2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Preview
The Circuit this Week
The 2023 Formula 1 season continues this weekend in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. With the season only just beginning there is an incredible amount to discuss in the run up to the fast dessert circuit!
The Saudi Arabian GP is infamous for its incredibly high speeds, second only to the Italian track in Monza in terms of average speeds. On top of the impressive pace of the race, Jeddah is considered a street circuit, meaning much of the race is run on normal roads that on any other weekend are being traversed by commuters.
Jeddah is truly a spectacle. Going that fast on narrow streets is almost unfathomable, and the drivers make it look easy. I encourage all the readers of the HIH to check out this weekend's festivities if you have a moment. Even just watching a moment of free practice or qualifying is a must during Jeddah week!
The Paddocks Reaction to Bahrain
Formula 1 is quite an interesting sport, with so many short breaks and weeks between races a lot of time is left for bickering and speaking to the media. This in turn leads to an overwhelming amount of stories and rumors flying about nearly every week. Don’t worry Heralders I have sifted through the news over the last two weeks and I have carved out only the best to highlight for you here!
Two Turbulent Weeks for the Silver Arrows
Mercedes (The Silver Arrows) have quite clearly fallen from grace since their 7-year stretch of utter dominance during the previous regulation rule set. These regulations were completely overhauled last year resulting in the power pendulum shifting in the direction of Red Bull, who so far have dominated the new regulations introduced in 2022.
Last year Mercedes had one of its most disappointing seasons in memory, a season in which the team only managed to win one race in Sao Paulo Brazil. Even this win seemed to come as a result of incredible driving by George Russel, not the car dominating as it has in the past. 7-Time World Champion Lewis Hamilton didn’t win a race the entire season leaving many to speculate that he may soon retire or leave Mercedes if the ship is not righted quickly.
So, it is safe to say then that the Mercs finishing in 5th and 7th in Bahrain is worse than the team was hoping for. And boy howdy, the media storm that followed has been a circus to follow.
Almost right after the race, an extremely discouraged George Russel told reporters that he was ready for Mercedes to call the 2023 car quits and for the team to shift its focus toward the 2024 car. This isn’t an uncommon thing to hear from a struggling team, but after only the first race and coming from such a powerhouse team, it was rather disarming to read. (Source: https://firstsportz.com/f1-news-george-russell-mercedes-may-have-to-sacrifice-2023-in-order-to-get-a-car-that-can-fight/)
Later in the week, an article came out with an interview from Toto Wolf the team principal for Mercedes in which he stated that he believed Red Bull would be the winner of every race this season. That is truly an astounding thing to say after only one week of racing. Bear in mind that Toto knows a shit ton more about F1 than either you or I, so he may very well be correct in this statement. Even still, that is a difficult pill for the teams competing and fans alike to swallow. (Source: https://www.oe24.at/sport/motorsport/formel1/toto-wolff-red-bull-gewinnt-heuer-jedes-rennen/547909528)
Those two articles came out in the days following the Bahrain Race.
This week leading up to the team's arrival in Saudi Arabia, the tone from Mercedes has been much different.
Toto has come out and stated that he believes the Mercedes will have more pace this weekend but has warned against lofty expectations for this quickly applied upgrade package. Citing the fact that the Bahrain GP circuit favors cars such as the Red Bull much more than it does the Mercedes cars. Toto has mentioned visible changes to the car as well leading many to assume that some changes to the side-pods may have already been implemented, we will just have to wait for practice to confirm.
I think Jeddah will be a very important week for Mercedes, I don’t expect them to be fighting for first but some sort of improvement will be necessary if the team hopes to get itself back on the rails.
Ferrari’s 2022 Woes Bleeding into 2023?
To be brutally honest, the first race of the season for Ferrari could not have gone much worse.
The expectations for Ferrari are constantly astronomical. If the team isn’t winning championships, then they are failing in the eyes of their fans. Simple as that , and they are not winning and have not won in quite some time.
The 2022 season for Ferrari started quite well with a few race wins and consistent fighting for pole position. So what’s happened?
The team quite clearly has a solid grasp of the new regulations introduced in 2022 . Yet despite the success of the car in terms of speed, the reliability of the thing has been a gargantuan thorn in the side of the team since its first reveal at Bahrain testing in 2022.
This season the team has been screaming from the rooftops that its focus has been on reliability. So, when Charles Leclerc’s engine died with just 17 laps to go in Bahrain, I think everyone in the world rolled their eyes.
Now to make this problem even worse the component that broke on Leclerc’s car is the energy storage system. A vitally important piece that the FIA only allows teams to swap out twice throughout the course of an entire season.
Well, Ferrari replaced Leclerc’s PRIOR to the race in Bahrain, so, one down. Then as Leclerc is driving around the track in Bahrain his NEWLY implemented Energy Storage System fails completely, with no hope of repair. So, Ferrari has been left with no choice but to replace it for a third time in just two weeks. As a result of this fiasco, Charles will already be receiving a grid penalty at this weekend's race, meaning he will start at best 10th in Jeddah.
On top of this, it is guaranteed that Ferrari will have to switch out the energy storage system at another point of the season, just based on the fact that the things don’t ever last an entire season. Thus, we can expect Charles to receive another grid penalty at some point during the season for this same issue.
