F1 2021 Season

Red Bull's Sergio Perez admits that he has a few concerns about Jeddah's ultra-fast track, believing the circuit's layout is unnecessarily dangerous.

Formula 1 has praised Saudi Arabia's efforts to build its impressive facility in a record amount of time, or approximately eight months.

After Friday's opening day of running, many drivers gave the track a thumbs up, including Perez who described the new venue as "fantastic".

However, the Mexican also said that the sheer speeds reached in several sections of the track that feature blind corners are a cause for concern.

"It's a really nice circuit - very, very dangerous, though," said Perez.

"There's a lot of straights, but [they] are done in cornering, and blind corners. It feels like it's too dangerous without a real reason.

"When you look at some of the onboards, it's quite scary. I just hope that we don't see a big shunt out there.

"With the speeds that we're doing, with the deltas around the track from some of the cars, it's a bit unnecessary."


https://f1i.com/news/427220-perez-j...hl154aGGnsEIMb9YHmPCh39MG75_lv3-HxoruY46dr0vs
 
senorgregster said:
I suspect lots of stops but atypical ones under red.
Click to expand...
I think there is a good chance of a stoppage at the start, safety or red flag.

I think once the race settles, unless there are lots of overtaking spots and cars are able to follow other cars at key points on the track into overtaking zones closely, we could potentially end up into a bit of a procession which somewhat reduces the risk. Now there is still a good chance, because any small mistake likely draws a safety car at least, but with drivers not constantly pushing right to the limit each and every lap, it might just be avoided.

The issue with this track in my eyes is, as well no overtaking spots, the design of the barrier locations means that not only is every mistake likely to end up with significant or terminal damage, it is also almost guaranteed to draw a safety car.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Red Bull's Sergio Perez admits that he has a few concerns about Jeddah's ultra-fast track, believing the circuit's layout is unnecessarily dangerous.

Formula 1 has praised Saudi Arabia's efforts to build its impressive facility in a record amount of time, or approximately eight months.

After Friday's opening day of running, many drivers gave the track a thumbs up, including Perez who described the new venue as "fantastic".

However, the Mexican also said that the sheer speeds reached in several sections of the track that feature blind corners are a cause for concern.

"It's a really nice circuit - very, very dangerous, though," said Perez.

"There's a lot of straights, but [they] are done in cornering, and blind corners. It feels like it's too dangerous without a real reason.

"When you look at some of the onboards, it's quite scary. I just hope that we don't see a big shunt out there.

"With the speeds that we're doing, with the deltas around the track from some of the cars, it's a bit unnecessary."


https://f1i.com/news/427220-perez-j...hl154aGGnsEIMb9YHmPCh39MG75_lv3-HxoruY46dr0vs
Click to expand...
I think he does have a point. But, I think the risk is also partly of the way teams and drivers behave in qualifying and practice in terms of going slowly in dangerous spots on out laps.

I think during the race, that issue somewhat disappears because all cars are full go all the time. That qualifying of stacking cars is an issue across the circuits which needs addressing. The fact this circuit amplifies why it’s an issue doesn’t in my mind mean it’s a bad circuit directly because of it.

And the argument about speed deltas is odd. None of the cars are THAT slow.
 
EdWeatherall said:
Until the inevitable safety car

I reckon 3 in the race
Click to expand...
Keeping heat in the tyres will be key as well... I'm half expecting a safety car and when it pulls in somebody going straight into a wall and taking out others before a full stoppage as 20 cars all with cold tyres trying to swith to going flat out on a narrow walled circuit sounds at best challenging and more likley a recipie for a big old pile up
 
rpitroda said:
I think he does have a point. But, I think the risk is also partly of the way teams and drivers behave in qualifying and practice in terms of going slowly in dangerous spots on out laps.

I think during the race, that issue somewhat disappears because all cars are full go all the time. That qualifying of stacking cars is an issue across the circuits which needs addressing. The fact this circuit amplifies why it’s an issue doesn’t in my mind mean it’s a bad circuit directly because of it.

And the argument about speed deltas is odd. None of the cars are THAT slow.
Click to expand...
The qualifying issue defo needs addressing.

Hopefully it's not as stop and start as people are fearing. There's surely been extensive safety testing and consultation with the drivers on the track.
Have there been issues with any other forms of racing they've had on the track? I know it's new, but presumably some form of racing has taken place on it ahead of today.
 
rpitroda said:
I think if Bottas gets a good start, and keeps Max behind him, I can foresee this being a difficult track to overtake. Having said that, Max and Lewis are so significantly faster than everyone else - not necessarily over one lap (where it’s apparent but not so significant) but over a race - I think Max will still eventually get past Bottas.

