2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlights

Introduction

 

Sergio Perez converted pole position into victory at the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as teammate Max Verstappen recovered from P15 to make successive one-two finishes for Red Bull. Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin on the podium again with a good drive before being stripped of P3 and then reinstated after a stewards’ review.

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Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

The third Saudi Arabian Grand Prix went largely as we expected, both from the point of view of strategies and tyre behaviour. Eighty per cent of the drivers chose the medium at the start, which ensured maximum flexibility in the event of a race neutralisation – which duly happened for the third time in three years of racing here. The arrival of the Safety Car following Lance Stroll’s retirement coincided with the pit stop window, which meant that the drivers who hadn’t made a stop so far could take advantage of this neutralisation to put on the hard tyre.

The performance gaps between the compounds also fit our expectations, which was the case for degradation. This was practically nothing on the medium and hard tyres and quite limited on the soft ones used by Charles Leclerc: the only driver to have carried out a significant stint on this compound. The absence of degradation was what allowed even the drivers who had fitted the hard tyre before the safety car came out – such as Kevin Magnussen and Oscar Piastri, who completed 42 and 49 laps on it, respectively – to push all the way to the end, with both of them pulling off some great passing moves in the closing stages. The medium also showed a lot of consistency, as underlined by Lewis Hamilton, who took advantage of its superior performance compared to the hard-to-get-past Carlos Sainz shortly after the re-start.

How the race was won:

Red Bull sealed its second one-two of the season in Jeddah, with Sergio Perez winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso followed the Dutchman and was third. All the drivers onto the podium used P Zero White hard C2 tyres for their final stints.

The night race occurred with asphalt temperatures between 29 and 31°C, while the ambient temperature remained consistent at 26°C: lower values than those previously seen in FP2 and qualifying.

The three podium finishers used identical strategies, making their pit stops on the same lap. Perez, Verstappen, and Alonso all swapped from their P Zero Yellow medium C3 starting tyres to the hard tyre on lap 18, under the safety car.

Only four drivers from different teams started on a tyre other than the medium. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris selected the P Zero Red soft C4, while Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Logan Sargeant (Williams) went for the hard.

Max Verstappen set the fastest lap on the hard tyre (1m31.906s) while Lewis Hamilton was the driver who covered the most laps on the medium: 32. Hamilton also set the fastest lap for the medium compound, 1m32.941s. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas established the quickest benchmark for the soft compound, 1m34.384s.

No fewer than seven drivers set their best lap times of the race on the final lap with the hard tyre. These included Verstappen – who also set the overall fastest lap, giving himself the extra point that allowed him to stay in the championship’s lead – and Alonso and Russell, fighting hard for the final podium place.

The alternative strategy:

Most team strategies were quite similar. As predicted by Pirelli’s simulations, 16 drivers started the race on the medium. Of those, only the two Alfa Romeo drivers didn’t finish the race on the hard. Bottas did three pit stops, going onto the hard and then the mediums again on lap 17, before fitting the soft 15 laps from the end. Guanyu Zhou stopped before the others and again during the safety car period to go from hard to medium.

Hamilton and Sargeant finished the race on mediums, as they were the only drivers to start on hards. Leclerc and Norris chose a different strategy, beginning the race on the soft and ending it on the hard. Norris was forced to stop just two laps into the race and then went onto the mediums under the safety car, keeping them on until the flag.

2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:21:14.894	25	43
2.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing Honda	+5.355s	19	44
3.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Alpine F1 Team	+20.728s	15	30
4.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+25.866s	12	18
5.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+31.065s	10	20
6.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	+35.876s	8	20
7.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	+43.162s	6	6
8.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	+52.832s	4	4
9.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+54.747s	2	2
10.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	+64.826s	1	1
11.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+67.494s	0	0
12.	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Haas F1 Team	+70.588s	0	0
13.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+76.060s	0	0
14.	21	Nyck De Vries	Netherlands	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+77.478s	0	0
15.	81	Oscar Piastri	Germany	McLaren Racing	+85.021s	0	0
16.	2	Logan Sargeant	USA	Williams Racing	+86.293s	0	0
17.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	+86.445s	0	0
18.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+1 lap	0	4
19.	45	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	DNF	0	1
20.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	DNF	0	8

