For one thing, if you’re riding without traffic, the huge flat-out sections and cornering sequences that weave their way through tight barriers deliver a thrill few places allow.
This is how Valtteri Bottas let his team know over the radio during the first practice session on Friday: “Damn, this track is great!”.
But beyond the fun factor, the speeds and challenge of the Jeddah circuit are not without consequences, because the aspects that make it so much fun are the same ones that increase the danger.
Given that there are very few run-outs at some points on the track, Charles Leclerc proved in the most brutal way in FP2 on Friday that the smallest mistakes can have huge consequences.
But despite the Leclerc incident and other smaller off-tracks (such as Carlos Sainz’s in Q2), plus Max Verstappen’s brush with the final Q3 wall, the weekend has so far come nowhere near the levels of chaos that some feared before coming here.
As Fernando Alonso said: “We all thought it could be a crazy weekend but we have seen very few incidents, really”.
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
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Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
There were concerns that the safety car’s laps of the track on Thursday would leave sand and dirt on a fresh tarmac. Clearly there was the prospect of F1 facing a weekend of brutal crashes, red flags and mayhem.
Instead, it’s been relatively quiet so far, and a world away from the kind of drama that can accompany other famous street circuits like Macau or Monaco .
Lando Norris believes that several factors have come into play so that the weekend is developing without too many problems.
For example the smooth surface of the track and the high grip it offers, which was helped by an effective clean-up on Thursday night after safety car laps.
He, who has raced in the Macau F3 Grand Prix , which has similar characteristics to the Jeddah circuit, acknowledged there were some key differences that made Saudi Arabia less of a hassle.
“I think compared to Macau it is still very different,” he explained when asked why Jeddah had not unleashed the chaos that is frequent in Macau.
“Macau is much narrower than this track. Here too there are loopholes at some points, more so than in Macau where there is literally nothing: there it’s just walls everywhere.”
“So there is that and also how smooth the tarmac is. People make mistakes in Macau because of the potholes and the cracks on the track, which is curved and with different tarmacs.”
“This is one of the smoothest circuits we’ve ever been on, so that certainly plays a part. And also the grip level in Macau is extremely low, whereas here the grip level is high.”
“Also, it’s fun, fluid and not as technical and not as complicated, so I think that changes how easy it is to make mistakes.”
Earlier in the weekend, F2 championship leader Oscar Piastri said that driving in Jeddah was not really like driving on a street circuit and was in fact like Silverstone with walls, making it a technical challenge. more than a matter of simply trying to stay away from the barriers.
His Formula 2 rival, Juri Vips , agreed: “It doesn’t look like a street track because there are a lot of run-offs and stuff. I really like this place.”
“I think I saw an article by Oscar Pastri where he said it’s like a Silverstone with walls and that’s exactly what we feel. It’s a real pleasure to drive here.”
But what we have seen so far may change completely in this Sunday’s race, when cars are running very close to each other and drivers are fighting for the same space.
Blind apex cornering is an exciting challenge when riding alone; but it can be the spark for disaster if incidents occur and pilots don’t realize what’s ahead.
That is the biggest concern of Sergio Pérez, who believes that a small error by a driver could trigger a chain of events that would end up causing a fairly large accident.
“The track is fantastic, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “It’s a really nice track and a good one to drive on. But I think it’s very risky. If things go wrong for somebody, they really go wrong for them all.”
It was a sentiment also shared by Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen , who felt that some sequences of the Jeddah track could repeat the funnel effect that has caused so much concern at Eau Rouge , Spa-Francorchamps.
“If at the start or whenever a car hits the wall on the right side, you can bounce back onto the track and there will be a big crash, a bit like Eau Rouge,” he explained.
“The blind corners, of course, with traffic will be really tricky, but also when we are doing slow laps, as seen in qualifying, you can disturb another driver and so on, and it can become very dangerous.
“This is only the first time we’ve come here, right, so it’s tricky – it’s fun to drive, but still the danger is there.
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Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
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Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Erik Junius
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