Not the way the Scuderia had hoped to start.
Quickly I would like to comment on the performance of Carlos Sainz. Firstly, I will admit that I am partial to him as a driver, I like his demeanor and his season 1 showing in Netflix’s Drive To Survive made me incredibly jealous that I didn’t grow up in a famous racing family in the mountains of Spain. Yet, even I can admit that his constant lack of pace in comparison to Charles is a head-scratcher, I think it is vitally important for Carlos to start to show that he is as talented as so many believe he is. Charles impresses quite often even despite the constant problems he is faced with, Carlos hasn’t.
C’mon Carlos, your seat in the red car is getting warmer.
Williams Improving? Huh?
Bahrain was a fantastic showing for the weird British blue car. Williams has been a bit of a joke lately and watching them perform at such a high level in Bahrain was quite fun. As usual as a viewer, you were hard-pressed to find the blue cars as they were not highlighted very often during the race broadcast. And yet, they performed very very well.
Alex Albon, who in my opinion has seriously proved himself as a great driver and one deserving of a better seat already in his short time with Williams, managed to bring Williams into the points with a 10th-place finish. Something even he seemed shocked by. The team had pessimistic expectations heading into the season, and to be able to surprise themselves like that must help instill some much-needed confidence into the struggling team.
Something I have seen a shocking lack of coverage about is Logan Sargeant’s fantastic race debut. This guy is an American, something Formula 1 has been lacking for a long time and something they have made a push to alleviate. Yet, I have seen near zero coverage of his great performance in his first F1 race weekend.
Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. He performed at a high level and made a real inroad in proving that he is deserving of the seat. He managed to keep the car on the track, something we have seen many young drivers struggle with within the past few seasons, and he even managed to pull off a couple of nice overtakes. Again, this has to be an incredible confidence boost for a team and young driver that I don’t think believed they had the capability to overtake anyone.
Rock on Williams, you farm team you.
Short Reactions/Analysis for the rest of the Field
I like this format, who knows if I will keep it. Cover three teams a bit more in-depth a week, and the rest get shorter previews.
McLaren
You seriously could not have started any worse. Your rookie only drove 20 laps and Lando pitted a whopping SIX times. At this point, we may have to bring out the sticks to poke the dead animal that is McLaren. Poor Lando, maybe we will see him in Ferrari red soon.
AlphaTauri
You are just so middling my friend, I and many others don’t care about you. I like Yuki though, go, Yuki.
Alfa Romeo
Guys, I don’t know why but I like Alfa Romeo and honestly, they seem pretty quick. I think they are a fun team to watch although a bit difficult to report upon. Valtteri Bottas just appears to be one of the happiest drivers on the grid now and that’s pretty heartwarming after some visibly tough seasons at Mercedes being Lewis’ second. Rock on Alfa.
Red Bull
You have achieved your dream of being boringly dominant just like your rivals Mercedes in the past. Congrats, I guess.
Alpine
I think Alpine’s Bahrain performance was quite far off what they are truly capable of. Let us see the team function without a Pierre mess up at the start and the stewards bullying Esteban Ocon. If they minimize the mistakes I think we will see Alpine fighting with the likes of Mercedes and possibly Ferrari.
Aston Martin
Not much to be said for the green usurpers of the norm. I think every F1 fan has their eyes locked in on the newly fast green cars. Everyone wants to see if they can maintain this newfound level and if they truly can compete with the top dogs that have been established for so long.
Alonso is a really fun driver to follow, and I look forward to watching him have a good season for once.
Haas
I don’t know what to think about my favorite team just yet. Hulkenburg appears to be performing well so far, and that does assist in installing some confidence for a positive season this year. Again, my hope with this team is just to see some constant improvement and in comparison to the first few seasons following them they have achieved this goal as of late.
Final Thoughts Heading into the Race Weekend
In truth, I think the stunning race pace of the Red Bulls has dampened many teams and fans' expectations for the season. I must argue staunchly against this. That was the first race, and yes Red Bull dominated at an extremely high level. Despite this I think it is criminally early to be calling Red Bull the World Champs. If there is anything I have learned in my short time following this sport it is that it is unpredictable. So many things go into making a championship team, if one of those cogs breaks the entire thing can come crashing down quickly. So, let's hold off on the congratulations.
I think Jeddah will be very important this year, I think a lot of people are highly discouraged by the massive gap between Red Bull and the rest of the field. I fully expect Red Bull to dominate this race as well, so the truly interesting thing to watch this season is what steps the teams have taken to start closing that gap.
I think Ferrari if it can solve its constant problems, does have a car that can compete with the Red Bulls. On top of that, we have the new fast Aston Martins to keep us entertained.
It’s important, as it is in every sport, to carve out your own enjoyment from the product. Become a Haas fan, start pulling for Alpine, find a team you dig and pull for them, that has been in my experience the best way to enjoy Formula 1.
At the end of the day the coolest part of the show is racing, so if we have to watch the midfield fight while Max is a minute ahead all year, so be it. Good racing is still occurring, you just have to look.
No matter what the season becomes, I’ll cover it.
Author’s Predictions for Jeddah 2023
Race Winner: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2ndPlace: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3rdPlace: Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
Pole Position: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)