Key events
A bit of background on the circuit. Jeddah Corniche is renowned as an almost daftly fast street race. There’ll be 50 laps of seriously searing pace.
Verstappen said of the track: “It’s pretty crazy how fast you go around here. Normally people say: ‘It’s a one-stop, it’s easy to the line,’ but it’s not like that around here.”
Lewis Hamilton, who won in Jeddah in the circuit’s 2021 debut race, has endured a sticky start to the season as Mercedes fight to try and bridge the gap to the front of the grid. “In these high-speed areas you need to have full faith in the rear of the car and I don’t have that yet,” he said on Thursday’s practice day.
His teammate George Russell said: “It was fun to be back in Jeddah, such a high-speed circuit – that’s enjoyable.”
F1’s own circuit guide describes it thusly: “Average speeds around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit are around 250km/h – quicker than those at Silverstone, and second on the 2021 calendar only to Monza. It is, quite simply, the fastest street circuit ever seen in Formula 1 – while the track also features the most corners on the calendar with 27, many of them quick, sinuous bends as the drivers wend their way along the Jeddah waterfront.”
A quick F1 Academy update. In today’s race two, France’s Doriane Pin made it two straight wins this season, winning from pole and fending off the challenge of Britain’s Abbi Pulling. Maya Weug was third.
Red Bull’s Marko confident he ‘will not be suspended’
Asked if he could be suspended following the race in Jeddah, Red Bull’s motorsport adviser Helmut Mark told Austrian broadcaster ORF on Friday: “Ultimately, I’ll decide for myself what I do. The theoretical possibility always exists.”
But in a fresh twist, Marko said prior to Saturday’s race that he is confident he will be in Australia for the next round of the season on 24 March. The conversation with Oliver Mintzalff was a very good one, said Marko. “I think everything is cleared. I will not be suspended. Our goal is to win the world championship. For that we will have to work hard.” PA Media
Verstappen ‘going nowhere’, says Red Bull group CEO
Max Verstappen will not leave Red Bull, according to the crisis-hit team’s group CEO Oliver Mintzlaff. Verstappen cast doubt over his future when he claimed he will quit the world champions if motorsport adviser Helmut Marko is forced out.
Marko, the 80-year-old who was instrumental in the development of Verstappen’s career, faces a Red Bull investigation following the probe into claims of “inappropriate behaviour” against Christian Horner.
Verstappen’s deal with Red Bull runs until 2028 and, when asked if the Dutch driver will remain with the team, Mintzlaff replied: “Of course. He has a contract. Max is a great driver and hopefully we will win tonight. I am here just for racing. That’s it.” PA Media
More Red Bull news … as reported last night by Giles Richards.
The controversy and intrigue involving Red Bull Racing developed further when world champion Max Verstappen suggested he could quit the F1 team if adviser Helmut Marko is removed from his role.
Marko, who was instrumental in bringing world champion Verstappen into the Red Bull programme, reportedly said on Friday that he could be suspended from his role with Red Bull after this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Speaking after he took pole for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen responded to this news by saying: “I have a lot of respect for Helmut, and what we have achieved together. It goes very far. My loyalty to him is very big, and I have always expressed this to everyone within the team, everyone high up, that he is an important part in my decision making for the future.
“It is very important that he stays. I feel like if such an important pillar falls away, and I have told the team this, that it is not good for my situation as well.”
Read more here …
Youngster Bearman will be driving a Ferrari bearing No 38 today.
Pleasing news from the paddock however … Carlos Sainz, who drives No 55 this season and finished fourth in Bahrain last Saturday, has clearly fared well under the surgeon’s knife and is at the track regardless.
The fella’s making me look a proper lightweight. I was off work for seven weeks when I had appendicitis.
Today’s grid
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
4 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6 Lando Norris (McLaren)
7 George Russell (Mercedes)
8 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
9 Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
10 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
11 Oliver Bearman (Ferrari) – debut race
12 Alexander Albon (Williams)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
15 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas)
16 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
17 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
19 Logan Sargeant (Williams)
20 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
Driver standings after race one
1 Verstappen 26
2 Pérez 18
3 Sainz (absent today) 15
4 Leclerc 12
5 Russell 10
6 Norris 8
7 Hamilton 6
8 Piastri 4
9 Alonso 2
10 Stroll 1
Last weekend saw a fairly serene outing for Red Bull. Sorry, let me rephrase – the race bit of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend went pretty straightforwardly for Red Bull’s drivers.
Off the track? Eesh.
It’s a Saturday and our legal dept have enough work to do, so let’s just say that team principal Christian Horner is having a noisy 2024. Though Red Bull are hiding behind a veneer of what they describe as solid in-house employment grievance processes, the messiness, tawdriness and unpleasantness has leaked out into the ether. Despite Horner’s determination to press on, plough on, move on, march forward etc, we obviously haven’t heard the last of it.
Snappers will inevitably be honing in on any sightings of Geri Horner-Halliwell and scribes will inevitably be assessing how forced any smiles might be.
Sean Ingle, addressing concerns over power imbalances behind the scenes in F1, encapsulated where things are pretty neatly in his piece last night:
“The other teams are enjoying the soap opera and schadenfreude because Christian is not one of the most popular of team principals,” says one insider. “But they are also annoyed and worried that all this is taking the gleam off the actual sport.”
Read more here …
Preamble
Greetings. “There’s nothing to talk about in F1,” so the old yarn goes. And yet with only one race gone so far this season, there’s almost too much going on to adequately cover.
Let’s start with the on-track action ahead of us. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – the winner last week in Bahrain – has earned his third straight pole, having taken 12 of 22 last season. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pipped Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez to second … but it’s actually Leclerc’s stablemate for the weekend who has sent eyebrows shooting to the cosmos.
Chelmsford-born Oliver Bearman is 18 and his first taste of the Ferrari SF-24 he’s driving today? That came yesterday, as he qualified in 11th spot. He’s in the seat due to Carlos Sainz’s appendicitis (been there, and it was no picnic – get well soon Carlos) and belied his minimal experience at this level. Before Friday he had only completed two hours of practice in F1, and had woken up expecting to take part in F2 this weekend.
Jeddah’s street circuit is renowned as a severe, super-fast test. So, good luck young man.
Last season played host to one of the three races that Verstappen didn’t win, with Pérez taking victory. What will happen this time round? Let’s find out.
