2023 Saudi Arabian GP: Post Race Analysis

They call it a street circuit, but that's a stretch. FIA should again be under fire for incompetence... read on.

Red Bull unsurprisingly was the fastest car, and by some margin. Sergio Perez is getting a lot of praise for being a street circuit ace, but let's be honest, his poles and wins are coming from when Max has issues. Never the less, his drove a great race and did what he needed to do. After the safety car, Max was close enough to be a threat for the win, and Perez maintained his gap which is huge. Alonso predicted Verstappen would be up to 2nd by lap 25, and he did exactly that. Their car has such a top speed advantage that it makes passing easy. Sky Sports were certainly keen on talking about how great the car is, vs when Mercedes passed cars easily, it was down to the driver. It seemed Red Bull took advantage of track limits, appearing to almost deliberately cutting the chicane. This could gain upwards of half a second, and they apparently could do it 3 times before getting a penalty? It didn't make any difference to the results, but it should not be allowed.

Mercedes inherit an undeserving podium. A mental health day will need to be taken for all the Mercedes fans as it was still not a win, and Toto will release another sad letter. Jokes aside, the Mercedes look strong, and in a better position than last year. A strong fight to be 2nd best. George Russell was clearly the better driver all weekend. Hamilton had a brief shot on the medium tires, but didn't make anything of it.

Aston Martin perhaps robbed? Alonso made a silly mistake in his grid position and the penalty was deserved. We saw this in the last race with Ocon, so every driver should know better, let alone the most experienced driver on the grid. However, go back to Brazil Sprint Race 2022 when a few drivers started outside their box, notably Lewis Hamilton who was half a car width outside his box and no penalties were given because "the cars are so big". The cars are just as big now. Alonso stayed calm and drove a brilliant race once again, only to have it taken away because a mechanic touched the car before the 5 seconds was up. Ocon had the exact same thing happen last race, so the teams should know better! Like come on! But wait, did the jack actually touch the car? With the mechanic's legs in the way, it was not 100% conclusive. FIA apparently didn't see anything wrong until Mercedes complained. Sorry, but there is so much wrong with this story. And it doesn't end there. In Bahrain, the Stewards got it wrong by giving a 10 second penalty to Ocon, and they got it wrong again with Alonso. IF the team failed to serve the penalty correctly, then the existing penalty still applies and needs to be served. Drivers get 5 second penalties during the race all the time, and if not served during the race it gets applied after the race. Given Alonso's team waited 5 seconds before actual work, they effectively received 15 seconds in penalties. As for Stroll, a tough DNF. They need to finish the races while the car is second best.

Ferrari are not looking in good shape. The car is not only miles off of the Red Bull's, but it seems to be a step behind AM and right around Mercedes. Speed is an issue, tire wear is an issue, and so is reliability. Sainz looked to be struggling. Slow in qualifying, had no defense, no attack, and no pace in the race. Leclerc was driving as good as anyone on the soft tires, but once stuck behind Sainz on the hard tires, his race was finished. Expectations of a podium only to come away with 6th and 7th. Not good enough.

Alpine had a very good result. It could be the start to another up and down season, but the low drag configurations seem to suit their car. They could be early favorites for the 5th best team. Ocon and Gasly both drove equally well.

Haas right in the hunt for the final points. KMag had a great battle with Yuki for the final point. Hulkenburg appears to be the outright faster driver, but Magnussen is still able to perform in the race.

AlphaTauri also in that fight. Tsunoda still isn't established as being a very good driver, but it appears he has made another good step forward. That, or De Vries is really underperforming.

Alfa Romeo didn't look very good at all. However it's looking better and better for Zhou who continues to improve all the time. Bottas, what in the hell? Race is coming to an end, he's on soft tires and is 32 seconds behind the next to last running car, and then he asks if there is a problem? Sadly, the answer from the team was no. If the car was fine, this has to be one of the worst performances by any driver. Latifi level of bad. To think, he could have won a few championships in a Mercedes if Hamilton wasn't his teammate.

McLaren still have a terrible package. It was fascinating to see the drag race against the Williams with the same engine, and the McLaren just drops back. Brundle was quick to point out the McLaren appears to have a load of drag. It didn't help that both drivers lost their front wings early on, but points didn't look likely regardless. Oscar beating Lando in his second race has to be a big boost.

Williams at the bottom in a race that suited their car. Terrible result. Tough break for Albon, as he was in the hunt for points. Logan still shows he is much better than anticipated, but to finish 16th in a race where the car had a shot for points, eh. There will be more chances for Williams to come. Eventually the team needs to make big gains fast, as we can't forget they have the most CFD and Wind Tunnel time for the 3rd straight year.

Driver of the Day: Max Verstappen. 15th to 2nd and probably had a shot of winning if it wasn't for the mystery driveshaft issue. Perez gets an honorable mention because he pushed hard and mistake free with Max 5 seconds behind.

