The timing of two interruptions – one a Safety Car period, another a VSC – had a decisive effect on the outcome of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The first one played badly against early race leader Sergio Perez. He’d already pitted when it came out, and his three closest pursuers were all able to overhaul him by diving for the pits, dumping him off the podium.As 15 of the 18 starters (Mick Schumacher having withdrawn and Yuki Tsunoda suffered a pre-race power unit problem) lined up on mediums, almost all of them pitted around this time. The other three who started on hards stayed out, hoping for a further disruption later in the race which they could take advantage of.
They got it when Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo retired simultaneously. But only two of them – Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg – made it into the pits before it was closed. Lewis Hamilton didn’t, and his pit stop undid the work he’d done climbing into the points places.
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2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 15 | 1 | 5 |
| George Russell | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Max Verstappen | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Sergio Perez | 1 | 0 | -3 |
| Charles Leclerc | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 3 | -1 | 0 |
| Lando Norris | 11 | 0 | 4 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 14 | 1 | |
| Esteban Ocon | 5 | 0 | -1 |
| Fernando Alonso | 7 | 0 | |
| Pierre Gasly | 9 | -1 | 1 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 19 | ||
| Lance Stroll | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 17 | 1 | 5 |
| Alexander Albon | 16 | 1 | 2 |
| Nicholas Latifi | 18 | 1 | |
| Valtteri Bottas | 8 | 0 | |
| Zhou Guanyu | 12 | -6 | 1 |
| Mick Schumacher | 14 | ||
| Kevin Magnussen | 10 | 1 | 1 |
2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’31.634 | 48 | |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’31.772 | 0.138 | 50 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’31.905 | 0.271 | 48 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1’32.042 | 0.408 | 46 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’32.753 | 1.119 | 46 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’32.779 | 1.145 | 48 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’32.821 | 1.187 | 43 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’32.997 | 1.363 | 47 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’33.103 | 1.469 | 46 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1’33.468 | 1.834 | 42 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’33.651 | 2.017 | 47 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’33.831 | 2.197 | 33 |
| 13 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’33.924 | 2.290 | 45 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’33.979 | 2.345 | 31 |
| 15 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’34.368 | 2.734 | 46 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’34.446 | 2.812 | 46 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’34.487 | 2.853 | 34 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.530 | 5.896 | 9 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | |||
| 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull |
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2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Charles Leclerc | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Sergio Perez | C3 (15) | C2 (35) | |
| George Russell | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Esteban Ocon | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Lando Norris | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Pierre Gasly | C3 (15) | C2 (35) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | C2 (37) | C3 (13) | |
| Lewis Hamilton | C2 (40) | C3 (10) | |
| Zhou Guanyu | C3 (16) | C2 (34) | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | C2 (37) | C3 (13) | |
| Lance Stroll | C3 (13) | C2 (36) | |
| Alexander Albon | C3 (13) | C2 (34) | |
| Valtteri Bottas | C3 (16) | C2 (19) | C3 (1) |
| Fernando Alonso | C3 (16) | C2 (19) | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | C3 (8) | C2 (27) | |
| Nicholas Latifi | C3 (14) | ||
| Yuki Tsunoda | |||
| Mick Schumacher |
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2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 20.383 | 16 | |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 20.481 | 0.098 | 15 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 20.650 | 0.267 | 8 |
| 4 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 20.683 | 0.300 | 13 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 20.731 | 0.348 | 16 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 21.038 | 0.655 | 16 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 21.141 | 0.758 | 16 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | 21.415 | 1.032 | 16 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | 21.425 | 1.042 | 37 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 21.521 | 1.138 | 16 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 21.543 | 1.160 | 16 |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 21.788 | 1.405 | 40 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 22.339 | 1.956 | 13 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 22.374 | 1.991 | 37 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 22.561 | 2.178 | 16 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 22.710 | 2.327 | 35 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 22.820 | 2.437 | 15 |
| 18 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 33.734 | 13.351 | 16 |
Qeki (@qeki)
28th March 2022, 10:05
Any penalties for Max or Charles as they did their fastest laps under a yellows
MattDS (@mattds)
28th March 2022, 22:52
@qeki
– Charles: Charles did his fastest lap on lap 48. There was briefly a yellow being thrown in S1 as he was finishing up lap 48 (he was in S3 at that time). So he didn’t drive one meter of that lap under yellows.
– Max: Max did his fastest lap on lap 50. There was a yellow being thrown in S1 while he was doing that. However he drove a yellow sector one (= not his fastest). His S1 time on lap 50 was 34.172. His fastest S1 was 33.738.
Both are fine.
Michael
28th March 2022, 11:23
Interestingly every driver lost 4 or more seconds to Leclerc and Verstappen during the VSC:
Verstappen (before and after VSC): 1.5 to 1.6
Sainz: 6.7 to 10.8
Perez: 9.5 to 14.3
Russell: 19.8 to 26.7
Ocon: 40.6 to 46.6
Norris: 44.3 to 48.8
Gasly 48.4 to 52.5
grapmg (@)
28th March 2022, 17:35
I think Verstappen dropped a gap to Leclerc and than closed it again. I think that is why Sainz lost the 4s to Verstappen and so did all the drivers behind. Smart driving or unintentional?
baasbas
28th March 2022, 20:07
@Michael
I’ve seen that before, earlier seasons too with Verstappen. For instance with Hamilton on his gearbox at the start of VSC and a nice 2 second gap when VSC ends. I know you can get lucky/unlucky with the timing of the VSC. Does the VSC start while you’re going through the hairpin at Monaco or at the start of the Baku straight for instance… But he seems consistently just that bit quicker than others through VSC. That should rule out luck. Surely the sector times are monitored and enforced so apart from the luck you can or cannot have, you can’t really cheat. Perez lost a chunk of time, so it’s not like RBR have a superior ‘timing system’ on their steering display or something… How does he do it? It can’t be a unique skill.
On this occasion Leclerc did it too. Did VSC end for them right at the start of the straight maybe?