The Jeddah circuit recently appeared on the calendar and only offered two races, but this stage is already eagerly awaited. After boring Bahrain, where the first Grand Prix was a continuation of testing, all of us – teams, drivers and fans – are waiting for an event of a completely different scale – bright, lively, risky. It’s a pity that not all Middle Eastern tracks are like Jeddah. And maybe it’s a good thing she’s the only one!
On a high-speed circuit, where many corners are blind, although every year they try to make them visible, the skill of the riders, their power of attack and the precise metering of the degree of risk make the stage in Saudi Arabia incredibly spectacular.
At the last two Jeddah Grands Prix, the drivers have beaten many cars, but the best has always been the best. Sometimes there was a feeling that the riders were just lucky to avoid serious accidents, and the audience really liked this sense of constant danger. One of the best songs of recent years, if not the best.
Until recently, it seemed that the stages in the Middle East on the tracks built by Hermann Tilke could not be interesting in principle, how Jeddah appeared. True, they say that the organizers left Herman no choice. Well, nice!)
This weekend the support race is again the Formula 2 round, which is also very interesting.
The first leg left mixed feelings. The situation is similar to last year, but if there was a championship intrigue at the start of last season that cheered countless Ferrari fans, it is not there yet.
Verstappen and Red Bull are on their way to a third national title and Charles Leclerc is already 25 points behind after dropping out in Bahrain and will lose ten places at the start of the upcoming Grand Prix. It is not yet clear how the Scuderia will be able to pay for itself. They may not be far away, but behind everything.
Red Bull has learned to make the most of every situation and direct rivals are inferior. Mercedes fell out of the competition and Aston Martin, who came to the front, will continue to amaze, but will not be able to participate in the championship race.
I wonder if George Russell is right when he said in Bahrain that he was ready to put money into Red Bull Racing’s victory in all the remaining races of the season. Regardless of personal preference, that would be a shame. Especially in a season of 23 Grand Prix.
On Wednesday there was a curious comment from the head of Formula 1 Stefano Domenicali, who called this season decisive for Leclerc. Why not Perez, Stroll or Gasley? For Wasser? Or for Stefano himself? In Formula 1 there is only one step from love to hate.
Aston Martin’s progress and Fernando Alonso’s podium in Bahrain will set the pace and intrigue for the entire season. The Spaniard lacked a fast car, in recent years he only smiled in endurance racing, but now he has it – he waited in the wings in Formula 1.
But he was the reason why McLaren (actually Mercedes) paid the FIA a record $100 million fine, he was the reason why Nelsinho Pique deliberately crashed into a wall in Singapore to secure Fernando’s win in a completely passing race, which led to his expulsion from Formula 1 Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, many sponsors who did not want to see their logos against the background of this scandal and subsequently the departure of the Renault team.
And Fernando at least that. Already at Honda they have experienced his phrase about “GPI that engine”. And here he is again on a horse, this time driven by Lawrence Stroll. I am sure that the final will not be without scandals this time.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
