MADRID, 24 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Jeddah street circuit will be the scene this weekend of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship and also at night, in which Ferrari hopes to confirm the candidacy that it officially presented in Bahrain and to which Red Bull and Mercedes they arrive forced to react and to improve, respectively.
Sakhir opened last Sunday the new era in the ‘great circus’ and the new regulations ratified for the moment what was expected, with an exciting first race where what was glimpsed in the preseason was ratified mainly regarding the ‘Cavallino Rampante’ and the ‘arrows Plated’.
The ‘Scuderia’ dominated practically the entire weekend and took the ‘pole’ with Charles Leclerc and a double that he had not enjoyed since the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix thanks to the solid victory of the Monegasque and Carlos Sainz, who made a great overtaking in the final laps the Dutchman Max Verstappen to take second place.
Instead, Red Bull was undone by all the work done during the weekend, where he was also able to show his potential. However, he left Sakhir empty after the abandonment of the current world champion after being overtaken by the Madrid driver and the inopportune spin of the Mexican Sergio Pérez when he was third and tried to contain Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
The German team cannot be too satisfied with its staging either and made it clear that it has not yet found the key to have a car at the current competitive level of Ferrari and Red Bull, with which it seems to be at a disadvantage for the first time. in many years. Even so, he was able to second the two ‘red cars’, with the seven-time world champion completing the podium after the misfortunes of the Austrian team and George Russell finishing fourth.
The Bahraini track brought new emotions and, above all, many headaches in the pits with the tires that will be tested again on the Jeddah circuit, which is urban and high-speed, only surpassed by Monza.
In this way, new emotions are expected on a very new track, since it had its debut on the calendar last year, then at the beginning of December and as a penultimate test that was somewhat chaotic due to its many accidents and the tension between Hamilton and Verstappen.
The English driver was the first winner of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, in a weekend where Mercedes also dominated qualifying, and where Ferrari finished seventh with Leclerc and eighth with a Sainz who could not even get through to ‘Q3’. The Spaniard hopes that on this occasion he can find himself more comfortable in his ‘F1-75’ and can even increase his performance to be in the fight for everything.
For his part, Fernando Alonso (Alpine) will also try to take a step forward, in his case in search of being much more within the fight for a middle area of the grid that is very disputed if what was seen in Bahrain where they appeared is confirmed. Haas and Alfa Romeo, although not McLaren.
The Spaniard finished satisfied with the first race, in which he added the first points of the season by finishing ninth, but not so much with the performance of his car, especially with the tyres. The other good news for the two-time world champion was his eighth place in qualifying, ahead of Russell’s Mercedes, which makes him arrive excited at a track that will test the power of the ‘A522’.
–SAUDI ARABIA GRAND PRIX SCHEDULES.
-Friday.
15.00-16.00 Free 1.
18.00-19.00 Free 2.
-Saturday.
15.00-16.00 Free 3.
18.00-19.00 Qualification.
-Sunday.
19.00 Carrera.