Why thrilling Jeddah F1 circuit needs to be safer

Saudi Arabia was clear with its intentions for its first Formula 1 race. It looked to make a statement by delivering a grandiose event, an approach that extended to the track layout and design. Marketed as F1’s fastest and longest street track at a shade under four miles, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit drew comparisons to Baku before a car even hit the track. It boasted 27 corners, a number of high-speed sections and only three big braking points.

The feedback was initially positive. Valtteri Bottas got straight over the radio to Mercedes in FP1 to say, “F***, this track is cool”, and the risk and reward on offer was clear in qualifying when Max Verstappen pushed too hard at the final corner.

But warning signs were already there. Nikita Mazepin was lucky not to hit Lewis Hamilton at the blind Turn 22 in FP3 after Mercedes failed to warn the world champion in time about the oncoming car, and a number of drivers were braced for incidents in the race.

And that’s exactly what followed. Even standing on the grid in Jeddah, the narrowness of the track was clear. The first start was well-behaved, but the crashes after the first red-flag restart were largely down to the tight bottleneck exiting Turn 2. Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc made contact, sending Perez’s car sideways.

It left Mazepin with nowhere to go but into the rear of George Russell’s Williams after he had slowed in reaction to the cars ahead. It was a big hit, and one Mazepin felt fortunate to walk away from.

“The place is so tight that when Sergio was sideways, it took about 85% of the circuit,” Mazepin said. “There wasn’t enough time to stop. It was impossible to avoid George.”

Mazepin was left with nowhere to go when Perez spun and the pack bottled up

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Russell has quickly emerged as a leading voice among his peers in F1, and was elected as a Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director at the start of the year. His maturity was on show again after the incident as he made his concerns about the track clear, calling for safety changes.

“[There is] a lot to learn for motorsport this weekend,” he said. “It’s an incredibly exhilarating and exciting track to drive, but it’s lacking a lot from a safety perspective and a racing perspective.

A track cannot be good for just a single lap. It needs to be safe and to be conducive to a clean event, and Jeddah could really do with some tweaks to make this more of a possibility ahead of its next race, which takes place in less than four months’ time

“There are unnecessary incidents waiting to happen in all of these small kinks that are blind, which are not even corners in an F1 car. They just offer unnecessary danger.”

Russell is right. The track, while thrilling, did feel like it had a lot of corners that served little purpose and weren’t really corners.

“It could all just be made into a straight line from Turn 2 to Turn 4, and just be straight from Turn 17 to 22,” Russell said, adding it was a “no-brainer” to make small changes that would drastically improve safety. F1 race director Michael Masi saw it differently, saying the track would require only some “fine tuning” but “nothing in a major way”.

Even after the red flags, the race felt truncated because of the regular incidents and the time taken to clear debris. Many drivers were confused why there were so many VSCs without a full safety car.

“At some point I started to think we’re going to do half the race under VSC or safety car if it keeps going like this,” said Pierre Gasly, who also called for better visibility and fewer blind corners to make the track safer.

Fast sweepers were a challenge for drivers, but prompted safety questions

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

Sebastian Vettel added that it “doesn’t take much” for a big accident at Jeddah.

“I think Suzuka is an amazing track, but you wouldn’t do Suzuka with walls – and that’s what they’ve done here, more or less,” he said. “It’s challenging, but pointless to be so blind for so long.”

“Suzuka with walls” sums it up perfectly (except the fastest lap at the 2019 Japanese GP was 142.8mph; last weekend it was 152.2mph, just 0.6mph slower than Monza!). We want tracks to be thrilling and to test drivers’ commitment, to show them at their best. The first 26 corners of Verstappen’s Q3 lap were exactly that, the brilliance and bravery evidenced by Fernando Alonso’s stunned reaction in the TV pen, which is a must-watch video.

But a track cannot be good for just a single lap. It needs to be safe and to be conducive to a clean event, and Jeddah could really do with some tweaks to make this more of a possibility ahead of its next race, which takes place in less than four months’ time.

Saudi Arabia nevertheless got the memorable first F1 race it craved. The grid was the busiest since wider personnel were allowed back on as VIPs, and dignitaries soaked up the latest major sporting event to come to the kingdom.

But it also again led to questions about where F1 sits with countries holding questionable human-rights records amid the wider ‘sportswashing’ debate. Hamilton was the most vocal driver on Thursday, saying he was not fully comfortable racing in Saudi Arabia and there was “a lot of change that needs to happen” in the country.

Hamilton made a point by again wearing his pride-flag helmet to race in Saudi Arabia, where same-sex relationships are illegal. I spotted a handful of people on the grid also making smaller but similar statements, such as wearing rainbow-flag headbands or bracelets.

F1 has always maintained that its presence in countries with questionable human-rights records is about helping to encourage change and progress. With a long-term deal in place, Saudi Arabia is likely to be the truest test of F1’s role in that yet.

Will we see changes when F1 returns in four months time?

Photo by: Erik Junius