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Pirelli preview GP Saudi Arabia 2023

Pirelli looks ahead: 'Jeddah requires something very different from the tyre'

14 March 2023 at 07:35
Last update 14 March 2023 at 10:38
  • GPblog.com

Pirelli has revealed the tyres available for the Grand Prix weekend in Saudi Arabia. The tyre manufacturer is offering the same tyres as last year. They are the C2, the C3, and the C4. Pirelli boss Mario Isola says this GP will demand something very different from the tyres than Bahrain

Unpredictable Jeddah circuit

The Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit is a particularly fast street circuit and the GP has become a real spectacle over the past two years. The track is so fast that people do complain about its unsafety. Mistakes are punished inexorably at the narrow points of the circuit with unavoidable crashes.

Isola factors this insecurity and unpredictability into Pirelli's choice of these tyres. Isola said on the Pirelli website: "It is vital to find the right balance and be prepared for everything in Jeddah; a track that is very different from Bahrain. The Saudi Arabia GP is very unpredictable due to the many safety cars and neutralisations. It is a real street circuit."

Saudi Arabia demands very different from Pirelli

In 2022, the fastest strategy was the one-stop. After an early safety car, most drivers went to the pit lane to change to the hard tyre, on which they also finished the race. That year, the Pirelli rubber held up well and Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were able to put up a fight against each other that continued for almost half the race. In the end, the Red Bull Racing driver and Ferrari driver only finished within a second of each other.

Isola: "The first race in Bahrain was about traction and about braking [in terms of tyres], but in Jeddah it's precisely about lateral forces on the tyre. There are completely different characteristics to the circuit from Sakhir."