2023 Constructor Standings

Pos	Picture	Team	Points
1.		Red Bull Racing	860
2.		Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	409
3.		Scuderia Ferrari	406
4.		McLaren Racing	302
5.		Aston Martin F1 Team	280
6.		Alpine F1 Team	120
7.		Williams Racing	28
8.		Scuderia AlphaTauri	25
8.		Alfa Romeo Racing	16
10.		Haas F1 Team	12

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Red Bull Racing

 

On Sunday, Mexican Sergio Pérez powered to his fifth career Grand Prix victory at the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Max Verstappen brilliantly fought his way through from 15th on the grid to grab second place behind him and the fastest lap.

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Pérez started on pole with Fernando Alonso overtaking him off the start line, only to be handed a five-second penalty which allowed 33-year-old Pérez to take the lead as Verstappen picked off the field to move second behind his colleague just before the halfway point of the race.

Verstappen tried hard to close the gap and recorded the fastest lap on the last lap to bank second place and a one-point lead over Pérez heading to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on April 2.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

The beginning of the race was a bit tricky. It was hard to follow the train of cars because of the very low grip. At one point, it all settled down a bit, I could move forward, and the safety car helped a little. It was about being calm and overtaking the cars one by one. In general, P2 was always the target today. Today was about recovering what was possible. If I had qualified P1, then today would have looked very different. I was catching Checo towards the end of the race, but we calculated it wouldn’t be enough to make up the gap to him by the end. I started to feel a vibration in the laps where I was catching and trying to push. I started to feel some instability in the car. Sometimes it’s better to tell yourself to bring that P2 home. As a Team, we have to work on ensuring both cars are reliable because we have a very fast car, but I still think we can do a better job. I would like a clean weekend in Melbourne to maximise everything we can. I am happy with how it turns out, but it is still a long season.

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

I had a wicked race – a new word I learned this week! I didn’t have a great start, but after I got back around Fernando, I created a good gap between the rest of the field and me… until the safety car came out, and I was reminded of Jeddah 2022… It was a new race after the safety car, though, and I’m happy I could build a gap again and then keep it, even when Max was pushing at the end. Everyone in Milton Keynes and at the track has built a fantastic car for us this season. I love being a part of this Team because of how we push and deliver. I’m so proud of us. The Team is working at such a high level, so it’s great to be a part of it. Ultimately, we must remember it’s a long season, but tonight was a massive team result.

CHRISTIAN HORNER – CEO and Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

What a race! All credit to the Team today. They’ve built an incredible car. That, coupled with some truly fantastic driving, has made for the best start to a season in our history, consecutive 1-2 finishes. Max had a mountain to climb, overcoming a significant deficit, but with over half the race to go, was already in P4. Similarly, Checo turned in an equally outstanding performance, perhaps the best drive I have ever seen from him. They were both going flat out, hard at it. Both drivers were free to race, and they went for it. Max secured the fastest lap, and Checo came away with the victory. It was an exemplary performance from both drivers, the team at the track and everyone back at the factory. A tremendous amount of work goes into a race such as this, and it is the epitome of a team performing at the top of its game. We won’t rest on it, though. Australia is just around the corner. It is a track that has not been kind to us in the past, so we want to ensure we are prepared, just as we were here, to give us the best chance of success and another first-class performance.

Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:

Aston Martin Formula One Team

 

After a hard-fought race, Fernando secured his 100th Formula One podium finish around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Hear Fernando, Lance and Team Principal Mike Krack from him as they reflect on an eventful night…

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Fernando and Lance made up ground from their top-five grid positions at the start of the Grand Prix. Fernando got a better launch than polesitter Sergio Perez and led the race’s opening stages. Lance pulled off a spectacular pass on Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to work his way into fourth.

