F1 drivers explain: Why is Jeddah so tough?

It is well known that street circuits often require extra effort from drivers. The walls are very close to the track. One small mistake can cost you a lot on such tracks. The F1 calendar has several street circuits, such as Monaco, Singapore, