[iamahunter]

Jeddah

Fast. Very fast. Average speeds around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit are set to be 252km/h – quicker than those at Silverstone, and second on the 2021 calendar only to Monza – aka ‘The Temple of Speed’. It will, quite simply, be the fastest street circuit ever seen in Formula 1.

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a temporary street circuit (albeit adorned with some permanent sections), located on the Corniche – a 30km coastal resort area of the ancient Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. Designed by the Tilke company, in conjunction with Formula 1’s own Motorsports team – who used Google Earth for their initial investigations into potential layouts – F1’s Ross Brawn said of the track: “What we want to see is a race circuit. We don’t want Mickey Mouse circuits. We don’t want those old classic street circuits with 90 degree turns. We want fast sweeping circuits, circuits which are going to challenge the drivers – and they are going to love it.”

Track Details
Lap length: 6.174 km (3.343 mi)
Race laps: 50
Race distance: 308.45 (191.817 mi)
Maximum speed : 330kph (205.052 mph)
Pit lane time loss : 23s
Pole position: Right-hand side of the track





The Schedule


The Track


The Tyres


Weather

[Akshay6988]

Must say the new track looks amazing


I hope this race doesn't make either Max or Lewis the champion, I want to watch them fight for the title in the last race !

[PGNarain]

With both the Mercedes setting the fastest times in FP1 and 2, and Hamilton ending up on top each time, it surely looks like that the Driver's Title fight will go onto the last race! Constructer Championship I think is more or less in the bag for Mercedes, with Bottas performing consistently 2nd / 3rd and Perez's performance being a question mark.

I for one am rooting for Max / RBR to come out on top. Only if only, Max had not had that puncture in Baku, but then there are lots of ifs and buts, all in all an amazing season!

[SAK-XXVII]

The penultimate race of the season and this track is FAAAAAST! Going to the final race, Mercedes and Red Bull are going to make sure they take home as much points as possible. Tyre management looks critical.

I feel this is going to be a exciting race with lot of drama. Talking about drama, Lewis Hamilton has been called to the stewards for ignoring double waved yellow flags during FP3.

[AtheK]

Damn so close but so far.

[iamahunter]

Oh man! that track is something!

Being a Max fan, I wish that this should not have happened. Nevertheless he was pushing quite hard, as visible from his first 2 sectors.

Surprisingly, Toto and Honor has the same reaction when Max crashed.

Hamilton hugging Bottas was surprising.

But Hamilton does have a rear gunner in Bottas, and you could see how much his team mate's lap meant to the reigning world champion. He embraced Bottas twice during the initial interviews with the media, and knows full well the Finn could give his championship chances a real boost tomorrow.

OT - why was there no grid penalty for Hamilton after ignoring double yellow flags?

[H0RSEPOWER]

Really it’s the fastest street circuit at present! And an exciting qualifying it was! If Max’s new gearbox has been damaged due to the last lap incident in qualifying, it might impact a lot.

[shibujp]

This season never fails to deliver it's twist! Verstappen on a belter of a lap 2 tenths up on Hamilton bins it on the last sector to finish P3. Here is hoping there is no gearbox damage on that car so that he can start in P3. That was a mega fraction of a lap though - a kind of take no prisoners charge.

Ferrari look to have the measure on McLaren with both teams getting a driver each into the top 10 but with Carlos Sainz brush with the barrier leaving Ferrari unsure of the balance on it's second car. Leclerc out qualified Norris into P4.

In the battle of Alpine versus Alfa Tauri, Gasly and Tsunoda seem to be in a better place but it remains to be seen in the race. Going by the action today I wouldn't be surprised to see at least a couple of Verstappens or Leclercs in there. The safety car seems to be quite a good possibility.

Surprised to see the Astons look quite off the pace now in a few races.

Drive on,
Shibu

[Chetan_Rao]

It's fine margins. Pull it off and you're a hero, an inch wrong and you're the dunce, esp on a street track. Can't blame a racer for pushing, tagging the wall is just unfortunate.

Could be quite the race tomorrow. Treacherous street track, and boy does it look fantastic from on-board cameras!

[Vid6639]

This track may not be fun for overtakes but it's literally giving me goose bumps when the car was on a hot lap and when 2 cars were close it was just too much nail biting.

The race will be epic. This is some insane unique track they have here.

[Mat095]

Jeddah is a new favourite. Man, what a track!

Gotta feel bad for Verstappen even if you’re a Hamilton fan. Could’ve easily got a 1.27.2XX on that final lap since he was pushing it so hard. One of the Final “Send it’s” of the season.

You could really see how much Valtteri’s contribution matters to Lewis in the post qualifying interview, I wonder if Lewis would have this relationship with Russel the next season, something to think about.

Nevertheless, expecting some fine racing tomorrow.

[Yusha]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

OT - why was there no grid penalty for Hamilton after ignoring double yellow flags?

That’s because no double yellows were shown. Double yellows flashed on the automated Marshall if system light panel 6 for a second by mistake. Hence no penalty.

[Hatari]

This is a super fast circuit, a treat for F1 fans to see the cars being pushed to their limits.

What a fantastic quali session!

Alpha Romeo quite the surprise with their pace.

Shame about that last corner from Max, he was clearly pushing too hard with the near miss in sector 1, even on the last corner, he had the lockup up but pushed on inspite of that!
Pressure or inexperience.. or both!?

Nice to see Yuki finally up there, the Toro Rosso has been a rocket all season.

Finally, I cant recall a time when 90% of the cars have been on the harder compound tire in Q2 to ensure they go long in their 1st stints.

[Akshay6988]

It's fast track and night race makes it interesting too. But I just can't tell which part of the track they're currently showing live. With the high safety fence, all the track looks same ! For me, Singapore remains the best Street - night circuit !

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Pressure or inexperience or both!?

A bit of both and bad luck too. Pressure because he wanted to get pole position under any circumstances and inexperience (of not being in a title chase) made him unnecessarily push after the lock up. He is eight points ahead so second or even third would have been all right with their pace.

Bad luck because if he would have pulled it off (got pole) everyone would be talking about his great drive under such pressure Part and parcel of the great circus that is Formula 1.

This mistake could be a championship changer since Red Bull may decide to change his engine to be on the safe side. At least that’s what Marko is talking at the moment. Let’s just hope for an clean and exiting race.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/r...crash/6850799/

What a circuit, at least one safety car seems very likely.

Cheers