I think the undercut has the potential to be significant on this circuit.

Does anyone know if we are looking at a one or two stopper?

If Bottas stays ahead of Max it could be critical, even if he only succeeds for 3/4 laps. If Hamilton can keep a 3 second buffer to Max that’s critical as it gives the gap he needs to avoid the undercut.
Click to expand...

I can see Max getting past Bottas after a few laps and then going after Lewis.
Three DRS zones so overtakes should be possible.
And then a lot depends on how much risk Max is prepared to take.
Hopefully Lewis experience should be a big factor.
 
I must say, the corner designs at 3-11 are truly beautiful. I love that it’s not like you can go fully flat out, and that you can’t always simply take the best line for each individual corner because of how they map. It’s my favourite part of this track for sure.
 
rpitroda said:
I think he does have a point. But, I think the risk is also partly of the way teams and drivers behave in qualifying and practice in terms of going slowly in dangerous spots on out laps.

I think during the race, that issue somewhat disappears because all cars are full go all the time. That qualifying of stacking cars is an issue across the circuits which needs addressing. The fact this circuit amplifies why it’s an issue doesn’t in my mind mean it’s a bad circuit directly because of it.

And the argument about speed deltas is odd. None of the cars are THAT slow.
Click to expand...
I think his point is very valid, just have to look at the Lewis and Mazipan incident, that could have been very nasty, if we get though the race with no red flag it will be a shock.
 
There was a big crash in F2's feature race, Pouchaire stalled on the line and got hit from behind by Fittipaldi, both taken away in ambulances. Has been announced that the race will restart which is hopefully a good sign.
 
And I just read that there were a lot of safety cars in yesterdays F2 race.

I can only assume it’ll be similar in the F1 today, rendering my previous theory void :lol:
 
Hephaestus said:
There was a big crash in F2's feature race, Pouchaire stalled on the line and got hit from behind by Fittipaldi, both taken away in ambulances. Has been announced that the race will restart which is hopefully a good sign.
Click to expand...
72G impact :eek:
 
Just seen the start line crash in F2, not good.
FIA issue statement
The FIA has confirmed that both drivers have been taken to hospital, and were conscious while they were extracted from their cars.

"The FIA advises that an incident occurred during the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race start today, 05/12/21, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, involving car #10, Théo Pourchaire, and car #14, Enzo Fittipaldi,"

"The drivers were immediately attended to by emergency and medical crews. The drivers were conscious and extricated by the attending medical crews.

"Both have been transferred by ambulance and helicopter to King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah."
 
Sounds alarming. If it was a crash on the start line, it doesn't necessarily sound like any particular issue with the track, ie it could have happened on any track?

EDIT:
 
Pourchaire's car was unable to start at the lights out, several car was able to avoid him but Fittipaldi wasnt unable to do so. It was in his blank vision i think.
 
I predict a Mercedes 1-2, Verstappen dnf, I think that gear box goes

Would love them to both go into the last race, level on points if that's possible

Excited for this race hope it's not a wash out procession
 
Reb Bull not changing Ma's gearbox, this has to be a massive gamble, Ferrari tried it with LeClerc and we know how that ended.
After hitting the wall, there has to be some damage, I would have tool the 5 places and changed it, but Ican see why they did not, not that easy to overtake on this track.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Reb Bull not changing Ma's gearbox, this has to be a massive gamble, Ferrari tried it with LeClerc and we know how that ended.
After hitting the wall, there has to be some damage, I would have tool the 5 places and changed it, but Ican see why they did not, not that easy to overtake on this track.
Click to expand...
Also you don’t want to be in the middle at the start as anything could happen here
 
Jippy said:
Sounds alarming. If it was a crash on the start line, it doesn't necessarily sound like any particular issue with the track, ie it could have happened on any track?
Click to expand...

Yeah this isn’t a track issue, just the usual stall start of an F2 race.
 
Am expecting Verstappen to take Bottas on the start and maybe take Lewis out just after that.

Would be my gameplan if I were ruthless.
 
RB must be confident about Max's gearbox as it's not worth the risk of a DNF. Hamilton won't need to worry about what Verstappen does in the final race if he doesn't finish.
 
This track scares me with Max. You just can’t pull those I’m not backing out until you do stunts here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.