top of page

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Everything you need to know about the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Round 02 - March 17th - 19th

History

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was first held in 2021 and it did not disappoint. Hosted on the coast of the Corniche a 30km resort area in the city of Jeddah. Designed by the Tilke company, in copperation with Formula 1’s own Motorsports team the track is the second longest on the calendar and features nothing but high speed corners, long straights and plenty of opportunities for overtakes.

Bahrain Grand Prix Track.png

Jeddah Corniche Circuit

Corners: 27
DRS Zones: 3
Circuit Length: 6.174km (3.833mi) long
Total Race Distance:308.45km (191.661mi)
Number of Laps: 50
Lap Record: 1:30.734 Lewis Hamilton (2021)

What the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix gave us

Sergio Perez took a dominant victory at the 2023 race. Starting on pole position the Mexican driver took a strong win ahead of teammate Max Verstappen who started 15th after a driveshaft failure in qualifying. Both drivers however were unhappy throughout the race, Perez was unhappy with the pace he had been targeted to drive to claiming he was told to push flat out uneccessarily around the narrow Jeddah Corniche Circuit. He was also unhappy with the Red Bull team favouring Max Verstappen when he was told that both drivers were not pushing for the fastest lap. However Verstappen set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap taking that all important point which put him 1st in the drivers championship just one point ahead of Perez.

Verstappen did not have the easiest race fighting from 15th on the grid and seemed to have mechnical worries in the back of his mind as he reported that there was an unsettling vibration coming from the car. Clearly he was unsure if his car would make to the end after putting in the gearbox used at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Aston Martin had an up and down race as Fernando Alonso was hit with a penalty and then another podium threatening penalty which was successfully appealed by the team. Alonso was first given a 5 second time penalty for his starting position on the grid being slightly too far left for the FIA's liking. He was then hit with a 10 second penalty as one of the mechanics looked to have touched the car while serving his 5 second penalty during the safety car. However the FIA took too much time awarding the team with the penalty as well as Aston Martin taking 7 pieces of evidence of previous incidents of the same nature to the appeal to fight their case. Eventually Alonso was confirmed to have taken his 100th Formula 1 career podium.

Previous Winners

2023: Sergio Perez, Red Bull
2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2021: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (Inaugural Race)

FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2023 SCHEDULE

Friday March 17th:
Practice 1 (FP1) : 13:30 - 14:30 (Finished)
Practice 2 (FP2): 17:00 - 18:00 (Finished)

Saturday March 18th:
Practice 3 (FP3): 13:30 - 14:30 (Finished)
Qualifying: 17:00 - 18:00 (Finished)

Sunday March 19th:
Race Start: 17:00 (Finished)

bottom of page