 

As you wrote ... if the car is indeed "touched" during the 5-second penalty (IF ...), then that doesn't count for your penalty ... and the penalty gets served at a later time (later pit, or the end of the race). Why double-up (or, triple-up) the penalty?

Logic & consistency have never been strong suits for the FIA.

 

Two races in ...

Verstappen leads Perez by 1 point
Russell leads Hamilton by 1 point
Sainz leads LeClerc by ... oh nevermind

 

100% agree with your analysis, on every single front! Nothing to add here.

 

Looks like it worked out for Alonso after all.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-gets-saudi-f1-podium-back-after-penalty-ruling-overturned-/10446232/

All the best,
Andrew.

 

SO many dimensions to the incompetence of the FIA

FIRST, there's needless ambiguity in the rule:

54.4(c): “While a car is stationary in the pit lane as a result of incurring a penalty in accordance with Articles 54.3a) or 54.3b) above, it may not be worked on until the car has been stationary for the duration of the penalty.”

If the rule allegedly "means" no-one or no-thing may touch the car ... then write the damn rule that way! What does "worked on" mean? Can it be touched by a glove? Can it be touched by a jack? Can it be lifted by a jack? One can easily argue that lifting by a jack does not constitute "working on", because returning the car to the ground immediately after lifting results in a non-worked-on car (no change to the car). The FIA never even imagined there might be ambiguity here? Has NO lawyer EVER read these rules, ever?

There's a definition of "work" in physics ... where lifting a car means that "work" has been applied (force through a distance). Does the FIA rule include this definition of "work"?


SECOND, why do these "schedules" for imposing penalties appear to be so open-ended (and open to influence)? Seriously ... can't make a call like this for thirty laps?? I say, if a steward is too dim-witted to make a call by the podium ceremony, then the ceremony itself determines the ruling that the stewards were incapable of making. If it's later determined that the steward made a bad call ... the podium results stand, and the steward gets fired. YES, the stewards need to work on someone else's schedule ... not their own ... and they get fired if they get it wrong. Just like every other human on the planet who has ever had a job

I'm happy for Alonso, i think he earned the podium. But this is damn clown show.

 

I am very happy Aston Martin fought this, and the FIA rightfully gave Alonso his podium back. It's sad that every single season Stewards and the FIA continue to make absolute bonehead decisions.

 

Thanks for the crisp assessment.
The extra win for Red Bull is it calms Perez down for at least a couple of weeks.
He is happy to have won the race and won't be griping about being third fiddle in a two fiddle band for a bit.

 

You might think, but, apparently, Checo has been asking for an investigation into Max putting in the fastest lap. He believes either that either Max was told to go ahead and do the lap, while he (Checo) was under instructions to keep pace, or that Max just went ahead and broke team orders and filched the fastest lap. Either way, Checo isn't entirely a happy bunny.

 

if you are in the best car by a country mile he should count himself very lucky. He knows he will be thwarted at every opportunity by the team if he gets close to winning the WDC. He could drive for Ferrari,then he will be unhappy

 

RB rocket ship = Newey innovation
SF rocket ship = FIA investigation

 

One replay showed Checo cutting the corner. Then along comes Max, who could not have seen Checo cut the corner, cutting the corner as well. Checo is smart, and knows what he is dealing with.

 

Charles had an excellent first stint on the softs. That was about the only positive for Ferrari. Should have been team orders to give him a shot at the Mercs.

 

Ferrari also did a "dummy" pit stop which brought in Stroll to pit.....Sainz came in 2 laps later and did the overcut and got in front of Stroll when Sainz came out of the pits. That move was a big positive....albeit copied from Mercedes of years past....nevertheless Ferrari implemented it beautifully and AMRF1 took the bait.

 

Forgot about that. I was shocked when I saw that. I sort of wonder though if Stroll was already having some issues.

 

Regarding Stroll and his issues-->So they replayed Strolls issue and the rear camera picked up a puff of smoke right before he has his issue where the pit wall over team radio told Stroll to stop the car a couple of times.

 

I saw that as well. I have seen nothing presented on his exact technical problem.

 

Ferrari's tough start to the 2023 Formula 1 season analysed - what has gone wrong?
Ferrari have made a slow start to the 2023 Formula 1 season; Sky Sports F1 assesses how the sport's most famous team appear to have fallen back after being Red Bull's biggest challengers last year

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12841212/ferraris-tough-start-to-the-2023-formula-1-season-analysed-what-has-gone-wrong

 

Krack said the day after the race that it looked to be an ERS issue but they are still investigating.

I have yet to see anything as of late to confirm what really happened to Strolls car.

 

Yes I surfed a bit as well. Was curious if ICE related or extraneous system fault. Thanks man!

 

Don't let the magic smoke out !