2022 Saudi Arabian GP Thread - Buildup, Practice & Qualifying

[paolo lalli]

Any more down force on that redbull and the car will bottom out watch those sparks fly.

[SS454]

what a crazy qualifying session.

First and foremost, glad Mick is okay. That was a very scary wreck. When the TV cameras stay away from what's going on and you don't hear any updates, it makes one think of terrible scenarios. Broken wrist, legs, or ribs was going through my head, and then to see him on the stretcher looking in good condition was a huge relief. As for his performance. Ooof... that might be a decent hit on his confidence as well.

Ferrari, soooo close. I thought Leclerc put in a great lap, just lost a little in the last sector. Couldn't see where exactly. Charles is the first to criticize himself, and didn't mention anything. A 2-3 start, that's solid. I didn't expect Ferrari to even be this competitive since I haven't seen a big low downforce package get thrown on the car like other teams, and this track is 80% full throttle, with 3 sections near 320 kph.

Perez, wow give him some credit. Moments after cheering out loud for Leclerc I see Green and Purple on Perez lap, heading into S3 where the RBR's are hitting upwards of 335 kph! Sure enough, nipped our boys. It's very rare that any driver out qualifies Max, so hats off. I think the race should favor Red bull in terms of outright pace, and likely have all the tools to control the race if they get out front. It's going to be near impossible to pass them with their speed advantage. But we can't rule out tire wear, strategy with safety cars, and of course reliability. I certainly think Ferrari will be in the fight.

Mercedes. HA HA! Watching Stroll out-qualify Hamilton was a delight. Anyone saying Russell is so much better than Lewis, or that Lewis can't drive a car that isn't dominant... it's just one race. That is TBD.

Alpine look strong, but should not have a shot of a podium without a mistake from at least 2 of the top 4 guys.

Shout out to Bottas and Alfa once again. They did very good.

[SS454]

Here's another crazy thing:

The F1-75 is only 0.171 seconds slower than the SF21 here in Qualifying. Incredible improvement.

Track layout is slightly different, so it's not 100% compatible. But out of RBR, Merc, McLaren, and Ferrari, it's safe to say Ferrari has recovered the most speed compared to their 2021 car.

[paneristi]

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1...ash-at-jeddah/

[Nick Der Luben]

Greetings !!
Forza Ferrari.
Bad luck today.Tommorow will be a better day.

[Tifoso]

Greetings !!
Forza Ferrari.
Bad luck today.Tommorow will be a better day.

Welcome aboard!

[SS454]

Motorsport is dangerous and will forever remain a dark sport, but a track like this shouldn't be in the calendar.

Last year proved the track was ridiculously dangerous. They made some small changes, but it's still crazy. Narrow track, no run offs, and some stupid high speeds. Even if it's fun to drive, it's a terrible design.

People still scoff at the idea of Nascar style safer barriers in certain areas of road courses, but this track could certainly use them. Designers not figuring a bad wreck could happen on that wall seems like a huge oversight. There have been multiple incidents from hitting that curb at turn 11 (Alonso and Ocon had big moments). Can't put tire barriers there, but a "soft" wall could have been built.

I agree the track should be kicked off the calendar, and that doesn't factor in the safety risks of local terrorist attacks.

[TTRSMAD]

There is no way Perez is staying in 1st position tomorrow. He fall asleep in the race and will not contain Ferrari, it's Verstappen the real menace and strategy is vital to keep him behind.

The Red Bull is only menacing if it gets DRS. Tomorrow the cars are going to be full of fuel. The Ferraris are going to finish 1 and 2 again if there is no safety car bull.

[Nick Der Luben]

Welcome aboard!

Thank you Tifoso.
I would like to explain me the rules of posting in this forum.
I saw a few pages ago that strong language and conflicts between members.
By the way amazed by the speed of our car today!!

[SilverSpeed]

Gratz Checo, a one lap wonder it was.

Ferrari has more DF so better for the race no worries, Leclerc has better race pace then Checo so we are in the fight.

Happy with 7th times champ from the aldi is P16 haha and Max P4 with not so good balance hehe.

[From Treviso]

These street tracks need to go - we are very lucky Mick did not sustain a permanent disability or be killed. Very high speeds and barriers that are too close

[tpe]

I was expecting a RB on pole but o not by such a small margin and definitely not Perez!
It will be a tricky race and the pit wall was to be smart.

The other thing is the tyres.
They have to be careful because the undercut is very strong, or at least it was in Bahrain

[Tifoso Svedese]

The undercut is quite weak here because the general degradation is much lower. It might still be 1-1.5 seconds though. If one of our cars, most likely Charles, is close to DRS range I think the undercut should work just fine.

[Nick Der Luben]

The undercut is quite weak here because the general degradation is much lower. It might still be 1-1.5 seconds though. If one of our cars, most likely Charles, is close to DRS range I think the undercut should work just fine.

I think we can overtake him on start.

