The Good, The Bad & The Ugly moments of the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP

The recent Saudi Arabia Grand Prix was a thrilling affair that saw Formula 1 fans from around the world witness an epic high-speed duel in the desert as Max Verstappen emerged victoriously.
Here are our moments that were Good, Bad and just plain ugly. 

 

THE GOOD 

Sergio Perez Grabs Pole 

There aren’t many drivers on the F1 grid who are more universally loved than Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver produced an incredible lap on Saturday to put his car in front of the grid for Sunday. This was Sergio’s first pole in 215 races- the longest wait in F1 History. 

Very happy to get my first pole position on the toughest circuit in the world. Let’s give it all tomorrow 💪
Thank u @redbullracing

¡Feliz de conseguir mi primera pole en el circuito más difícil del mundo! ¡Vamos con todo mañana! 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/uKqmpVKxZH

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) March 26, 2022

On Sunday Sergio started the race strong, he led more laps tonight (14) than he did in any race last year (13). But he fell for a dummy Ferrari pitstop and was pushed back to 4th place. There was more trouble for the Mexican as he had to slow down after Nicholas Latifi crashed. Overall, it was a good weekend for the Redbull driver as he managed to finish in P4, a start to his 2022 campaign.

 

THE BAD
Dangerous Track 

Ever since the FIA planned to introduce the new street circuit, there have been complaints about the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with Redbull boss Christian Horner comparing the track to ‘ Suzuka with walls’

During qualifying, we saw 2 massive accidents of Nicholas Latif and Mick Schumacher. The drivers were alight in both of them, but in micks case, he had to be airlifted to a hospital for further checks before being given the green signal. HAAS However decided not to risk ruining the car once gained and decided not to race on Sunday.

 

Red Flag 🚩

Mick Schumacher has a heavy hit at Turn 12. #SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/12lBHlXRex

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 26, 2022

Since it held a Formula 1 Race 4 months ago, the track went through several changes, with corners opened up to allow a better line of sight for the drivers as they exit the corner. However, Carlos Sainz pointed out that since the drivers will be moving closer to the wall, the line of sight has not actually improved.

“I was commenting with Charles that they just moved the wall but the driving line will still be close to the wall. Which means our visibility doesn’t improve.

“Which for me just shows that we need to keep making this relationship with the FIA tighter, better because we expected a step in the right direction. In my opinion, this is not much better. It’s marginally, very small, tiny bit smallest ever better.”

 

 

THE GOOD
Exciting Racing 

The one thing that the FIA promised viewers with the new regulations, was closer racing. Fans were bored of eras of dominance by manufacturers ( Mercedes). This led the governing body to research and frame a new set of rules. These rules limited the number of Aerodynamic components on a car and would allow cars to race closer together. It’s safe to say that Formula 1 managed to achieve just that. 

After you… 😇

No, after you… 🧐

The battle for DRS between @Charles_Leclerc and @Max33Verstappen 😅#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/8PaKNs8COP

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 28, 2022

 

To the battle in the midfield

🍿🍿🍿

K-Mag 🆚 Hamilton

Haas 🆚 Mercedes#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/XyK9skVyQq

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 28, 2022

 

To a battle between teammates

 

An inch-perfect fight between @alo_oficial and @OconEsteban 😱#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/O3i4Caa7Mc

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 28, 2022

 

And a battle to the finish line after 50 grueling laps

Norris and Ocon battled to the finish line 🏁#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vW3g86IRuk

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 27, 2022

Max Verstappen won by a margin of  0.549s. Which is the closest winning margin since Pierre Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix over Carlos Sainz by 0.415s.

THE BAD 

Reliability

The duel in the desert promised us many things, action, spark and of course, Heat. Only 13 cars reached the flag, matching the lowest number of finishers in 2021 (Hungary, where there was a first-corner pile-up).
Throughout the weekend cars struggled with temperature and other engine related parameters. as the weekend progressed, we started seeing the cars drop out.
Yuki Tsunoda failed to even start the race after the AlphaTauri team decided to not run his car due to technical issues. 

In the span of one race lap, we saw 3 cars retire suddenly.

— Tilkend (@tilkend) March 27, 2022

Mercedes struggled with the pace all weekend long, with 7time world champion Lewis Hamilton finishing in P10 for Mercedes – the first time he’s finished in this specific position since Korea 2012 (he’s never finished 11th in any race in his F1 career). 

The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix was only the second race of a whole new engine specification. There is no doubt that the teams will continue to develop and perfect these complicated engines 

 

The Ugly

Literal Missile Attacks 

There are times in your life when you stop and ask yourself, “Is it worth it?”. This was a question that all the drivers and team bosses were ultimately faced with when there were literal Missiles being targeted around the City where the F1 track was.

10km. That’s the distance between the F1 festivities and the explosion from a missile launched from terrorists in Yemen #Saudi #FormulaOne #F1 pic.twitter.com/zaQLreKsCu

— Seriously Fast Media (@Seriously_Fast) March 25, 2022

 

A few days before the F1 Circus even arrived in Saudi Arabia, we had Missiles that were targeted at the Saudi owned Aramco Facilities. Aramco is the country’s main oil and Gas company and it was being targeted by Yemen Rebel Groups.

According to Al Jeezera: ‘Yemen’s war began in September 2014, when the Houthi rebels swept into the capital, Sanaa, from their northwestern stronghold in the Arab world’s poorest country.

They then pushed into exile the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, elected in 2012 as the sole candidate after the long rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, entered the war in March 2015 to try and restore Hadi’s government to power. But the conflict stretched into long bloody years, pushing Yemen to the brink of famine. The United Nations describes it as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the warfare, including many civilians.’

 

Formula 1 bosses ultimately went ahead with the Grand Prix after a lengthy 4-hour meeting with the drivers and Team bosses after they were assured of security by the Saudi Arabian Government.