Fernando lost the lead to Perez a few laps later but was initially able to keep up with him. He later slipped back behind the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen as the race progressed. He eventually secured a third position and became the sixth driver in history to take a landmark 100 F1 podium finish.

However, it was a mixed bag for the team as Lance had to retire due to a mechanical problem in the early stages of the race after running so well in the early stages.

Fernando, Lance and Mike gave their thoughts as the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend ended…

Fernando Alonso

I am happy with the result tonight and our second podium. We showed that we could be the second-fastest team and had a good pace throughout the race.

Initially, it was my mistake with the position on the grid, but we pushed to make up that time.

Coming into this weekend, we were not sure exactly where we would be, so this is good news for us going into the next few races. I am looking forward to Australia next.

Lance Stroll

Retaining from the Grand Prix after such a promising weekend was disappointing. I had a great start and enjoyed overtaking Carlos outside of Turn 13.

We were in a good position on track and having fun pushing, but then I started experiencing reduced power and got the call to stop the car. It is not the result we wanted, but we leave Saudi Arabia knowing that we have a very competitive car and will pick up the fight next time in Australia.

Mike Krack

It is very satisfying to score our second podium of the year with Fernando here in Jeddah. It is Fernando’s 100th career podium, which is a very impressive milestone.

It is a real shame that Lance was forced to retire early with an energy recovery issue, the cause of which is still being investigated because he had a strong pace and would surely have scored big points tonight as well.

The car has been competitive throughout the weekend, and we showed a strong race pace again tonight. Full credit to everyone in the team for their hard work this week.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

Solid race ends in fourth and fifth for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. After a well-executed one-stop race on offset tyre strategies, George Russell finished fourth, with Lewis Hamilton fifth.

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With George lining up P3 and Lewis P7, the team split strategies, with George starting on the medium and Lewis on the hard tyre.

Both cars opted to stop under the Safety Car on lap 17, with George switching to the hard tyre and Lewis taking the medium.

George took the restart in fourth, with Lewis passing Carlos Sainz for fifth; both cars ran in these positions to the flag. Post-race, the Aston Martin of Alonso was given a 10-second time penalty, promoting George to third. However, this was subsequently reversed after a right to review from Aston Martin.

Lewis Hamilton

We got some great points as a Team today. George getting third is amazing, and I was able to move forward from seventh to fifth, which is the main thing. If I had qualified better, I might have gotten a better result, but we still got some points. My set-up this weekend has been the biggest issue I’ve faced. I got it wrong for Qualifying, and it wasn’t good in the race either, so I struggled today. We tried to go long on the hard tyre, but the Safety Car came out, so I had to pit. We just about managed to make the medium work, but it was a long second stint. We didn’t have the same tyre degradation as in Bahrain, though. We were much closer to some of those ahead, and it’s great to be in the top five, ahead of the Ferraris. There is a lot to work on, but there are positives to take away from this weekend.

George Russell

You feel satisfied when you put in the hard work, which pays dividends. We finished ahead of both Ferraris on merit today and know we’ve got a lot of performance to come soon. The gap to the Red Bulls is still considerable, but we’ll take the positives from the weekend, keep fighting as hard as we can and focus on ourselves. It was an interesting race. After the Safety Car, I was on the hard tyre after the Safety Car, and Lewis was behind on the medium. He had a bit more pace initially, but I knew my pace would come at the end. Fernando deserved to be on the podium today, and I was pleased with P4. I’m not complaining too much about taking home a trophy, though, and we will take the extra points!

