Jeddah Corniche Circuit

A track with only one race, yet its legacy may have already been made. The 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix may have been the most intense race for years with the duel between Hamilton and Verstappen going over boiling point, seeing drama spew over track as the two fought from lights out to flag.

Named as the fastest street track on the calendar, the cars see average speeds of 250 km/h while being the second longest track behind Spa. Having 27 tuns along a 6 kilometre rollercoaster, it’s a thrilling while scary to watch track. Verstappen’s almost pole lap held hundreds of thousands on the edge of their seat as missed the wall several times while trying to find every inch available, pushing it too far on the final corner.

Joining it’s Middle Eastern relatives, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, the race is held in the night surrounded by the bustling city of Jeddah. It feels like Baku and Monaco’s love child.

The 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The 2021 Saudi Arbian Grand Prix, the only race at the track to date, was possibly the most tense race of the season between Hamilton and Verstappen, between trade dealing with the FIA for Max needing to return position to Hamilton under red flag to Max and Hamilton’s collision as Max needed to return position to him. All in all, the race is often viewed as, along with Abu Dhabi, a leading reason the FIA has gone through race director shake up as much of the race’s issues was caused by a poor race director enforcing and giving information clearly.

Before the race, much conversation was said about the tracks danger with such high speeds and concrete walls with little padding separating the driver from a severe crash. Although Schumacher saw this fate, crashing into the wall after losing the rear in a fairly slow part of the track, a worse crash was seen later as several cars piled up due to braking, seeing Mazepin going in the back of George Russel also involving Perez and Leclerc. The high speeds and no ares for the cars to slow down before impact make this track so scary and thrilling, it’s somehow exciting and horrific to watch. Going into 2022, changed are being made to the track in such things as sightlines to be opened to increase visibility, specifically in turn 2-3 complex where the previously mentioned crash occurred one of the bigger issues of the track. The final corner where Max famously hit his rear tyre on his pole lap has also been widened to avoid the incident again ( I wonder if Max thinks it’s a season too late).

Hopefully the changes will help make a safer race with visibility with the new cars in 2022 being a big thing due to the huge 18 inch tyres and therefore, with complaints already last year about the fast turns with little to no visibility, I hope they’ve done enough to help make the race feel much safer.