The Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia hosted the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, formally known as the Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023, on March 19, 2023. Due to safety concerns with fast, blind curves, Turns 22 and 23 were tightened, and walls were put back at several corners. To increase safety, kerbing was changed as well. The third DRS detection site was additionally shifted forward, and it is now situated at the exit of turn 27. The third DRS activation point was consequently shifted forward and is now located 170 meters (560 feet) after turn 27. DRS zones were altered in reaction to risky strategies used in earlier Grand Prix races, where drivers would brake aggressively for turn 27 in an effort to lag behind the competition and benefit from DRS.
Before qualifying there are 3 FREE PRACTICE sessions, in JEDDAH 2023, two were held on Friday and the last one was held on Saturday afternoon. Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing finished the first practice session with the fastest time, beating off Sergio Pérez of the same team and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin. George Russell of Mercedes and Lance Stroll completed the top five. Alonso split the Red Bull team of Verstappen and Pérez in the second practice session before Esteban Ocon and Russell.
AT QUALIFYING; By setting the five slowest times, Yuki Tsunoda, Alexander Albon, Nyck de Vries, Lando Norris, and Logan Sargeant were eliminated from the first segment. While Sargeant first had a lap time deleted for breaking a track limit, spun on his second attempt to set a significant lap time, and ultimately had to park his car trackside due to a mechanical failure during his final attempt, Norris broke the front-left suspension of his car by hitting a wall during his second timed lap. He was now unable to complete a lap inside 107% of the top Q1 time. The stewards allowed Sargeant to compete. Verstappen’s car abruptly slowed down during the second sector as he attempted to record his first quick lap. He managed to hobble back to the pits, but due to what was later determined to be a driveshaft failure, he was unable to continue qualifying, placing him in fifteenth place. Along with him, Nico Hülkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu were also eliminated. Pérez won the pole position for the second time in his career by posting the best time in the final sector. Leclerc finished second, although he was docked ten grid positions for installing a new set of control electronics on his car over the season’s permitted limit. Alonso beat George Russell of Mercedes to the third-fastest time. In the second Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jr set the fifth-fastest time, beating off Stroll and Esteban Ocon of Alpine. The top ten was completed by Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and Pierre Gasly.
RACE DAY; At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, teammate Max Verstappen came from P15 to finish second behind pole-sitter Sergio Perez, giving Red Bull a second straight one-two result. With another strong drive, Fernando Alonso placed his Aston Martin on the podium. However, he was later penalized for P3, which was later restored following a stewards’ review.
In order to make up for the possible victory he missed at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit a year ago, Perez overcame an early attack from Alonso, a tense Safety Car period, and Verstappen’s surge from the middle of the pack. This victory also helped Perez’s chances of winning the 2023 title.
Alonso impressively overtook Perez in the lead into Turn 1, but he was forced to settle for the third place due to a time penalty for starting outside of his grid box and the Red Bulls’ relentless pace.
After the race, Alonso was awarded an additional 10-second penalty for touching the car with his rear jack before serving his original penalty, which put him to P4. The stewards first reversed their decision, but after examining it, they decided that Alonso’s P3 would stand. This moved Mercedes’ George Russell back to P4, making Alonso the sixth driver to win 100 F1 podiums.
NOTABLE INCIDENCES IN THE RACE WERE AS FOLLOWS;
The first drivers to regularly pit for a new set of tires were Zhou and Hülkenberg. Lance Stroll was the first of the top runners to follow suit one lap later, and the other two did the same, moving from the medium to the toughest compound in an effort to finish the race on just one set of tires. Stroll was now in eleventh place as a result. After changing his tires, Gasly completed the subsequent lap. During the subsequent two laps, Sainz, Leclerc, and Ocon did likewise, with Sainz re-joining the track before Stroll. Verstappen was moved up to third place by all of this. Stroll was abruptly instructed to stop his car on the track shortly after on lap seventeen over his team’s radio and duly did so just outside turn 15, But soon after, the safety car was brought into action. All of the drivers, including the top five at the time (Pérez, Alonso, Russell, Verstappen, and Hamilton), were encouraged to enter the pits to do their scheduled tire changes as Alonso served his five-second time penalty(which was later reviewed)
Albon had to withdraw his Williams at lap twenty-eight due to a brake issue. Pérez, Verstappen, Alonso, Russell, Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc, Ocon, and Gasly rounded out the top 10 drivers, with Tsunoda joining them. For the following 18 circuits, this standing remained unchanged until Magnussen passed Tsunoda to claim the last point.
On the radio during the closing laps, Alonso may have been given a further five seconds in penalties, first by Mercedes and then by Aston Martin. Despite no official message claiming an investigation being displayed, Alonso responded by widening his lead over Russell to more than five seconds. Pérez and Verstappen easily won the race, with Verstappen completing the fastest lap on the final lap and earning the additional point to keep the championship lead. Despite both drivers reporting problems with their cars, they nonetheless finished first and second. With his third-place finish, Alonso surpassed Russell and Hamilton to become the sixth driver in Formula One history to reach 100 podium finishes. The remaining top ten drivers were Magnussen, Sainz, Leclerc, Ocon, Gasly, and Gasly.
WITH THE SEASON SO YOUNG WE ARE YET TO SEE HOW THE EVENTS UNFOLD AND FINALLY END UP AT THE TOP
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palvin@spaceyamagari.com
