F1 Saudi Arabia - RedBull Victory Code: Wait for it!
Is this championship fun or what?!!
Continuous fight within team mates, amazing fight for the victory and so car reliability drama. Jeddah was a blast!
Safety
One to start: We think this track is dangerously fast and despite the first modification in Verstappen’s turn, this track leaves a very thin margin for errors to drivers. Luckily Mick Shumacher was uninjured after his crash!
Wow events
Let’s start from the starting big news! Perez first ever pole position!! Hola Checo!!
He really was heading to an amazing victory. A pit to overtake strategy from Leclerc and the deployment of the safety car put him out of even the podium..Bad luck!
The other shocking we have witnessed is Hamilton's difficult qualy, out in Q1 after driving slower than his own free practice laps. However, if there is someone who can fight from the back of the field, it’s him. He did an amazing 40 laps stint on the hard compound tyre, climbing to top 6 position and if the pitlane was open long enough before the temporary closure, he would have most likely ended the race in 6 or 7th. A warrior nonetheless, with a beast that needs to be tamed.
Now the big fight of the race!
The big fight
Leclerc and Verstappen’s fight is at that level where both enjoy racing against each other and it really is enjoyable to watch. It reminds us of the first fights between Rosberg and Hamilton at Mercedes, like the one in Bahrain. Verstappen Vs Leclerc is an elegant hard fight…how long will this last before the first one snaps?
Unlike Bahrain, this time Redbull was the car with better pace, but ONE thing was crucial for Verstappen to win and it was a message from engineer Lambiase to MAX: ‘WAIT FOR IT - let him use all his tyres and attack in the end’. MAX did exactly that, as he followed Leclerc for 20 laps while managing his tyres accurately. After the second and decisive overtake, he had that 1% more pace than Leclerc, except for the main straight, which was yellow flagged in the last two laps.
The other teams
McLaren scored the first points but they are really struggling with pace and reliability, after Ricciardo DNF. The Australiano has 10 days to recharge for his home race.
Alpine’s early fight between OCON and ALONSO was arguably counterproductive and Alonso DNF in the end, losing precious points.
Alfa had a tough weekend with a strong performing car. However, the car again had a very bad start and Bottas suddenly DNF. ZHOU finished 11th, outside of the points, but hey..this is his second race in F1, so that is a positive result.
Haas was again strong, with a very strong race form Magnussen, which means Bahrain was not a myth race. Too bad there was only one car in the race.
ASTON and Williams are painful to watch unfortunately and Latifi is starting to be expensive for the team.
Heading to Australia
A great fight, a great weekend in a difficult race, in a difficult pre-race situation, which we are not going to talk about on this page. We cannot wait to go down under!!
Ferrari and Redbull fight is on and Jeddah confirmed it. Will Mercedes and the others catch up in the next 10 days?
Who will be the favourite in Melbourne?
Pictures from:
@F1 Official page
@Naimchidiac
@CharlesLeclerc
Luca Ruggero
lruggero@wearecars.it