After a superb start to the Formula One season in Bahrain, Ferrari will look to make it back to back 1-2 finishes in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
It remains to be seen whether Ferrari are real contenders this season. They’ve been quick in Bahrain before so a good performance at the weekend could give F1 fans a better insight.
However, they’ll face stern competition from Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton goes after consecutive victories in Jeddah.
He finished third last week with teammate George Russell a second behind in fourth.
Both Hamilton and team principal Toto Wolff have already voiced concerns about this season
They’ll also have to deal with a couple of changes to the track. Last season’s penultimate race had a couple of controversial incidents.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the lead from Lewis Hamilton at the start of lap 37 but went off the track to do so.
At the end of the lap, Red Bull told Verstappen to give the place back only for the Dutchman to clip Hamilton’s front wing.
Mercedes then accused Verstappen of brake testing Hamilton on his way to his eventual victory.
Sight lines have been improved in Jeddah as well as a slight change to the last corner. That was the site of Verstappen’s crash that cost him pole position last year.
The track is largely the same otherwise.
Red Bull will also want a better showing than last week after both of their drivers, Verstappen and Sergio Perez, didn’t finish.
Christian Horner believes that was caused by ‘reliability issues,’ problems that clearly need to be solved.
In comparison to last season, there were only six occasions that a Red Bull driver didn’t see the chequered flag.
Aston Martin will be hoping for a less bumpy race week. Sebastian Vettel was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix thanks to a positive COVID-19 test the day before the race.
He’ll have to return a negative COVID-19 test by midnight tonight in order to compete.
Vettel remains isolating in Bahrain with Nico Hulkenberg set to replace the German once again. He finished 17th last weekend.
A fifth-place finish for Kevin Magnussen last time out secured Haas surprise points.
Haas were at the back of the field last season. They already have 10 points more than they did in 2021. The team collected a grand total of zero points last campaign.
Another strong showing from the Dane could be on the cards as he looks to secure a consecutive top 10 finish on Sunday.
[Featured image thanks to Photostream user “Jaffafix” – Creative commons license.]
