Breaking the norm of Sunday races, the 2024 F1 season began with a Saturday race in Bahrain. The same will continue for the next race weekend in Saudi Arabia. Before these two fixtures, the 2023 Las Vegas GP was held on a Saturday. The inaugural Vegas fixture broke the 680 race run of a Sunday Grand Prix. The 1985 South African GP was the last non-Sunday F1 race before Vegas.
This time around, F1 preponed the race weekend by a day to accommodate for the festivity of Ramadan. The holy month will begin on March 10 (Sunday). Had F1 not moved the dates, the Saudi Arabian GP race day would have coincided with the first day of Ramadan.
The preponement affected the season opener, Bahrain GP, as well. This is because the two races are back-to-back fixtures, or what F1 calls them, a doubleheader. To ensure the teams and the organizers had enough time to manage logistics between the two races, the FIA moved the Bahrain GP to Saturday as well.
Saudi Arabian GP: Predictions
The Bahrain GP could well turn out to be the perfect precursor to the Saudi Arabian GP. That is because of the similar nature of the two tracks. As the season opener played perfectly to Red Bull’s strengths, it is more likely than not that Jeddah will too.
With 4 long straights with 3 DRS zones, Max Verstappen made the most of the RB20’s superior straight-line speed in Bahrain. After topping the qualifying, the Dutchman slipped out of Charles Leclerc’s DRS range before the start of the second lap on race day. The defending champ comfortably cruised to the victory thereafter.
His teammate, Sergio Perez, who could not make the most of it on Friday qualifying, took advantage of the nature of the track during the race. Starting from P5, Perez scythed through the field to station himself in P2 and finish there behind Verstappen.
The Jeddah Corniche circuit, despite a completely different layout, has pretty similar traits. The track has 3 straights with as many DRS zones. There is no reason why Verstappen & Co. should not be able to replicate the results from a week before here as well.
The only factor that could influence the results is the smoothness of the surface. While Bahrain had an abrasive and bumpy track, the one in Jeddah is known for its smoother asphalt. While Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz expects it to play in his team’s favor, it might just turn out to be a far-fetched dream. That is because the RB20 showed next to no tire degradation on a track like Bahrain. Nothing indicates that it should turn out to be any different in Jeddah.
