Jeddah’s waterfront Corniche skyline lining the Red Sea. The city will host the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend. PHOTO: supplied

BRENDAN LINES December 1, 2021

JEDDAH’S waterfront district — the Corniche — is the venue for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, but what do we know about F1’s newest street circuit in the desert metropolis?

The addition of the circuit, abutted by the Red Sea, on the 2021 calendar has thrown a raft of unknowns into what is one of the most hotly contested world championship battles in recent years.

However, the main championship combatants Red Bull and Mercedes might look to their previous visits to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit as a guide, with its similarities as a waterfront location presenting similar challenges, blowing sand onto the track and experiencing wind shifts from daytime to the evening.

The city’s unofficial motto ‘Jeddah ghair’ or ‘Jeddah’s different’ to the more westernised tourists, lives up to its catch cry with the Corniche circuit boasting the most corners of any track on the F1 calendar, with 27 (16 left-handers and 11 right-handers). 

At 6.174km long, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix venue is the second-longest circuit in F1, behind only Spa-Francorchamps (7.004km).

The number of corners could make it more challenging for both the team and the drivers to learn the track and get up to speed, and interruptions to the weekend’s practice sessions is likely.

Looking back at the first race weekend in Baku back in 2016, three red flags were deployed in practice and qualifying as drivers explored the limits of the then-new street track.

The track is one of only four on the current schedule – after Bahrain, Austria and Mexico – to feature three separate DRS zones. These are located on the main straight, from Turns 18 to 21 and Turns 25 to 27.

Jeddah has billed its track as the ‘fastest street circuit in the world’ with expected average speeds of around 250km/h. Baku isn’t too far off, but Jeddah’s average speed is helped by several of its corners being taken flat-out or in DRS zones.

Drivers will hit over 310km/h three times on the long straights and with the three DRS zones, its anticipated Jeddah to rival Spa and Monza for the highest percentage of time spent at full throttle —79 per cent of the lap distance is taken at full throttle, one of the highest percentages of the year.

Turn 13 is a banked corner, with a 12 per cent gradient, a rare feature on street circuits, after Zandvoort’s refurbished final turn allowed its banking to open up more potential lines through the corner, the effect of a banked corner on a street circuit could add a unique variable. 

Turn 2 is expected to be the slowest corner on the track, by far, being taken at just 90 km/h. The quickest will be Turn 26, located on the back straight in the final DRS zone, where drivers will reach around 310km/h.

This may offer an overtaking opportunity under brakes for the bravest of the late-brakers to ‘send it’ in a Daniel Ricciardo-esque move.

The newly laid track surface is expected to be very smooth and high grip, therefore tyre overheating will be less of an issue and tyre degradation should be less of a factor.

Drivers could be treading a fine line on the new and ‘green’ track surface, which hasn’t been properly rubbered in, the track evolution is going to be incredibly high over the weekend. It will also mean running offline will be punishing, due to the sand and lack of rubber.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is a night race, alongside lighting the buildings and bridges, there are expected to be over 600 light posts illuminating the track.

FP1 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix begins 4.30pm (ACDST) on December 3.