Hamilton pips Verstappen in orderly opening practice session at Jeddah

22 comments on “Hamilton pips Verstappen in orderly opening practice session at Jeddah”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   3rd December 2021, 14:49

   Ridiculously fast this track.
   1. 

      DaveW (@dmw)
      3rd December 2021, 15:26

      They way the cars look going through the banked corner is just shocking, even with the camera operator trying to track the car directly and take away the feeling of speed. Because of how close trackside objects are, you can really see how fast the cars are going.
      1. 

         j3d89
         3rd December 2021, 17:38

         camera operators been having issues following cars cuz they have been zooming in too much to make the sponsors on the car more visible, i noticed this alot in mexico, i was getting almost a headache
2. 

   AMG44 (@amg44)
   3rd December 2021, 14:54

   Decent track for a street circuit, wish it wasn’t that narrow. Start-finish straight reminds me of Baku. Still Baku is overall the best looking street track.
   Overtaking looks very difficult just because it is too narrow for two cars side by side.
   1. 

      Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
      3rd December 2021, 15:19

      @amg44

      Decent track for a street circuit

      Is this really a street circuit through given how (I believe) most of it was purpose built for F1?

      A street track for me is a circuit which uses previously existing public roads & which largely follows those roads, You don’t design a street circuit, You simply follow the already existing streets.
      A circuit like this where the roads were designed around the purpose of racing is more of what i’d describe as a purpose built temporary circuit.

      I think the only reason they are constantly pushing it as a street circuit is so they can use the ‘fastest street race’ label for marketing reasons.
      1. 

         AMG44 (@amg44)
         3rd December 2021, 15:51

         It can be described as a street track because it looks like one, is very narrow and the space constraint on some part of it was the red sea.
         Personally i am not a fan of this layout and wish they had gone with a normal wide high speed track like Silverstone or Spa as they were spending billions anyway. I guess they wanted the close to the audience high speed night race spectacle, crashes…etc so went this route.
3. 

   iCarbs (@icarby)
   3rd December 2021, 15:02

   Probably the most frightening track I have ever seen.
   1. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      3rd December 2021, 15:07

      @icarby That was my feeling too. I don’t think I’ve watch a practice session so alarmed about slow cars v. cars on a lap time, truly scary. It looks Silverstone/Monza fast but street circuit close. Yikes.
      1. 

         iCarbs (@icarby)
         3rd December 2021, 15:10

         @david-br yup, totally unforgiving I hope drivers take extra care this weekend.
         1. 

            David BR (@david-br)
            3rd December 2021, 15:14

            @icarby I guess a big chunk of responsibility is on the teams to advise drivers about approaching cars because there is just no way to see behind and ahead for than a few metres with some of the corners.
      2. 

         Mayrton
         3rd December 2021, 15:47

         I agree. Scary stuff. Hope no-one bins it in Q3 tomorrow, leading to significant repairs. Stakes are high and I guess the two at the top will give it everything.
4. 

   Mayrton
   3rd December 2021, 15:05

   This looks to me as exactly the circuit we don’t want, talking about the looks & environment, not about track lay-out necessarily. It looks like Formula E with all the fences everywhere. No charm just track and fences. Horrible. Hope it is fun to drive. What a stellar job from Max this first practice looking at the gap in team mates RB vs Merc. We should be thankful we have such a guy around to spice things up.
   1. 

      Alex
      3rd December 2021, 15:10

      Agreed. He’s certainly taken the fight to Mercedes this year although it looks like Mercedes have found even more pace for the last few races
   2. 

      papaya
      3rd December 2021, 15:48

      What a drive Max Verstappen! To combat with the so called best car Mercedes with the Spicy engine, yet only 0.056s behind. Hopefully there will be surprise pole, to show them you doesn’t fear of their “overhyped” engine strategy.
      1. 

         MacLeod (@macleod)
         3rd December 2021, 15:51

         you know these are the old engines in those cars….
         1. 

            Edvaldo
            3rd December 2021, 16:09

            these guys must be children to be so happy about a friday practice. cringeworthy stuff really.
            1. 

               Charlie
               3rd December 2021, 16:43

               When I was a 10-year old getting into F1 in 1992 I’m so glad there weren’t internet forums for me to be scolded for having child-like glee at what were probably insignificant things.
            2. 

               Edvaldo
               3rd December 2021, 18:16

               except that this isn’t child-like glee. You should waste -waste, yes- more of your time reading this comment section to see other writtings of these individuals, then you’ll see.
      2. 

         72defender (@72defender)
         3rd December 2021, 15:59

         So you know, they do not use race PU’s during practice.
   3. 

      Simon
      3rd December 2021, 15:49

      Mercedes probably haven’t put in his Brazil engine back in yet. I wonder how much of a difference it will make.
5. 

   Ipsom
   3rd December 2021, 16:00

   I’m not surprised that the grip is high. It seemed that they had many cars run the track from the Thursday pictures post
6. 

   Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
   3rd December 2021, 23:05

   Definitely a brat move by Max on Ocon, knew exactly what he was doing. Practicing for the race maybe…

Comments are closed.