John N
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Perez chasing a second Red Bull win
After 215 attempts Sergio Perez finally has the first pole position of his Formula 1 career. Much like 12 months ago, it was the second race of a new season with Red Bull when the Mexican got the car in the right place for qualifying, and he delivered a stunning final lap to pip Charles Leclerc. Perez admits he was risking a lot to get the pole position, and it could prove to be a crucial one as Red Bull and Ferrari appear to be closely matched on race pace. If Perez can maintain the lead at the start of the race, he will have a great chance of converting pole into his second Red Bull victory, having won for the team on another street circuit in Azerbaijan last season. The other Red Bull driver Max Verstappen starts P4. Perez can play a bit of a role in preventing the Ferrari drivers from pulling away at the front, giving his teammate the best possible chance to make progress.
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Hamilton’s Comeback
Hamilton has apologized to his Mercedes team after a disappointing qualifying session at Silverstone that saw the Briton eliminated from Q1. The 7-time F1 world champion, who is starting from 15th on the grid due to Mick Schumacher’s accident, struggled in the first part of qualifying, recording a time nearly 3 seconds adrift of teammate George Russell. Hamilton’s Mercedes was noticeably lacking in pace compared to previous years and it seems that Hamilton will have a tough time recovering before tomorrow. Despite that, we have seen some epic recovery drives from Hamilton in the past – the most recent in Brazil last year when he started last for the Sprint and outside the top 10 for the Grand Prix and won – and he will be looking to repeat some of that form to climb back into the points on a track he won at less than five months ago.
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Safety Car Interruptions
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is an unforgiving venue and competitive sessions at this weekend’s race will be littered with incidents. Last year’s race saw red flag interruptions. Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car periods are likely to happen in the next race, too. It would certainly be no surprise to see more of the same on Sunday. Several teams appear close in terms of performance; hence, an incident could well prove crucial to the race outcome. A lucky break into the pits quickly for fresh tires could gain several positions, while if a pit stop is made before any interruption then drivers will lose out. Track position is always preferred to passing opportunities on this track.
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Red Bull reliability
During the Bahrain Grand Prix, both teams experienced issues, with Red Bull still confident they’ve found fixes to their fuel system and a sister team’s battery-related issue leading to a fire in FP3. Unfortunately, Pierre Gasly had more problems in FP3, as he stopped at the end of the pit lane and missed the second half of the session. Even more concerning was that Yuki Tsunoda also took a new power unit ahead of qualifying, but then didn’t set a time on Saturday due to a further problem. Both Red Bull and AlphaTauri will be hoping it doesn’t hurt their race chances this weekend, having already seen three of the four cars retire from the opening round.
