50 laps of the 6.174-kilometre Jeddah Corniche Circuit 18th April Practice 1 14:30 - 15:30 18th April Practice 2 18:00 - 19:00 19th April Practice 3 14:30 - 15:30 19th April Qualifying 18:00 - 19:00 20th April Race 18:00 - 20:00 All times are UK times Poll closes before Quali.
Don’t know why, but of all the soulless new GPs this one is my least favourite. Happily we have a close and interesting battle for the championship, so I’m still looking forward to it. They’ll probably still win, but I’m hopeful this track will favour McLaren a bit less and we might get a bit more competition up front.
Something to discuss in the build up? I was asked this week if I thought this was the best F1 grid ever - I think it was suggested in last weeks Sky commentary that it might be? My thoughts are that all the rookies have shown at least flashes of something and as a consequence, you can make a pretty compelling argument that we have the “best worst” driver of any season I can remember. At the top end we perhaps don’t yet have the same depth of quality that was present during the mid to late eighties, but given Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri and especially Antonelli could all still improve and talents like Bearman potentially moving up the grid in the future, we could well be seeing the gestation of the “best grid ever”.
I think your list proves you don't have to be a bully to achieve. Of course, that might also have something to do with the ground effect era.
I thought the smoothness of this track would suit Ferrari but so far McLaren very impressive again. Let’s see- they haven’t always converted practice margin into quali so suspect it will be close enough once again.
Agree, horrible place to hold a race. Building a new track aren’t they so will move from this one in the next couple of seasons.
Glad to hear that they are building a new track.It can`t come soon enough.Hope it`s more safe looking. I still hold my breath when they enter some of these blind corners at the speeds they are doing. It just looks so dangerous and I can`t help thinking about a driver on a hot lap coming up behind a stationary car one day,especially in Q1 when so much traffic is about. I don`t know how these drivers do it. I`d be terrified.
I don’t think (Leclerc’s) Ferrari is that far away. He didn’t set a quali sim time and the race pace looked ok. Norris looking good when I was expecting this to be a Piastri track (I think I need to stop trying to predict that because I’m 1/5 so far this year!)
Williams definitely seem to be on the up, which is great. I'm sure carlos will be right there very soon.
I read an article ( Autosport I think ) James Vowles was saying that it won’t be until 2028 , until they will have everything in place ref all the machines / computer stuff / and what ever else they have that isn’t up to date .
Starting to think that McLaren should be considering a lineup change for 2026. They can only win the drivers title with a massive car advantage at the moment.
Great lap from Max again, you gotta credit it when it’s due. Piastri very solid to be fair, Lando just struggling with expectation if you ask me. Never seen a guy so bothered by comments, has to toughen up and just focus on himself. Max shows the way- doesn’t give a toss about the media or anyone and is unapologetic. It’s a crying shame Ferrari have a fundamental issue with their car because if they were in the mix we’d have a classic championship on our hands.
Max might not win the title, but he’s certainly doesn’t seem to be in the mood to let anyone use that to suggest he’s no longer the best driver on the grid. Super fine margins again though and with three in different cars in the top 3 we could be in for an interesting race. Not great from Norris, but it’s easy to make a mistake round here and with safety cars likely tomorrow he may well recover.
I'm not sure that the 5 sec penalty is enough, max is in fresh air able to keep car cooler and not dirty air so less tyre wear. Stop go might be a bit too much. I like that he is penalised for doing what he normally does to others, a bit of his own medicine.
