Though an incident brought on an early interruption, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix noticed the vast majority of the sector run a single-stop technique at Spherical 2 of the 2024 F1 season. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó delivers his technique evaluation for the Jeddah F1 race.
Whereas Pirelli introduced the more durable compounds to the season-opener in Bahrain, the second race of the season noticed drivers use the three compounds from the center of Pirelli’s vary. It implies that the C2 served as Onerous, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Comfortable on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The Milan-based producer had elected for comparatively excessive minimal beginning pressures, with 24.0 psi for the fronts and 21.0 psi for the rears. The camber limits were-3.25° for the entrance tyres and -1.75° for the rear tyres.
Methods
Forward of the race, Pirelli predicted that drivers would like the one-stop technique within the 50-lap Jeddah F1 race. That was motivated by the details that overtaking is at a premium on the
On the beginning grid, 18 of the 20 drivers opted to run the primary stint on Medium tyres, the one exceptions being Oliver Bearman and Valtteri Bottas who most popular the Comfortable. The Security Automobile got here out on lap 7 after Lance Stroll hit the limitations, triggering a run of pit stops. Solely 4 drivers – Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu – determined to remain out on the Medium, delaying their cease as a lot as doable.
As from lap 30, this quartet started to pit: Hulkenberg on lap 33, Hamilton on 36, Norris on 37, whereas Zhou went all the way in which to lap 41. The Haas driver was the one one to suit Onerous tyres, with the opposite three going for Comfortable to try to make up some locations, though they didn’t handle it.
Of the drivers who noticed the chequered flag, solely Bottas made two stops (Comfortable-Onerous-Comfortable).
Talking of the technique, Pirelli’s Head of Motorsport Mario Isola stated: “It’s been a really simple race, each when it comes to the ultimate consequence, which was nearly a carbon copy of Sakhir and in the case of how the tyres carried out.
“We knew this is able to be a race the place the quickest technique was a one-stop. Clearly, the Security Automobile after seven laps introduced ahead the pit cease window.”
Tyre compounds
As for the completely different compounds, each made an look in Jeddah with all of them having carried out as anticipated.
The Onerous was essentially the most most popular tyre in Jeddah with many drivers finishing the vast majority of the race distance on the identical set of the white-walled tyre following the protection automotive interruption. Alex Albon, Oliver Bearman, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso had been all pressured to finish a mammoth a 43-lap stint after the protection automotive lured him into the pits to hold out the tyre change in simply 11s as an alternative of 20s.
Actually, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo and Logan Sargeant accomplished nearly the identical distance on the hards, however as they had been all lapped by race winner Verstappen, their race distance was a lap shorter.
The very best lap was achieves by Charles Leclerc who went on to submit a 1m31.632s on a set of 43-lap previous onerous tyres, securing the quickest lap of the grand prix.
The medium tyre was additionally a most popular compound in Jeddah with Stake Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu racking up a complete of 41 laps on a set of the yellow-banded rubber. McLaren’s Lando Norris posted the quickest lap on the C3 compounds, registering a lap of 1m33.309s on Lap 32.
The mushy compound turned out to turn into a much less most popular compound through the 50-lap race. In whole, six stints had been accomplished on the C4 compound with Oliver Bearman and Valtteri Bottas electing to start out the race on the red-walled compound. Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Zhou Guanyu and Bottas ended the race on the softs.
The seven-time world champion registered one of the best lap on the C5 rubber, posting a time of 1m31.746s.
Increasing on the efficiency of the assorted compounds, Isola added: “The C2 proved to be very constant, each when it comes to efficiency and degradation, as could be seen from the truth that the quickest lap of the race got here proper on the finish courtesy of Leclerc on a set that had finished 43 laps.
“The C3 was additionally as much as the duty, as a result of the 4 drivers who selected to remain out when the Security Automobile appeared, had been in a position to take all of it the way in which to its put on restrict whereas nonetheless working fairly competitively. In comparison with Friday’s lengthy runs, graining on this compound was minimal, which was right down to the monitor step by step rubbering in increasingly with use. Hamilton’s and Norris’ stints on the C4 additionally demonstrated that the softest compound we had right here could possibly be aggressive even within the first a part of the race, though solely two drivers tried to take advantage of that.”
F1GP Saudi Arabia