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

Today was positive, and we’d rather take a small trophy home than none. I think we saw some performance gains in Bahrain, which is encouraging. It shows us that the development trajectory is going in the right direction. Our drivers under our guidance probably over-managed their tyres a bit, and we had a little more pace. Bahrain is still in our heads, and we could have pushed more. It was a strong driver from George and a great recovery from Lewis to get solid points. Red Bull is still far away in terms of performance, which won’t be easy to catch. Nevertheless, today we’ve seen our development heading how we want to head.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

The team and both drivers made a good effort today to collect some very useful points, and clearly a pleasing end to the weekend for George picking up third place. The car is hard work to get into the right window, and it’s not as easy for the drivers as it needs to be, but we’ve certainly found a better balance than in Bahrain, and it has been a lot kinder on its tyres. We’re under no illusion that we have a lot of work to do. We’ve been busy at the factory searching for performance, and the initial findings are encouraging, motivating us to keep working hard to improve. Today, we did exactly what we needed to do: maximise the potential in what we have. We’re looking forward to the next race in Melbourne; it’s closer in characteristics to Saudi than Bahrain, so hopefully, we’ll have a car that we can fight for a podium. We’ll ensure we get it on track if we can bring more performance.

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia Ferrari

 

Scuderia Ferrari leaves Saudi Arabia with 14 points, courtesy of a sixth place for Carlos Sainz and a seventh with Charles Leclerc. It is clear that there is still work to do to improve the SF-23 performance level on Sunday because, as in Bahrain, there was a clear gap between how the car performed in qualifying and the race.

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The right choice, then fate stepped in. Leclerc was going very well in the first part of the race, making a perfect getaway from 12th on the grid, helped by the Soft tyres, which allowed him to be extremely aggressive in the opening laps, gaining three positions. By lap 13, he had moved up to sixth, having passed Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon. He was now behind Carlos, who had lost a place at the start to Lance Stroll. On laps 15 and 16, the team called the drivers in for their only pit stop, with Sainz going from Medium to Hard and Leclerc from Soft to Hard, which allowed them to get the jump on Stroll to move up to fourth and fifth. The pleasure of getting the overcut to work did not last long, replaced by the cruel let-down of seeing the perfectly executed plan come to nothing, as the Safety Car was immediately called out after Stroll parked at the side of the track. The two SF-23s were now sixth and seventh, as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were both able to pit under the Safety Car, their stops thus costing them half the usual time.

A train to the flag. There were no more changes to the chequered flag from this point, so Carlos and Charles endured a monotonous and somewhat frustrating race. The two Ferrari men ran consistently, which meant they could keep up with but could not pass Fernando Alonso, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. The next round is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne’s Albert Park.

Carlos Sainz #55

It was a tough Sunday. Going into the race and looking at the sessions over the weekend, we were expecting a better race pace. We have work to do, and we know the car is not where we want it to be. However, we will keep pushing, and I am confident we can improve the situation.

Charles Leclerc #16

There wasn’t much more we could have extracted today. Our first stint on the Softs was pretty strong, and I could push, making up some positions. Just after we switched to Hards, the Safety Car came out, so unfortunately, we didn’t gain an advantage there. Our pace was not as good as expected on the Hards, and the rest of the race was spent on a train with Carlos. We have work to do on our race pace and will push to come back stronger in Australia.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

Overall, we can’t be satisfied with today’s result. Our car did not have the pace we expected, especially on the Hard tyre. There was also a big gap in our performance level between qualifying and the race.

However, there were some positives today, starting with Charles’ pace on the Soft tyres, which allowed him to make up six positions on his first stint. Carlos also ran well on the Mediums. Our strategy was on point, and our pit crew executed two good stops.

There is still a long way to go this season, and we will continue to fight. We are fully committed to maximising our package and further developing the SF-23 for the coming rounds.

Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:

Alpine F1 Team

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team scored two points scoring finishes from the first two races of the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Esteban Ocon finished eighth and Pierre Gasly ninth at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

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Esteban’s four points ensured he claimed his first points of the 2023 campaign, while Pierre could repeat his ninth-place effort achieved in Bahrain on his debut with the team a fortnight ago.

It was a largely uneventful evening for the team, with both drivers on a one-stop – Medium to Hard – strategy in the 50-lap race. Pierre had a small scare on lap one as he was tagged by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the exit of Turn 2 and escaped without damage to his A523.

