Aussie watch ahead of the F1® Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Matt Clayton
Wednesday, 6 March 2024
Under lights, hold on tight – the ultra-fast Jeddah Corniche Circuit plays host to round two of the F1® season this Sunday morning Australian time, where Oscar Piastri in particular will be looking for better after scoring points in Bahrain.
After a weekend dominated by off-track matters and the continuation of last year’s on-track narrative in Bahrain, Formula 1® is immediately back in action this weekend with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (March 7-9), the Jeddah Corniche Circuit hosting round two of the season for a third consecutive campaign.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was the off-track headline at Sakhir last weekend, but his team carried on with the form that saw it win all but one race a season ago, Max Verstappen taking his eighth straight victory to begin his quest for a fourth consecutive title in imperious style.
The sweeping, seaside layout of the ultra-fast Jeddah track, first used by F1® in 2021, couldn’t be more different to the stop-start nature of the Bahrain International Circuit, something that certain teams – Oscar Piastri’s McLaren among them – will relish as the competitive order of the first part of the season begins to take shape.
Here’s what we’re watching from Saudi Arabia this weekend.
Piastri poised for more
“Not terrible” was Piastri’s succinct – yet accurate – summary of his weekend in Bahrain, where the MCL38 ended up where most pre-season predictions placed it, as the fourth-fastest car behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. Eighth for Piastri doesn’t sound like much, but compared to McLaren’s struggles in the early part of his rookie season last year, it’s a marked improvement – and a launch pad for something better.
McLaren has tended to thrive in high-speed corners in the past two years, and the Jeddah Corniche Circuit has an abundance of those – and corners in general, given the track has 27 of them, more than any other track on the calendar. Other than the two hairpins that loop each end of the track, Jeddah is all full-throttle twists and turns – and should see McLaren more competitive this weekend than last.
Piastri has form to draw upon in Saudi – he won both races of his championship-winning Formula 2® campaign there in 2021 – and was quick but unlucky a year ago, qualifying eighth but getting caught up in a first-lap incident that necessitated repairs and condemned him to a lonely run near the tail of the field. Expect more than that – and Bahrain – this Saturday night.
Ricciardo picks his battles
Daniel Ricciardo missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix a year ago – he wasn’t even in attendance, watching the race unfold from Red Bull Racing’s Milton Keynes base in his role as the team’s third driver before returning to the grid with AlphaTauri mid-season – and the 34-year comes to Jeddah after a compromised race with a controversial finish in Bahrain, where he finished 13th and earned the ire of RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda after the chequered flag had been thrown.
With Ricciardo on fresher, faster tyres late in the Bahrain race, Tsunoda was asked to move aside to allow Ricciardo the chance to attack Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber ahead of him, but the Japanese driver’s annoyance was obvious, questioning the decision over the radio and then swerving at Ricciardo’s car on the cool-down lap after he finished 14th.
As Ricciardo saw it, neither driver ended up scoring points, so finishing 13th or 14th – in whatever order – shouldn’t have been a big deal, and Ricciardo’s measured response afterwards was in stark contrast to his teammate’s loss of composure. For a newly-named team with ambitions to escape an ever-compact midfield, Ricciardo’s leadership will go a long way – and his penchant for playing the long game in F1’s longest-ever season will be something to keep an eye on.
Sainz in the shop window
Carlos Sainz was given a very public message on where he stands at Ferrari when the team signed Lewis Hamilton to take his seat for 2025, leaving the Spaniard in an awkward situation where he’d be driving for a team that felt he was surplus to needs for an entire year while trying to cement his own future. So far, though, the 29-year-old has handled his demotion like a true professional.
A third-place finish in Bahrain as best of the rest behind the Red Bulls came with something of an asterisk – Sainz was outqualified by teammate Charles Leclerc and moved ahead as the Monegasque battled brake problems in the race, while early-race charger George Russell (Mercedes) was compromised by his car’s cooling being so on the limit that he had to back off as temperatures went through the roof. But it was a typically composed and mature performance from Sainz who – while not having his teammate’s volcanic one-lap pace – is as smooth of an operator as they come.
Sainz rarely beats himself, gives it his all and carries himself with the confidence of being a multiple Grand Prix winner, all traits that will surely endear him to other teams on the grid. Should Red Bull wobble at any stage, Ferrari look best placed to pounce – and it’ll make for interesting viewing if it’s the driver the Scuderia have cut adrift who does the pouncing in Jeddah.
The Formula 1® Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 2024 will be available to watch live on Foxtel and Kayo. See our article What time does the F1® Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 2024 start for Australians? for your local timings.
