Jeddah 2021 Pre-Race Thread

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I'm still offering to show up at F1 tracks and do lots of laps to help clean up the circuits and lay down rubber! My friends and I will beat any price and render this valuable service to F1. They could have used my business plan for this in Qatar with no support races!

 

What machinery are you considering? It is not the same with a F1 car than one of those trucks with huge fans to clean the rubber.

 

Oh i'll drive anything to get on track! Just trying to be helpful!

 

"Funny" that it almost always happens like that... cue eyeroll.

It'll be interesting to see what they allow George to do next year.

 

Are those two cars based on next year's regulations?

What's the arabic writing on the garage signs? Just the driver names in Arabic? Would be funny if it was some joke or nickname.

 

those cars look old...some 10 years old!

 

I hope they change those wheels because they look like babish. Even Formula E cars' wheels look decent. Seriously, those are a real turn off for me.

 

McLaren poster

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Don't like it, to photo shoppy.

PS: I *DO* appreciate you and others posting this posters on here. Otherwise I'd totally miss them. Some are brilliant, some not so. Thanks for doing that.

 

If the ‘22 cars look anything like that—and probably will because of the ridiculous regulated wing shapes and stupid wheel covers—those are going to be some ugly*** cars!

 

I felt it from the first time I saw the layout and how tight it is between the walls, it is seriously dangerous.

Particularly in the fast and blind sections of 5 to 12, 16 to 18 and worst of all 22 to 24, if someone loses it -and 22 is super important for your lap time, like 7-8- he will not only spread bits of shrapnel all over the track but with zero runoff the possibility that another car sight unseen hits him at very high speed is very real, cf recent accidents at the Raidillon at Spa...or the 1998 spa start pile up...and due to the narrow space any incident means a red flag, during practice, Q or race so the question is how many red flags will we get?...

A world champion agrees:

https://f1i.com/news/426541-hill-fears-drivers-facing-high-risk-high-jeopardy-in-jeddah.html

It will be vital that they have instant yellow, white and red flag reaction times. They would need spotters like in US oval racing. Fingers crossed...it's a bit like the Coliseum in Rome, they are being thrown in with the lions and told to take care of themselves...

 

Looks nice from the air at night!

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Ferrari intro and data for the weekend - https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/formula1/articles/saudi-arabian-grand-prix-2021-preview

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/brundle-bottas-will-play-bigger-role-than-perez-in-f1-title-battle/6835832/

Brundle: Bottas will play bigger role than Perez in F1 title battle
By: Pablo Elizalde
Dec 1, 2021, 6:33 AM
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas is likely to play a more important role than Red Bull counterpart Sergio Perez in helping decide the 2021 Formula 1 title battle between their teammates Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, according to Martin Brundle.
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Red Bull driver Verstappen goes into this weekend's Saudi Arabian GP - the penultimate round of the season - with an eight-point gap over Hamilton after having scored nine victories to the Briton's seven.

That advantage means Verstappen will have his first match point of the year at the Jeddah circuit, and will be crowned champion if he leaves Saudi Arabia with a 26-point gap to Hamilton.

The situation in such a close championship battle means the roles of their teammates will be key in the upcoming two races.

Both Bottas and Perez have scored one victory each this year, the Finn third in the standings, 13 points ahead of the Mexican.

Brundle reckons Bottas is more likely to play a role in the championship outcome, as the ex-F1 driver feels the Finn is capable of beating Verstappen, unlike Perez with Hamilton.

"I honestly think it's possible Valtteri could finish in front of Max more than Sergio could finish in front of Lewis," Brundle told selected media including Autosport.

"So I think that might just play into the title. One of these last two races, it's just possible Valtteri will take some points of Max somewhere.

"And I don't see Sergio taking points off Lewis."

He added: "There is 88 points on the table still for the constructors. So another one that could go either way. It just depends on... I don't know if the Mercedes really flies and Valtteri has one of his on days like in Istanbul, for example, or the sprint race in Brazil."

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Martin Brundle, Sky TV, on the grid

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

While Brundle reckons both Verstappen and Hamilton deserve this year's title, he feels the Dutchman has had his share of bad luck throughout the season.

The Sky F1 pundit cites the examples of the Azerbaijan GP - from which Verstappen retired with a tyre blowout while leading - and the British GP, where he made contact with Hamilton and failed to score while the Briton went on to win.

"I think both of them deserve it," said Brundle. "If you look at laps led, races won so far and all of that, and I think he's [Max] been a little bit more unlucky with the tyre in Baku, the result of the contact in Silverstone, being skittled in Hungary.

"Then Lewis got a little bit lucky when with his shunt in Imola, where he was a lap behind, suddenly, you know, finishing second and all that sort of thing.

"But it kind of feels like, season long, Max has had the best season so far, if you look at the numbers.

"I think either of them deserve it, but it just feels as if it's been Max's to lose, through bad luck or bad judgment or whatever. That's how the season feels to me."

 

These Sky guys just can’t contemplate anything other than a HAM championship and the cognitive dissonance is strong.

Brundle mentions how unlucky Max has been (lost up to a possible 75 points!!), how lucky Ham has been (example, Imola) and yet concludes thus:

“I think either of them deserve it, but it just feels as if it's been Max's to lose, through bad luck or bad judgment or whatever.”

WT*? Bad judgement when?!

 

Brundle: "But it kind of feels like, season long, Max has had the best season so far, if you look at the numbers." Oh, you mean the "numbers" such as most wins and most points? Good point!