Another fantastic race in the new era of Formula 1, this time the battleground was around the lights of Jeddah.
Max Verstappen took the victory over Charles Leclerc to help temper the dissapontement of the Barhain GP.
During the inital laps of the race it was Sergio Perez that was leading the charge with Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen close behind, they left the close racing to the Alpine pair of Alonso and Ocon, which could have trigged some horrible memories for the Alpine Team Principle, alas they did not have any carbon fibre flying off the either car. The call was finally given for Ocon to hold behind his teammate Alonso. Although it was nice to see team mates battling, how much did the battling compromise the Alpine’s race?
It was not a question that couldn’t be answered as Fernando Alonso retired with a loss of power.
The closing laps of the race brought the battle to ahead between Leclerc and Verstappen, with both drivers going toe to toe, just like the previous round Charles Leclerc showed his race smarts allowing Verstappen to take the lead before the DRS activation line leading onto the main straight. This meant that the Ferrari would have DRS allowing him to pass leading into turn one. This time Verstappen got wise to it and managed to get DRS and also the race lead. Leclerc attempted to respond but it was Redbull and Verstappen that took the spoils.
Race of Attrition
In something that is strange in modern Formula 1, we had a number of mechanical retirements, with Alonso, Ricciardo and Bottas all dropping out due to technical issues, if you add Yuki Tsunoda’s DNS, there was quite a few mechanical issues in the race. A few teams with some work to do behind the scenes.
Unlucky Sergio
Sergio Perez to a great pole position, his first in his career. Off the line he took the lead and was controling the race, until the first round of pit stops. Redbull called the Mexican in for his scheduled stops, with the Ferrari of Leclerc deciding to stay out, this is where Sergio’s luck would run out, not even a lap later the Williams of Latifi found the wall at the exit of the last corner, bringing out the only full safety car of the race.
The timing of the safety car couldn’t have been worse for the pole sitter, majority of the filed were then able to pit and save quite a bit of time, including the Ferrari pair and Max Verstappen, this dropped Perez to fourth after the Safety Car period ended.
Perez was stuck in the dreaded no mans land with enough pace to keep fourth but not enough to tackle the podium places.
Mediocre Mercedes
After the surprise of qualifying that seen Lewis Hamilton only manage 16th, with George Russell taking 6th, it was going to be a long race for the Silver Arrows, George Russell managed to take 5th, which is a decent position for the team, they have a lot of work to get into the same league as the Redbull and Ferrari. The biggest issue for Mercedes is that its not just one issue that seems to be the problem, along with the well documented porposing issues, the Mercedes Power Unit is not the best on the track, an issue that was highlighted by Lewis Hamilton after the race, commenting that he struggled to keep pace with the Ferrari powered HAAS.
Lewis Hamilton’s race was compromised from qualifying, in normal circumstances 16th to 10th would be a decent result, especially at the fast, tight Jeddah track, however the timing of the virtual safety car to move the stricken McLaren meant that Lewis had to pit under full racing conditions.
This is really not familiar territory for Mercedes, Mercedes are the dominant force in the turbo/hybrid era, however in the first 2 races of 2022, they are not at the races in the way that is expected. With Ferrari and Redbull ahead of them, they need to work things out and soon, we have already had two races, it may be a long season with another 21/22 races to go, they can’t fall too further back.
Could we see the unthinkable and have a title fight that doesn’t involve Mercedes?
Everything Else
The Williams team suffered a double DNF (although Albon was classified 14th) with Latifi crashing early on crashing on the exit of the final corner, Alex Albon suffered damage to his car in contact with Stroll in the Aston Martin.
McLaren seemed to have found some more pace, compared to the previous race, however the gremlins surfaced again, this time on Ricciardo’s car, something in the rear of the McLaren decided that it had enough. Lando Norris, hoever managed to take the McLaren up into the points with a 7th place finish.
The Aston Martin cars managed a lowly 12th and 13th, they were able to compete, however not in place they really want to. All eyes will be on Australia and (hopefully) Sebastian Vettel, who will be in the car for the first time this season after contracting Covid – 19 just before the Bahrain GP.
Alfa Romeo would be pleased with the overall pace of the car, with Bottas having a great early race, well within the points fighting with the Aplines’, however the Finn would not last long and was retired early on. Zhou had a frustrating race, with clutch issues at the start dropping the rookie to the back of the pack, however that was not the end of the issues, with a 5 second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, turning into a drive through penalty for not serving the first penalty. A mistake from the team that really should not happen, however the car is really a neat package and will be in and around the pints for the majority of the points.
HAAS had another great race with Magnussen putting the car in the points and racing (beating) the Mercedes, you couldn’t say that only a few months ago. With Mick Schumacher out of the race after his scary 150mph crash in qualifying, this was a great ending to a challenging weekend.
Pierre Gasly took a solid 8th in the sole Alpha Tauri after Yuki Tsunoda was unable to take the start due to a power unit issue.
CONCLUSIONS
In a weekend that brought into sharp focus the fragility of life in so many different ways. After an apparent terror attack on a local oil refinery, prompting the drivers looking for reassurances regarding safety leading to discussions that ran long into the night to a scary accident for Mick Schumacher in qualifying reminding everyone that motorsport is dangerous, the formula 1 community were forgiven for being a tad nervous leading up to lights out, however we were blessed with a fantastic race, without another scary reminder of the dangers of Formula 1, we were instead reminded of why we love this sport.
Long may that continue …