[PURE PASSION]

Does anyone knows the long runs of our drivers on FP3 ??? They l've done some and Lec confirmed it but don't have the times

[elnano14]

Does anyone knows the long runs of our drivers on FP3 ??? They l've done some and Lec confirmed it but don't have the times

Mid - high 34s for Charles and high 34s for Carlos, faster than the RBR yesterday but the condition was somewhat different though

[Greig]

Mick out of the race tomorrow.

[Tifosia]

Mick out of the race tomorrow.

Is he alright now?

[jgonzalesm6]

Is he alright now?

https://twitter.com/SchumacherMick/s...C9qZH78ewpAAAA

[PURE PASSION]

Ferrari with more downforce, according to the simulator was the best configuration
Leclerc set the second time at 25 thousandths and can be satisfied as this track could have adapted a little better to the more efficient Red Bull RB18. The Monegasque lost in the last sector, where it would have been enough for him to repeat his best, lower than 30 thousandths. Instead he made it slightly worse.
The F1-75 managed to recover almost all the 5 tenths lost on the straight in the corners, due to a rather conservative, or rather charged, choice in the aerodynamic set-up. A choice made at the Maranello simulator , where various configurations were simulated, with the medium load one considered as the best compromise between pure performance and tire management. The Italian team is focusing a lot on this last technical factor. "With more downforce, we think tire management can be positive for us," said Mattia Binotto in post qualifying.Ferrari lost 0.5 on the straights from Red Bull.

[enjaybel3]

Another great team effort all round. So looking forward to the race.

Mercedes/Hamilton still sandbagging

[gump1480]

Anyone has the link to PER vs LEC quali lap comparison video? Must be interesting to watch.

[ntukza]

There is no way Perez is staying in 1st position tomorrow. He fall asleep in the race and will not contain Ferrari, it's Verstappen the real menace and strategy is vital to keep him behind.

The Red Bull is only menacing if it gets DRS. Tomorrow the cars are going to be full of fuel. The Ferraris are going to finish 1 and 2 again if there is no safety car bull.

I'm all for optimism but this level of self-confidence makes me uncomfortable. Anyhow, let's hope so.

[SS454]

Anyone has the link to PER vs LEC quali lap comparison video? Must be interesting to watch.

Anthony Davidson showed the comparo on the Skypad on the Skysport feed. Perez had a decent advantage after 2 corners, but Leclerc was faster through the downforce section of the track, and then Perez's top speed was enough to give him the advantage in the end. They were really close the entire lap, but you could see they each had their own advantage.

[scudieros]

Ferrari with more downforce, according to the simulator was the best configuration
Leclerc set the second time at 25 thousandths and can be satisfied as this track could have adapted a little better to the more efficient Red Bull RB18. The Monegasque lost in the last sector, where it would have been enough for him to repeat his best, lower than 30 thousandths. Instead he made it slightly worse.
The F1-75 managed to recover almost all the 5 tenths lost on the straight in the corners, due to a rather conservative, or rather charged, choice in the aerodynamic set-up. A choice made at the Maranello simulator , where various configurations were simulated, with the medium load one considered as the best compromise between pure performance and tire management. The Italian team is focusing a lot on this last technical factor. "With more downforce, we think tire management can be positive for us," said Mattia Binotto in post qualifying.Ferrari lost 0.5 on the straights from Red Bull.

This makes a lot of sense. I am loving how Ferrari is competing this year. Very intelligently using all the tools we have available. We are not doing what RB is doing, we are setting up the car for the race to conserve and get the best out of tyres. This also explains why Checo got pole and not Max, he can look after tyres while max is just gung ho full power. So having Checo upfront could be a problem but his starts are not always great. Either way we should have better tyre management.

LET'S GOOOO!

[patrese86]

That was a good session yesterday. I'm sorry for Mick but happy he's okay. As for us I think it's another positive day and hopefully the same today. I just hope Max isn't too aggressive starting 4th. I'd rather get through the first few corners unscathed than try anything too daring.

[Nick Singer]

Going to be, I am sure, Safety Cars. Need to keep out of trouble and hope for a bit of luck (or to avoid bad luck!) with SCs. Still think we can jump Perez at the start and hope Max doesn't go kamikaze!

[SFTifoso]

Remember RB’s fix to their fueling issue? I think they’re just gonna be carrying extra 10KG of fuel in the race. I believe our race pace is better and our tire deg will be much better too.

[patrese86]

Remember RB’s fix to their fueling issue? I think they’re just gonna be carrying extra 10KG of fuel in the race. I believe our race pace is better and our tire deg will be much better too.

Yeah I think our tyre deg will be better. It looks similar to Bahrain really, Red Bull were also 7/8 kph faster but we were faster in the corners and coped better with our tyres. Perez made all his gains on the straight, that's fine with a car lightly fueled on soft tyres but let's see how he gets on with a heavy car lacking some downforce round them successive high speed corners.

[Gilles]

Anyone has the link to PER vs LEC quali lap comparison video? Must be interesting to watch.

https://scuderiafans.com/video-charl...ith-telemetry/