The Lions unleashed!

111 days after the 2021 race, the F1 Circus was back at the fastest street circuit in the calendar, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

During this weekend, Sir Lewis Hamilton became the driver with the most races for a single constructor (Mercedes) after breaking Michael Schumacher’s record 179 starts for Ferrari.

Friday practices went on fairly problem-less, even though during FP2, a huge plume of smoke was visible in the distance. It was a major oil refinery that caught fire after a supposedly a missile attack near the track by Yemen's Houthi rebels. After many hours of meetings between the FIA, F1, the team directors and the drivers, they all decided to continue the weekend as originally planned.

On Saturday, most people in the paddock were thinking about the racing and got to the day work with the usual enthusiasm. Few problems for some of the teams, particularly Mercedes and AlphaTauri.

A few minutes into Qualifying, Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams in turn 13, bringing out a red flag. Q1 resumed and at the end the big shock was Lewis Hamilton not getting his W13 into the next round. In Q2, Mick Schumacher crashed heavily in a very fast section of the track, finally stopping at turn 12, bringing out another red flag.

Then what a fantastic qualifying we’ve had! Amazing laps from the Ferrari boys with Leclerc edging out Sainz. But the star of the show was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, becoming the first ever Mexican to be on Pole in F1 history!

Thankfully Mick is ok, although, after qualifying, the team elected to withdraw Mick Schumacher from the race.

On Sunday, we also lost Yuki Tsunoda as his AlphaTauri failed on the way to the grid.

The race started with Leclerc trying to overtake Perez but ended up blocking Sainz, and Verstappen taken advantage of the open door, taking 3rd place. From the next few laps, the race stabilized. But on lap 16, Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams, bringing out the safety car. A couple of laps earlier, Ferrari bluffed Red Bull into the pits. Perez did come in for hards, Leclerc stayed out, then came Latifi’s crash and Leclerc pitted for hards. The order after the pitstops was Leclerc, Verstappen, Perez and Sainz.

Safety car ended on lap 20 and the race re-started.

Meanwhile, Hamilton, having started on hard tires, came up the order from 15th to 6th, behind teammate Russell by lap 26.

The on lap 36, Alonso reported engine problems and limped to the pits. A lap later, Daniel Ricciardo stopped right in the pit entrance, just behind Alonso’s Alpine, bringing out a VSC. In the meantime, Bottas’ Alfa Romeo retired from the race.

VSC ended on lap 41 and what a fantastic ending we’ve had. Several laps of pure, exciting racing all over the track, especially up front between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc with the Red Bull edging out the Ferrari by a few meters. Carlos Sainz finished third and pole-sitter fourth.

QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM:

HERE'S A SELECTION OF PHOTOS FROM THE WEEKEND: