Formula 1 will hold a race for the first time in Saudi Arabia, a country that has joined the calendar of the highest category and will be linked to the world championship for the next few seasons. The single-seaters will have to complete 50 laps of the Jeddah street circuit, and Pirelli tires will be one of the keys.
The Italian company decided to travel with the range of C2, C3 and C4 to avoid the problems seen at the end of the race in Qatar, where several drivers suffered punctures and blowouts. The teams, however, were surprised after the dispute of the free practice sessions and qualifying when they found an asphalt with a lot of grip and in which it was difficult to put the tires in the correct operating window.
It seems that the degradation will not be the main concern of the drivers, although they will have to be attentive to the strategies of their rivals to take advantage and obtain the best possible result in the debut of this track in the world championship. So what tires will they use and what laps will they pit for? Here we discover it thanks to the information provided every weekend by the manufacturer of the compounds.
The best strategy for the race in Saudi Arabia, one stop in Jeddah or two? What tires are the best for the F1 Saudi Arabian GP?
Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position on the medium tyre, and everything indicates that he will make a single stop to try to win the race and close the gap to Max Verstappen in the championship. That strategy of a single stop in Saudi Arabia seems ideal, according to Pirelli, but the possibility of a second stop due to degradation or trying something different is not ruled out.
The top ten, bar Norris, will start the race in the C3 (yellow, medium), and are likely to stop shortly before the halfway point to ride the hard and make it to the finish. The nature of the track makes overtaking difficult , so strategy will be one of the keys.
Going to three stops is not feasible because, with so few laps, making up for the time lost passing through the pitlane will be almost impossible, although anything can happen if a safety car appears, something that seems quite likely with the walls so close .
Being a new track and with the single-seaters passing just a few millimeters from the protections, the teams will have to take into account a possible red flag that neutralizes the race and makes many save that stop by being allowed to change tires.
Pirelli has stipulated that the front tire pressures will be 24.5 psi, while those on the rear wheels will be 21.5 psi. The weather is expected to be constant , since by the time the traffic lights turn off the sun will have already gone down and the proximity to the sea will make the temperature stable.
In graphic, the best pitstop strategies for the 2021 F1 Saudi Arabian GP
| Number of stops | What tire to go with? | When to stop? | Second stop? |
| A |  |
Lap 19-25 (make hard |
Nope |
| A |  |
Lap 16-21 (make hard |
Nope |
| two stops | |
Lap 15-21 (make hard |
Lap 33-40 (put media |
What tires does each driver start with in the 2021 F1 Saudi Arabian GP race?
1st Lewis Hamilton – Medium tires (yellow)
2nd Valtteri Bottas – Medium tires (yellow)
3rd Max Verstappen – Medium Tires (Yellow)
4th Charles Leclerc -Medium tires (yellow)
5º Sergio Pérez – Medium tires (yellow)
6th Pierre Gasly – Medium tires (yellow)
7th Lando Norris – Soft Tires (Red)
8th Yuki Tsunoda -Medium tires (yellow)
9th Esteban Ocon – Medium tires (yellow)
10th Antonio Giovinazzi – Medium tires (yellow)
Drivers who failed to make the cut and stayed in Q1 and Q2, that is, from 11th to 20th , will be able to choose the compound with which they will start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race. The ten who went through to Q3 will be forced to start on the tires on which they did their best lap in the second round of qualifying, so everyone except Lando Norris who will ride the soft (red) will have a media set (yellow) on the starting grid in Jeddah.
How many tires and what compounds does each driver have left for the race in Saudi Arabia?
As usual, Pirelli announces on Twitter the remaining tires for each of the drivers to more easily show fans the strategies that each team can carry out. These are the ones left for the Jeddah race.
The starting grid for the 2021 F1 Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah
