“It will be an interesting race” – Sergio Perez expects qualifying to play a big role on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, considering the street circuit is not overly overtaking-friendly.
The ongoing first-ever Saudi Arabian GP is being held on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the fastest street racing circuit in the world.
And as with any street circuit, overtaking is at a premium. And as such, Sergio Perez expects today’s qualifying to play a significant role in determining the winner between Mercedes and Red Bull, and Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Another reason for his assessment is the traffic he and the rest 19 endured during the practice sessions. This will also make the qualifying unpredictable, something both the champion teams are wary of.
“It’s going to be tricky in qualifying with the traffic. We saw a bit with what happened when everyone was on the soft tyre at the end [of FP2]. It can get very tricky, very messy, very quickly.
“It’s going to be very tricky [in Q1] to get the perfect lap out there. But then I think in the race it is a long race ahead of us.
“Anything can happen so we just have to stay there.”
Charles Leclerc Crash in FP2 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/hsSP3LzmAr
— FormulaOneTwoThree (@F1onetwothree) December 3, 2021
Sergio Perez stresses significance of an accident-free race
Ferrari star Charles Leclerc crashed out in yesterday’s practice, raising concerns over the consequences of errors committed during the race, something Perez and Red Bull will be desperate to avoid, as they bid to knock Mercedes and Hamilton off their perch.
“It will be an interesting race. A lot of things can happen, as we saw with Charles [Leclerc]. If you make a mistake it can be extremely costly so we have to stay there and be on it as much as possible.”
