The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Thread

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cmlean
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The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Thread

Post by cmlean » Tue Mar 14, 2023 3:47 pm

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 2nd round of the 2023 season taking place in Saudi Arabia between the 17th and the 19th of March.

The event timetable for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 16:30 local time - 13:30 GMT
2nd Practice 20:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 16:30 local time - 13:30 GMT
Qualifying 20:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 20:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Tue Mar 14, 2023 3:54 pm

It will be interesting to see just what Ferrari, Mercedes and even Aston Martin will bring to this event in Saudi Arabia.
Following a truly humbling experience in Bahrain, this next group of also rans will need to up their game to reel in the Red Bulls.
Maybe the track surface will be an advantage to the Ferrari and Mercedes duos.
Maybe Lance Stroll's wrist injuries will improve after having another 2 weeks of repair time and he will be near as competitive as Alonso.
We will wait and see.

I can't imagine that the other teams will be significantly closer given the short duration between events, but I may be pleasantly surprised.

Watch this space!

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:52 am

FP1 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:29.617	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
2	1:30.100	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
3	1:30.315	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
4	1:30.577	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
5	1:30.771	George Russell	Mercedes
6	1:30.787	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
7	1:30.924	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
8	1:30.949	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
9	1:31.030	Alexander Albon	Williams
10	1:31.110	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
11	1:31.118	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
12	1:31.181	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
13	1:31.450	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
14	1:31.491	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
15	1:31.552	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
16	1:31.566	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
17	1:31.922	Logan Sargeant	Williams
18	1:31.970	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
19	1:31.986	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
20	1:32.149	Lando Norris	McLaren

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:00 am

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:29.603	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
2	1:29.811	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
3	1:29.902	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
4	1:30.039	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
5	1:30.070	George Russell	Mercedes
6	1:30.100	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
7	1:30.110	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
8	1:30.181	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
9	1:30.341	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
10	1:30.592	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
11	1:30.599	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
12	1:30.721	Lando Norris	McLaren
13	1:30.776	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
14	1:30.810	Alexander Albon	Williams
15	1:30.820	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
16	1:30.837	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
17	1:30.921	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
18	1:30.959	Logan Sargeant	Williams
19	1:30.964	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
20	1:31.052	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:21 am

So, what do we know after Friday's practices?
Red Bull are still the benchmark. Even though it's Friday and everyone is playing their cards close to their chest, it's hard to hide their speed. They will be the team to beat.
Aston Martin are still showing the pace they had at Bahrain. Fernando Alonso is definitely the team leader. Lance Stroll though is showing potential. The car is really that good. If only he learned how to communicate back to his team, his independent feedback could prove invaluable.
Ferrari will be fighting with one hand behind their back with Charles Leclerc taking a 10 place grid penalty into this event. Surprising that it is only the second event of the season and grid penalties are already occurring.
Mercedes are sort of there with both drivers extracting what they can from their entries.
To be honest, of the remaining teams, only Williams has grabbed my attention. They seem to be making inroads into the mid pack and, given a little time, will be continually fighting for points.
The only other point of interest is the mid field time spread being so small with a half a second separating 10th and 20th at the end of the day.

Bring on Saturday!

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:43 am

FP3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:28.485	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
2	1:29.098	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
3	1:29.483	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
4	1:29.509	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
5	1:29.568	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
6	1:29.588	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
7	1:29.690	Lando Norris	McLaren
8	1:29.698	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
9	1:29.701	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
10	1:29.761	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
11	1:29.811	George Russell	Mercedes
12	1:29.917	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
13	1:29.933	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
14	1:29.953	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
15	1:29.983	Alexander Albon	Williams
16	1:30.035	Logan Sargeant	Williams
17	1:30.131	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
18	1:30.317	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
19	1:30.797	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:48 am

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:28.265	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
2	1:28.420	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
3	1:28.730	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
4	1:28.857	George Russell	Mercedes
5	1:28.931	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
6	1:28.945	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
7	1:29.078	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
8	1:29.223	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
9	1:29.243	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
10	1:29.357	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
__________________________________________________________________
11	1:29.451	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
12	1:29.461	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
13	1:29.634	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
14	1:29.668	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
15	1:49.953	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
__________________________________________________________________
16	1:29.939	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
17	1:29.994	Alexander Albon	Williams
18	1:30.244	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
19	1:30.447	Lando Norris	McLaren
20	2:08.510	Logan Sargeant	Williams
Charles Leclerc carries in a 10 place penalty into this event and will start in grid position 12.

