One week on from delivering a cold, hard dose of reality to Red Bull’s rivals in Bahrain, Max Verstappengenerously decided to give someone else a turn at the top of the times during the opening day of running in Jeddah.
The world champion and early championship leader was three tenths of a second slower than Fernando Alonso during the low-fuel runs in the middle of the second practice session, allowing Formula 1 and its many international broadcast partners to feign that the rest of this weekend will not be as straightforward for Red Bull as Bahrain turned out to be.But immediately after the session ended, Verstappen had the demeanour of a driver who knew he has every reason to feel confident about his chances over the rest of the weekend.
“I think it’s been pretty good overall,” he said. “There’s always things that you look at to do better over one lap performance, but also I think some teams already used a little bit more power like they did in Bahrain.”
After last week’s opening round of the season around an abrasive, extremely rear-limited Bahrain circuit, teams and drivers alike were eager to point out how the high-speed, flowing Jeddah track would be a whole different challenge which could produce different results. However, taking Thursday at face value, it’s striking that the nine of the ten cars who scored points last weekend were in the top half of the field in second practice in Jeddah. Only Lando Norris was missing, his slot claimed by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who must be hoping that is a sign of better things to come.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
The field spread of 1.326s from Alonso’s best lap to Valtteri Bottas in 20th was closer than it was in Q1 here last year – only further proof of how close the grid is this early phase of the season. While the current top five teams should all expect to get through into Q3 with both cars on Friday, it shows that any mistake when it matters most could be especially costly, with seven cars within half a second of tenth place by the end of second practice.
Track limits are always a concern, but the most dangerous one is, ironically, the easiest to avoid. After completing the challenge of 27 corners, throwing away a full lap time for crossing into the painted section between the track and the pit road is the most infuriating way to have all that hard work invalidated. But as has been seen with Lia Block and Maya Weug in F1 Academy qualifying, the earlier F2 qualifying session or even Logan Sargeant during last year’s F1 qualifying, a lack of concentration can see a driver undo all their efforts by straying into the forbidden zone.
Beyond the likelihood that the RB20 may be even better suited to this much faster circuit than Bahrain, it’s too close to call how the rest of the grid is likely to form up. Piastri admitted that McLaren “could be right up the front, we could be P10 – it’s just very hard to know.” A sentiment that’s likely to be shared by many of the teams.
But with such a low downforce circuit, Friday’s qualifying could take on even greater importance than the three previous sessions held at this track. After multiple drivers complained about how the dirty air effect was more prominent last weekend in Bahrain than previous years and teams running smaller wings here in Saudi Arabia, there’s every possibility that it may prove more difficult than before for drivers to stick close enough to their rivals and attempt to pass.
That makes Verstappen’s confession that “probably other people are a bit better than us over one lap” even more crucial. Because as Leclerc showed last weekend, Red Bull can be beaten in qualifying. But it’s up to Verstappen’s rivals to deliver their best laps of the weekend when it matters most, at the end of qualifying, if anyone is likely to have a chance of stopping Red Bull in Jeddah this year.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Combined practice times
| P. | # | Driver | Team | FP1 time | FP2 time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’29.845 | 1’28.827 | 52 | |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’29.939 | 1’29.057 | 0.230 | 47 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’29.659 | 1’29.158 | 0.331 | 51 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’30.030 | 1’29.180 | 0.353 | 49 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’29.868 | 1’29.300 | 0.473 | 50 |
| 6 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’30.580 | 1’29.336 | 0.509 | 45 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’30.164 | 1’29.455 | 0.628 | 50 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’30.236 | 1’29.504 | 0.677 | 43 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1’31.046 | 1’29.528 | 0.701 | 54 |
| 10 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’30.977 | 1’29.594 | 0.767 | 49 |
| 11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 1’31.036 | 1’29.666 | 0.839 | 53 |
| 12 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’30.231 | 1’29.758 | 0.931 | 49 |
| 13 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’31.131 | 1’29.777 | 0.950 | 51 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’30.747 | 1’29.789 | 0.962 | 54 |
| 15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’30.945 | 1’29.901 | 1.074 | 54 |
| 16 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 1’30.966 | 1’29.934 | 1.107 | 54 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’31.577 | 1’29.985 | 1.158 | 40 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1’31.411 | 1’30.077 | 1.250 | 44 |
| 19 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 1’30.917 | 1’30.088 | 1.261 | 54 |
| 20 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’30.783 | 1’30.153 | 1.326 | 53 |
Teams’ progress vs 2023
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Vowles being patient with Sargeant but expects to see “progress”
- “So I’ve got nothing to worry about?” – The best unheard team radio from Jeddah
- “Shock” of poor start to season showed need for change at Alpine – Famin
- “My tyres are dying”: Stroll’s short-lived struggle until he hit the wall
- Bearman calls Ferrari debut a “dream” but admits “I made a lot of mistakes”
PacificPR (@streydt)
8th March 2024, 8:22
No doubt Verstappen will be in a league of his own, especially during the races – this weekend and the rest of the season. What is interesting is the field spread, the gaps are so small and it will deliver great qualification sessions all season long – the racing on the other hand, that remains to be seen and I think it might become the major talking point during the season. Judging by the drab Bahrain grand prix – we might be in for a season of super dull racing (behind Verstappen) with such equal performances – I wonder if we will just end up with DRS trains and the only overtaking will be done in the pits…
James Bond (@jamesbond)
8th March 2024, 8:32
I think Perez will do well on this circuit. He could even win if Verstappen has bad luck.
CarWars (@maxv)
8th March 2024, 12:39
Anyone can win if the rest DNFs
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
8th March 2024, 9:20
If Verstappen wins by a huge margin this weekend, which it looks like he might, I predict a significant reduction in viewing figures for subsequent rounds.
Yes, we’ve had dominant eras before, but car reliability has never been so good, meaning that the chances of mechanical DNFs affecting the outcome are pretty much zero too.
Nothing against Max, of course. He is by far the best driver out there. The problem is that I watch motorsport for the racing, principally at the front of the pack. Watching one Red Bull 10+ seconds in the lead, with the other able to fight through the field despite being piloted by a bang-average driver, is not worth 2 hours of my Saturday/Sunday I’m afraid.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th March 2024, 11:25
Exactly, mine neither, in this case I didn’t know what time quali was and decided to open this site, risking spoilers; I see it didn’t happen yet but I don’t really mind getting spoilers any more if this is the level of competition.
Though as things are atm, I think the only thing worth watching is quali, as it can be close there sometimes.
CarWars (@maxv)
8th March 2024, 12:40
and how are we to sit through 24 races like that..
MichaelN
8th March 2024, 10:19
That’s not really when it matters most, though. As we saw last year, qualifying is largely irrelevant as Verstappen, and even Pérez now, can just fly past other cars with the combined might of high top speeds and virtually non-existent tyre wear.
Qualifying can be fun, but it’s the races that count. And the other nine teams haven’t shown anything worth fearing for close to two years now.
Craig
8th March 2024, 11:02
With a far superior car achieved through breaking the budget cap, an advantage that will likely only continue to snowball out of control, I don’t see why he’d be even vaguely worried.
For everyone else, little point in even watching, let alone turning up.
CarWars (@maxv)
8th March 2024, 12:40
still sour? good.
Charlie Payne
8th March 2024, 11:03
It would be nice to see some actual racing at the front for the win. I don’t think there is anything wrong in wanting to see that. There just doesn’t appear to be any contest right now.
Rich07
8th March 2024, 12:20
With Christian Horner under pressure I don’t forsee Redbull pulling any punches or sandbagging this weekend