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Event: Saudi Arabia F1 Grand Prix
Track: Jeddah Street Circuit

Warm-up lap starts at: 20:00 Local | 19:00 CET | 18:00 UK | 10:00 LA | 02:00 Tokyo

Sergio Perez was over the moon after he scored his very first pole position today. The Mexican driver needed 216 grand prix and 12 F1 season for it, which is also a record. The Red Bull driver also holds the record for the most races without a win of 190 GP.

Charles Leclerc was only 0.025 sec. slower than Perez and with his teammate Carlos Sainz behind on P3 and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull on P4, we will have an interesting race tomorrow.

George Russell outqualified his new Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for the first time this season and start from P6. Hamilton who holds the pole position record with 103, had an unusual bad qualifying session. The British driver was +2,143s slower than Perez and will start from P16. It's only the second time in his career he starts from P16. The first time was at the 2009 Turkish F1 GP.

F1 Starting Grid 2022 Saudi Arabian GP

PosNoDriverTeamLap TimePole gap
111Sergio PérezRed Bull1:28,200
216Charles LeclercFerrari1:28,225+0,025s
355Carlos SainzFerrari1:28,402+0,202s
41Max VerstappenRed Bull1:28,461+0,261s
531Esteban OconAlpine1:29,068+0,868s
663George RussellMercedes1:29,104+0,904s
714Fernando AlonsoAlpine1:29,147+0,947s
877Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo1:29,183+0,983s
910Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri1:29,254+1,054s
1020Kevin MagnussenHaas1:29,588+1,388s
114Lando NorrisMcLaren1:29,651+1,451s
1224Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo1:29,819+1,619s
1318Lance StrollAston Martin1:31,009+2,809s
143*Daniel RicciardoMcLaren1:29,773+1,573s
1544Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:30,343+2,143s
1623Alex AlbonWilliams1:30,492+2,292s
1727Nico HülkenbergAston Martin1:30,543+2,343s
186Nicholas LatifiWilliams1:31,817+3,617s
1922*Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri0:00,000-

*Notes:

  • Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren no.3) received a 3 place grid penalty for impeding Esteban Ocon (Alpine no.31) during Q2.
  • Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri no.22) is permitted to start without setting a qualifying lap time.
  • Mick Schumacher (Haas no.47) has been withdrawn after his high speed crash in Q2.

2022 Saudi Arabian F1 GP Race Strategy

On paper a one-stop strategy should be fastest for the 50-lap race tomorrow, focussing on the hard and the medium compounds, with the top 10 qualifiers no longer tied to their fastest Q2 tyres to start on. But a lot will depend on degradation levels. If they are high, then a two-stopper is also a good option, being almost as quick as a one-stopper.

In this case the medium looks like the preferred tyre to begin the grand prix, followed by a central stint on the hard and a final run on the medium. But there is also the possibility to use all three compounds, maybe keeping the soft for the final stint.

As seen in qualifying and the Formula 2 sessions, there’s a high probability of red flags, safety cars and other delays, which can completely disrupt the strategy. So while there is a theoretically optimal strategy calculation to work from, in reality the teams will have to just think on their feet and adapt to the race circumstances, which can change very quickly.

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7 F1 Fan comments on “F1 Starting Grid 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix”

    • ReallyOldRacer

      Count on it being exciting, Jere, but it will not be crash free. The over-under bet on red flags is 2.

      • Donalf

        Sir Lulu is thinking that he and his mechanics are going to work on his car all night tonight, probably to change a few things and then to start in the pit lane. Will they have to let FIA know what changes they make before the race.

        • ReallyOldRacer

          Yes, the cars are in parc ferme. ALL work and/or parts must be FIA approved. Smartass comment: they should just stay in the pitlane and save wear and tear.

        • Tayto

          Old belly button,just said shamilton likes a strong rear end got that right

  1. Tayto

    Cmon valtteri Grussel is two places in front go go go . shamilton is two sec a lap off the pace 50 laps strong possibility of lapping her.go go go

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