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:05 am

After what had been fairly quiet practice sessions, qualifying was turned on it's head.
Q1
Lando Norris brushed the inside wall damaging his left front ending his qualifying session.
Logan Sargeant had a session to forget. His time for his initial run was deleted for exceeding track limits. The pressure was on and he then had a spin ruining his second attempt. His third run again had big errors spoiling what could have been a good day.
Q2
Max Verstappen had what seemed a driveshaft problem and was out for the session. He will start from position 15 without a representative time on the board.
Haas were unlucky with both cars so close to making it into the next session.
Q3
Sergio Perez did what was required and put his Red Bull on pole after an initial scare from Fernando Alonso and then, what could have been a hollow victory, from Charles Leclerc.
Biggest surprise was Oscar Piastri getting through into Q3 in a McLaren that is nowhere near as good as it needs to be.
Both Alpines also made it through which was also impressive.

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:20 am

Race day will be interesting.
Max Verstappen will be starting from grid position 15, Charles Leclerc will be starting from grid position 12.
The first corners will be so interesting as both will be trying to make up as many positions as possible before race strategy kicks in.
I think Lando Norris will also be in for a long day starting basically from the real of the grid.

This circuit is so fast so the activation of DRS will be at a premium.
It will be interesting to see the re-positioning of the DRS activation point and what effect it will have on the driver's approach to positioning to allow them to trigger it. Last years fiasco of crawling into turn 27 to be second to the DRS line has been fixed by the moving of the activation line to the exit of the turn.

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:18 pm

Race

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		Team
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
3	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
4	George Russell	Mercedes
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
6	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
10	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
11	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
13	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
14	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
15	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
16	Logan Sargeant	Williams
17	Lando Norris	McLaren
18	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
DNF	Alexander Albon	Williams
DNF	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
Next: Round of Australia '23
Date: March 31 - April 2 2023

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by cmlean » Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:33 pm

That was an interesting race. It was always going to be if Max Verstappen would come through and win the race given his dominance through practice.

Kudos to Sergio Perez.
He did what he had to do and, after passing Fernando Alonso, controlled the race from the front.
Fernando tried to keep close but, after losing the DRS, it was all over bar the shouting. The time penalty he incurred for incorrect positioning in his grid box and the full course yellow ensured that the damage mas kept top a minimum. Post race, the stewards handed a 10 second penalty for the jack touching the car before the penalty was served however this was rescinded following an appeal by Aston Martin.
The safety car was also a bonus to Max Verstappen as it compressed the field bring all those who had scampered off into the distance back into his gun sights. All were reeled in other than his team mate Perez.
George Russell drove a controlled race and almost snatched a podium from Fernando Alonso but it was not to be.
The balance of the top 10 was filled out by Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen.

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Re: The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Post by Tim » Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:03 pm

What this race showed is the true pace of the Red Bull. For once, Perez put up a fight and managed to keep the gap to Verstappen who didn't give up the chase until near the end forcing both cars to drive near the limit. I suspect Red Bull allowed this and didn't order Perez to give position due to their superiority over the rest of the field but with the reliability being a concern, I don't expect the two to be allowed to fight next time which would be a shame.
Behind them Alonso in the Aston Martin was once again perfect (except for his not so perfect starting position) and I think it is farcical that being off by a few centimetres results in a 5 second penalty same as forcing a driver off the track or repeatedly exceeding track limits or jumping the start. And then the more farcical 10 second penalty for a mechanic touching the car. It is good that it will be clarified.
What was impressive by Alonso is that he was able to stay a bit with the Red Bulls but then I think he wanted to control the race behind him as he had no chance in passing the Red Bulls but was easily ahead of both Mercedes and Ferrari, both teams very disappointing so far.
Alpine looked strong in practice but in the races didn't really feature, most disappointing though was McLaren, they are racing with Williams, sad to see, lets hope both teams can bounce back.

Australia will be a different track again, looking forward to that

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