Formula 1: Saudi Arabian GP 2022 - Rohan's Race Reactions
The magical Arabian night at the Jeddah circuit has smitten me. What an amazing race did I just witness! If this is what the new regulations intended and how the season pans out, I'm sold already. Luck, tactics, flags. Everything except tire degradation was seen in the race.
Here are my race reactions as an F1 fan.
The Start: Alpines scrap it out in the midfield
The whole nation of Mexico would have waited with bated breath for the race to start. Their man qualified on pole for the first time in his career. Sergio Perez (RedBull) had a flying start at lights out and disappeared ahead with Charles (Ferrari) desperately trying to catch up. How I wished Checo to win today! Behind them, Sainz (Ferrari) lost P3 to Max (Red Bull) at turn 1 on the first lap itself. That's not how you become a title contender Carlos. But more on these guys later.
The most happening action was actually happening between the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso. Trading places along the start-finish straight with DRS (Drag Reduction System) assistance. All this action was just a trailer of what was to come later in the race.
But all thanks to the Alpine team and their boss Otmar for letting these guys race. Team battles aren't that common in F1 because it doesn't benefit the team in any way. On the contrary, it helps others behind you to catch up on you while you're scrapping for two positions that are anyway secured for the team. But drivers. They couldn't care less about what the team wants if their teammate is ahead of them. And towards the end of this long exchange, Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) pipped Ocon who was trailing Alonso. But it was good till it lasted and I wish more teams to follow this approach. But they most certainly won't.
Mick (Haas) was out of the race because of his crash in qualifying and Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) was out because of engine issues. There was a brief scare in the Ferrari garage of Carlos Sainz before the race even started because of some wiring issue. Thankfully it was sorted just in the nick of time before the race started.
Lewis Hamilton featured in his 180th race for Mercedes. A record, surpassing Michael Schumacher who featured in 179 races with Ferrari. Lewis would have hoped for a better position to start this race but his poor qualifying in P15 made the race an uphill battle. So he opted for hard tires along with Kevin Magnussen (Haas) while the rest of the grid was on the mediums.
Things looked calm and it was time for the first round of pitstops. And Charles (Ferrari) bluffed to undercut an unsuspecting Perez (RedBull). He pits ahead of the Ferrari.
The Middle: Hard Luck Checo
The undercut in F1 works something like this. You want to take a position ahead. So you pit before the person ahead of you and put in some quick laps on the new tires. You lose position to other people who haven't pitted but you aren't worried about them. Your aim is to come ahead of the person who was leading you before you pitted. In F1, everyone has to pit at least once. Those are the rules. And tires have a certain life after which they degrade rather spectacularly. You lose time and your lead evaporates like hand sanitizer out of the bottle. If the undercut works, the person ahead will find themselves behind you after they have pitted. So you gain the position by losing positions upfront. It is analogous to shorting a stock in the markets. Enough with the analogies.
So Perez pits first and Charles carries on. And the driver who has given us some bewilderingly crazy races by the virtue of him crashing, did what he does best when nothing interesting is transpiring on the track. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) crashed due to oversteering and brings out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) under yellow flags. But his car is still on track and a potential race hazard. So the VSC turns to a Safety Car. The V in the VSC is crucial as we'll see later in the race. You see, when a Safety Car comes in, it picks up the leader and bunches up the grid. All leads are wiped out. When a VSC comes, drivers have to maintain a delta time from one marshall post to another on the track. It's slow and less cool because we don't get to see the AMG GTR (official safety car) and the drivers whining about it ambling at a snail's pace relative to their cars.
Time for a free pitstop for everyone. It's like a Christmas present, only it's not Christmas. You can switch tires and not lose position. What's not to like about that? Perez suffered massively because of his decision to pit earlier and now finds himself in P3. Ferrari had double stacked and Sainz just comes ahead of Perez but was pushed out on the pit exit. He has to relinquish that position when the safety car ends. And it looks like Bahrain all over again.
Leclerc (Ferrari) -> Max (RedBull) -> Sainz (Ferrari) -> Perez (RedBull).
