The degradation is very low on this track, so you can push more than on other tracks where you can manage the tires and the pace. On other tracks, having to manage the tires attenuates the G forces you have to bear. You can lap more calmly, which doesn't happen in Jeddah. I think all this makes Jeddah one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar”, concluded Verstappen.
His teammate Sergio Perez, winner of the last edition of the Saudi race, echoes him: “Last year was a very intense edition, because Max pushed until the end. This is one of the most demanding tracks from a physical point of view I've ever done. But that's also why it's very special,” concluded the Mexican.
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