Pierre pitted first for Hards on lap 14, with Esteban into the pits two laps later for the same compound. A Safety Car on lap 17 for Lance Stroll’s retirement meant both drivers were jumped by Yuki Tsunoda, who had yet to pit at that race stage. At the restart, Esteban cruised past the Alpha Tauri on lap 24 before Pierre repeated the move with a neat overtake into Turn 1.

From there, both drivers ran conservatively to the chequered flag to guarantee a deserved six points.

Esteban Ocon, started P6, finished P8:

Overall, it’s been a good race for the team. The final result reflects our performance in the race; the eighth place is the maximum we could have achieved today. Having both cars in the points is definitely positive, especially after Bahrain, but we must not be completely satisfied with where we are now. Our car has potential, and we will continue learning and building to catch up to our competitors. We want to challenge positions higher up the grid and will keep working hard. We will debrief this weekend, and our attention will quickly turn to Australia, where we’ll aim for more.

Pierre Gasly, started P9, finished P9:

It’s satisfying to make it two-point finishes from my first two races with the team. I think finishing eighth and ninth was the best we could achieve today. We’re making positive steps; we’re learning things each time we get in the car, and we must continue to apply that knowledge to keep improving the overall package. On my side, there’s more to come, especially in extracting the maximum in Qualifying, which will allow us better track position for the Race. I’m looking forward to debriefing with the team, continuing my learning, and going to Australia, where we want to show further improvements.

Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal

Today’s race highlighted many things: areas where we know there are positives and other areas where we need to improve. Finishing with Esteban in eighth and Pierre in ninth was probably the best we could achieve today, and we’re making steps in the right direction towards our targets. We’re not where we want to be right now, that is clear, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us if we take the fight further up the grid. We had reeled in some of the teams in front of us in the championship last year, and we must continue to chip away at that gap and close it. As a team, we’ll debrief this weekend as there are many positives and some finer details for us to improve. We have a good batch of upgrades coming up as per our development plan, and we look forward to Australia in two weeks’ time, where we aim to apply our learnings and again come away with a good team result.

Alpine F1 Team best pictures:

Alfa Romeo Racing Stake

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake had a challenging evening in Jeddah as Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas finished 13th and 18th, respectively, in the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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The team couldn’t convert its starting positions into a top-ten finish, despite the best efforts of the drivers and crew. As we return to our headquarters, we will analyse the data from the race and come up with the answers to this unrepresentative performance while finalising the next upgrade package for the C43.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):

Our qualifying performance yesterday was similar to the one we had in Bahrain, so we had good hopes for tonight, but unfortunately, the race was a very different affair. The car didn’t feel right, we couldn’t get any grip from the beginning of the race, and we needed to figure out exactly what had happened. I ran over a large piece of debris on lap one, so perhaps I was carrying some damage to the floor: we’ll look at the car and at the data and understand more to prepare for Melbourne. I believe our car is much better than what we’ve shown tonight: Zhou had a much better pace, so I don’t think this weekend was very representative, and I am confident we can be back fighting for points in Australia.

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):

We looked strong in the first stint, our pace was good, and it seemed the top ten was within reach. Of course, the track position always makes the difference on street circuits like this one, and, unfortunately, I got stuck in a DRS train once the Safety Car came out. My race was compromised from that moment onwards, and there wasn’t much more we could do. Today just hasn’t been our day, but I think we can achieve much more as a team going forward. We get a new chance in a few weeks in Melbourne, where we will bring some upgrades to our car: hopefully, they’ll allow us to make the step forward we need to continue fighting for points. We have shown we can do it and fight towards the front, and I am confident we can achieve that again in Australia.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative:

Starting where we were on the grid, we were expecting to fight for the points, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t finish in the top ten this time. The team had a difficult weekend, and we weren’t able to be at the level for which we aimed: we’ll need to go back to base, analyse the data from this performance and understand where we’ve fallen short, and what steps we need to make to return to the level we were in Bahrain. We are confident we can make it there in Melbourne, where we will also bring some updates to improve the performance of our C43 further. We must keep working hard: the season is long, and the battle will be intense in each race.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team best pictures:

Haas F1 Team

 

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team saw Kevin Magnussen bringing home the team’s first point of the season in 10th, with Nico Hulkenberg 12th at the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

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Hulkenberg and Magnussen started the night race on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and held competitive positions in the congested midfield group during the opening stages. Magnussen came in on lap 8, taking on White hard tires, with Hulkenberg following suit three laps later and switching to the same compound.

