Hakkinen: Leclerc and Ferrari will perform better in Jeddah

Mika Hakkinen, former Formula 1 driver and two-time world champion, shared his predictions ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix…

If I were still racing in Formula I think I would like the track in Jeddah. It’s going very fast, everyone here is flying at full speed. It is hard to imagine that the third Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is ​​just around the corner and it will be very different from the Bahrain race that kicked off the season.

If you make a mistake on the track in Sakhir, there is plenty of room on the sides, but the city ring in Jeddah does not forgive mistakes. The barriers here are very close to the trajectory and a good example of what can happen we saw in 2021 when Max Verstappen crashed into the wall on a very fast qualifying lap.

When the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was held for the first time, we saw the race stopped twice with red flags and the safety car came out on track four times. This shows how easy it is to make a miscalculation there.

High speeds and strong barriers make riders’ lives difficult. Although there are 27 corners on the track, many have to be driven at full throttle, as modern Formula 1 cars generate enough downforce, which gives them good grip on the asphalt. Many riders commented on the level of grip this track offers and compared to Bahrain there will be less rubber degradation.

Cars accelerate to 270-290 km/h on four track sections and DRS zones are very important. If we recall what we have seen in recent years, we can expect many events to take place on the track, the battle will unfold very sharply and for sure, things will not happen without safety cars. Team strategists will prepare for this by planning tactics.

Who to bet on?

In Bahrain, we saw Red Bull Racing hold on to last year’s lead in 2023. They were about 0.3 seconds faster in a lap than their closest rivals – the Ferrari and Aston Martin cars lacked speed. But I don’t think the gaps in Jeddah will be that big, so Red Bull will have to work hard if they want to take the entire front row at the end of qualifying.

Sergio Pérez took pole at this circuit last year, but Max Verstappen won the race and I predict the reigning world champion will also be the fastest this weekend. But whose car will be next to his RB19 in second on the grid is another question.

In Bahrain, Fernando Alonso was fastest in two out of three practice sessions and spent his debut weekend with confidence at Aston Martin. In qualifying he showed the fifth fastest time, then drove a great race and finished third. I expect him to be very fast on Saturday and now – maybe he can even strangle between two Ferraris.

The podium in the first stage of the season gave Fernando confidence and he will do his best to repeat that result.

Frederic Vasseur, the new head of Ferrari, is confident his team can impose a fight on Red Bull. I hope we will see it already in Saudi Arabia. In Bahrain, Charles Leclerc was very upset that there were technical problems with his car, so now he hopes to perform more successfully together with Carlos Sainz, his partner, and this time everything will be fine with reliability.

Mercedes’ car is currently the fourth fastest, and of course this team has lost a lot of ground, as they dominated the championship from 2014 to 2020. But they openly talk about the problems with the car and admit that the concept behind it was ineffective.

When Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are struggling, others can take advantage. Including Valtteri Bottas, who finished 8th at the wheel of Alfa Romeo in Bahrain. By the way, in 2021 he showed the 2nd result in qualifying and took 3rd place in the race there, so he likes this track.

According to my predictions, this weekend we can expect Max to become superior again – he is now in top form. And yet it seems to me that Charles Leclerc and Ferrari will be more competitive in Jeddah and that Fernando Alonso will attack at full strength to finish in the top three again.