The End: Make Your Moves Count
Alpine was having a smooth race so far. Alonso looked good to secure some decent points for Alpine. And then the Renault engine gave up and said no more. I'm running too hot for your driving Nando! He has to stop the car just before the pit lane entry. Almost immediately, Ricciardo's (McLaren) engine gives up and smoke fills the cockpit. Again, this happens in front of the pit entry. That's a hazard. But just before the pit entry was closed, KMag (Haas) steals a pit stop. Hamilton is unlucky and has to carry on with the hard tires he has had since the start of the race. To clear the pit entry, VSC is brought up. Leclerc leads Max at this stage.
If this was 2021, and a VSC was present there's little to no way that the race results would have changed at the top. But it is 2022. Cars can follow each other closely. And you just can't overtake by brute force through sheer DRS. You've got to pick your move and execute it to perfection. We were about to witness a race end that looked like a championship decider but only in the second race of the season. But we got a taste of the future and a new rivalry brewing in F1. I love this part.
Time and again throughout the race we had seen many drivers executing their overtakes before the hairpin corner. Only to lose it in the next start-finish straight that happens to be a DRS zone. We need more track designs like this! Max overtakes Charles before the hairpin. Charles takes it back on the straight. Max learns. Tries to execute a dummy before the hairpin so that Charles stays ahead when the DRS detection comes up on the straight. But Charles is smart and has measured up the World Champion. He slows dows just as Max does before the hairpin. They lockup. But Charles accelerates back and Max is left behind in his tire smoke emerging behind Charles on the straight, yet again. Laps are running out and this move by Charles has put some gap between him and Max. But Max is resilient showing why he is the World Champion. The third time he lays up Charles just like he wanted. He has learned from the previous encounters at this hairpin and overtakes him with DRS on the start-finish straight. Oh, what a riveting duel it was between these two guys. Edge of the seat stuff. Charles has one last lap to retake his lead.
Elsewhere, Lando Norris (McLaren) is running in P6. That could be a great result for them as one of their other cars is out. But that's what Ocon (Alpine) is also thinking. His battle with Alonso in the initial phases of the race has trained him well and he takes back P6 from Norris. One last lap for Last Lap Lando?
Sainz looks comfortable in P3. Perez doesn't look like he is a threat to the Ferrari. George Russell (Mercedes) has another solid race in P5, quietly racking up points for himself and the team. Gasly (Alpha Tauri) and KMag (Haas), the sole race entrants from their respective teams also secure crucial points with Hamilton (Mercedes) rounding off the top 10 and reminiscing about the missed pit stop while a Haas is ahead of him!
Alex Albon in the other Williams bangs into Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and the yellow and green flags show up intermittently one after the other puzzling everyone, including the stewards. Will this spoil the battle at the front and rob Charles of a last-ditch effort to snatch P1 back? My fears thankfully don't materialize and the battle at the front remains unaffected by this incident. But Charles isn't close enough to have a shot at Max's RedBull and it is Max who emerges as the race winner. The world champion's season truly begins now.
Lando's last lap mad dash at the hairpin bend is unsuccessful and he finishes behind Ocon in P7.
Ferrari secures a double podium and good results all over. The only person left unhappy after the race would be Perez whose ill-timed pitstop before the first safety car costs him a win and he doesn't recover after that during the rest of the race.
That's the Saudi Arabian GP of 2022 done. We missed a photo finish but it was close until the very end. One more lap and Max would have been done for good by Charles. However, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, Charles would probably have more guts...
Up next, is a much needed break for everyone really. The first two races were spectacular and if you put your heart and soul into the qualifying and the races, it was a roller coaster of a ride so far. I need time to recover but that would also be the case with the top 4 drivers of Ferrari and RedBull. But not everyone would be relaxing. The likes of Mercedes and McLaren would be back to their drawing boards, wind tunnels and factory to unlock the pace from their cars. It is much needed to make this season even more interesting. I know I'm a hypocrite when I said about the roller coaster thing but hey, would you say no?