The pair cycled through to 11th and 12th, respectively, Magnussen in front of Hulkenberg, after the pit stop phase, with those yet to stop doing so under a safety car period caused when Lance Stroll came to a halt on lap 17.

Magnussen and Hulkenberg ran in tandem at the restart before setting off in pursuit of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Magnussen made several attempts at usurping his opponent before finally wrestling the position away on lap 46 to move into the top 10.

Magnussen preserved the position across the remaining moments of the 50-lap race to secure his and the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s first point score of 2023. Hulkenberg ensured a two-car finish by taking the checkered flag in 12th position.

Up front, Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez claimed victory ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen, with Mercedes driver George Russell third.

Kevin Magnussen

A point means a lot. We didn’t start the weekend on the right foot, but it seemed like we really turned things around and found a groove for qualifying. Unfortunately, we had this issue with the gearbox that we didn’t have today, which was really nice. We had a good race, got a good start, and managed the tires well – especially on the hard compound when I was on older tires than Tsunoda and actually had less degradation. I then got past him, and we got the point.

Nico Hulkenberg

It was eventful. It’s always a massive challenge here on this track, and it was tight. On the one hand, I’m disappointed I missed out on a point, but on the other hand, I’m very pleased that I completed the race, and we’ve learned a lot. The underlying positive news is that we’re competitive. It was difficult to judge in Bahrain with damage, but today, we’re competitive in the midfield, which makes me happy.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

The first point this season! We had the speed but didn’t luck into it as some people were in a better position after the safety car, but the drivers fought hard, and we got the point. The whole team performed flawlessly all weekend, they kept their heads up, and everyone just kept on pushing. That’s what we’ll be doing all season long, and I’m really looking forward to going to Australia now. As I said, I didn’t know where we were with the car after Bahrain, but we now know where we think we are. We’re in the mix. I think we’re actually pretty good – it’s all coming together. We didn’t panic after Bahrain – now we’re cautiously optimistic.

Haas F1 Team best pictures:

Williams Racing

 

It was a frustrating day, as this weekend, we felt really strong as a team, and I’ve been really impressed with where the car is compared to where we were last year. It’s been such a pleasure getting to drive the car, and unfortunately, when it mattered in qualifying, we couldn’t quite execute, followed by the issue in the race, so it’s frustrating as we could have scored points this weekend. Knowing the car has pace, I’d much rather be disappointed than just finishing at the back. Hence, it’s a different kind of disappointment with many positives and opportunities to turn it around and come back fighting.

Logan Sargeant

Today I struggled a bit more than yesterday. The first 30 laps were pretty good, and then I just struggled there at the end to keep a hold of the tyres. We were losing a lot of grip. Nevertheless, we made it through another one and learned a lot. I definitely feel more confident ahead of the next race. I showed this weekend that on a difficult track, I could be really quick, so I can take that going into Melbourne and hopefully replicate and keep improving. Over the past two races, I’ve learned an enormous amount; I feel like everything is becoming more natural, and I’m trying to get things to become second nature and keep implementing them. It’s not going to happen all at once. It’s more a case of constantly building and understanding better.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance

The pace was good today, and Alex had a good chance of finishing in the top 10. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire with an issue in the mechanical brake system, which we will investigate and fix before the next race. This is a shame, as much good work was done here and in Grove on Friday evening to prepare the cars for the race. Logan’s race was compromised by the Safety Car, which left him with a lengthy stint on the Medium tyre and a defensive race against a close group of cars. He eventually lost a few places to faster cars but performed well in his 2nd Formula 1 race. We can take a lot of positives away from this weekend, but at the same time, we missed a good opportunity to score more points, and we must make some improvements to succeed in a very tight midfield.

