The Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull)triple world champion, and his partner, the Mexican Sergio Perez -runner-up last season-, arrive at the head of the Formula One World Cup al Saudi Arabian Grand Prix; which takes place this week on the urban circuit of Yeda. in which the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) will try to confirm the podium achieved last Saturday in Bahrain; where his compatriot the Asturian double world champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) was ninth.
Verstappen and Red Bull started the year in the same way they concluded the previous one: with almost unquestionable dominance, especially that of the insatiable ‘Mad Max’. And the one who came closest to the cars of the very powerful Austrian team was Sainz; who in Bahrain achieved his nineteenth podium since racing in F1 and relegated his teammate, the Monegasque, to fourth place. Charles Leclerc. The Madrid driver crossed the finish line three seconds behind ‘Checo’, on the circuit where Alonso celebrated three of his 32 victories in the premier class.
The Jeddah circuit, with the fastest urban track on the calendar – where ‘Checo’ achieved one of the two victories with which last year raised his list of successes in F1 to six – will host the second Grand Prix of the course; that, like last week’s, in Bahrain, it will be resolved on Saturday and not Sunday; because of Ramadan.
It is early to draw conclusions; and even more so in the longest World Cup in history – made up of 24 races – but last Saturday Verstappen glimpsed that he could remain intractable, by raising his list of successes to 55 in the honorable division of motorsports – the third in history -, leading Red Bull’s umpteenth ‘double’. Repeating, together with ‘Checo’, what was achieved last year in Sakhir.
The 26-year-old Dutch star, who started from pole position, also signed aboard his RB20 – the latest work of art by the brilliant English engineer. Adrian Newey– the fastest lap, in a race that he led from start to finish; and in which he foisted 22 seconds on his partner.
Engulfed in internal controversies surrounding alleged unseemly behavior by his team leader, the Englishman Christian Horner, Red Bull – which last year revalidated the constructors’ title – continues to be, in the sporting aspect, the team to beat. And apparently in Sakhir, Ferrari is, at the moment, the second power on the grid.
Behind would be the Mercedes and the McLaren. The two Englishmen from the Brackley team, George Russell and the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in Bahrain. Your compatriot Lando Norris He got in both and crossed the finish line sixth; and the other McLaren, the one from the Australian Oscar Piastri -the best debutant of last year-, finished eighth.
Sorted in pairs, the Aston Martins would now be in fifth place. Alonso, the great sensation of last year, in which, at the age of 42, he was on the podium eight times in his first year with the Silverstone team, finished ninth in Sakhir – where he won in 2005 and 2006 (the years of his titles, with Renault); and in 2010: triumphant in his first race with Ferrari. On a track where his teammate, Canadian Lance Stroll, finished tenth.
Alonso had indicated to Efe, in the video conference prior to the presentation of the new AMR24 and in reference to his goals this year, that in the first instance he would like to regularly enter the points and that “it would be an honor to achieve the first victory in history for Aston Martin«. The first seems feasible. But to achieve his long-awaited ’33’ he will have to wait for an optimal evolution of the green car, as he pointed out after last Saturday’s race in the desert on the outskirts of Manama.
The big news bombshell of the preseason was the announcement that Hamilton – 39 years old, also the historical record holder for wins (103) and pole positions (104) in F1 – will leave Mercedes and that starting next season he will be a driver. of Ferrari. Team that Sainz will leave.
In this way, the spectacular and eccentric Stevenage champion brought forward the ‘silly season’ almost half a year – which in English refers to the time of rumors about transfers and changes of steering wheel -, which directly affects Sainz, 29 years old. , which has not yet announced its destination for next year. And that he was pleased, after his great performance in Bahrain, to have started the season with good pace in the race and in a solid way; aware that he now has the possibility of “attacking”, instead of being “watchful of the rearview mirrors.”
Alonso also does not have a contract for 2025, something that happens to more than half of the grid. And what has attracted the most attention in the first race of the year is that the driver who Ferrari is going to do without did get on the podium in Bahrain, and the one who will stay at the ‘Scuderia’ did not.
‘Checo’, 34 years old, will try to repeat his victory last year in Jeddah, in a Grand Prix that reaches its fourth edition. In the two previous to the triumph of the brave driver from Guadalajara, in Arabia Hamilton – who in 2021 added excitement to the final stretch of a World Championship in which he ended up being dethroned in the last lap of the last race – and Verstappen, who three years put an end to the reign of the previous one.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is held on a narrow urban track of 6,174 meters, the second longest on the calendar – after Spa (Belgium), which is 7,004 meters -; and the one with the most curves: 27 in total. Of them. 16 on the left.
In Jeddah, with a layout that is a mix of those in Spa and Monaco, the race runs at an average speed of about 250 kilometers per hour, on a track where overtaking is difficult. There are three DRS zones and its first sector, ultra-fast and turning, is impressive.
Free practice starts this Thursday on the track that borders the Red Sea, where we will ride with intermediate range compound tires: the C2 (hard, recognizable by the white stripe), the C3 (medium, yellow stripe) and the C4 (soft, red).
Rehearsals will be completed on Friday, hours before qualifying, which will be very important, on a track where overtaking is not easy. And he will order the starting line-up for Saturday’s race. Planned for 50 laps, to complete a route of 308.4 kilometers. EFE (I)
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