Williams F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

With Spaniard Alonso completing the podium for Aston Martin, Scuderia AlphaTauri duo Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries finished in 11th and 14th place, respectively, to end an encouraging weekend.

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Nyck de Vries

I didn’t do a good enough job today. I lost most of my momentum at the start and restart, so I got stuck in traffic. It’s difficult to regain that rhythm and make up the positions, especially when caught in a DRS train. I didn’t attack enough and struggled to find the balance between managing the tyres well and pushing, so I could not get them to the right temperature. In the end, my pace was very strong and consistent when I was in clean air chasing Zhou. Generally, it was a step up from Bahrain, which is a positive. We definitely need to keep going and continue to push.

Yuki Tsunoda

I ended the race in P11. It’s frustrating to lose the position with only four laps to go. The team did a really great job. Everything went perfectly. The pace on the medium tyre was very strong and improved compared to qualifying. I’m happy with what the team and I achieved together, but at the same time, I’m disappointed we didn’t reach the points in the end. We’ll come back stronger with updates in Melbourne, so we are already fully focussed on the next race, where we will do our best to maximise our performance. We’ll continue to work hard to be able to fight at the top of the midfield and start scoring points consistently.

JODY EGGINTON – Technical Director

Both drivers delivered a solid race putting in consistent lap times tonight. The strategy was good, and the double stack pitstop under the Safety Car worked well as we gained track position. We achieved this as both drivers managed the medium tyre very well, meaning we could extend the first stint and not lose time to our midfield competitors, who stopped for the hard compound earlier. This strategy and the Safety Car put Yuki into the fight for the final points positions tonight. Although Yuki put up a good fight for eighth, the Alpines were quicker, and he couldn’t keep them behind for long. However, he was able to fight with Magnussen for P10 for most of the final stint, defending from consistent pressure and only losing out in the last laps for the final point, finishing P11. We couldn’t move Nyck into the points with the strategy, but he made some progress from his starting position, had some good battles, and was putting in solid lap times on both compounds tonight. It’s frustrating to miss out on a point, but there were positives to take from the drivers and team’s performance tonight. We’re now looking forward to the planned aero developments, and we trust they will improve our performance in the upcoming events.

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McLaren Racing

 

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Oscar makes contact with GAS on the opening lap. He pits for a new nose box and switches to the Hard tyre. Lando’s car was damaged from hitting debris on the track on the opening lap. He also pits for a new nose box and switches to the Hard tyre. With the Safety Car out, Lando boxes and swaps to a new Medium tyre. Lando, on the grippier tyre, swaps positions with Oscar into P17. With two laps to go, Oscar and Lando switch places again. Oscar overtakes SAR on the final lap for P15.

Lando Norris

Tough race; we were very unlucky today. I had a really good start but got hit with debris, damaging my front wing. We did our best to come out with something, but no luck was on our side. We did the best job we could, working as a team, but it was difficult to achieve anything more than what we did. So, it’s tough, but now our focus is on Australia, where we hope to do a better job.

Oscar Piastri

Obviously, it’s not the day we were looking for. There was contact at the beginning where I lost part of my front wing. I’m not sure if there was anything I could have done. Really, I was squeezed a little bit. There was some good racing at the end, which was nice, and obviously, I did a long stint on the Hards, so it’s good to get a bit of learning for the tyres, but overall, it’s not what we were looking for tonight.

Andrea Stella

After beginning the race with hopes of scoring points, we had both cars at the back of the pack after the first lap, and we came away from Jeddah empty-handed. Oscar had contact at the first corner, which required him to pit with a broken front wing, while Lando hit the debris coming off Oscar’s car and also suffered a broken front wing that required him to pit to change the front wing.

We’re racers, and we take these unfortunate circumstances on the chin and will be even more motivated and determined to improve the car and prepare for the next race in Australia. Melbourne is Oscar’s home Grand Prix, and we look forward to a cleaner race.

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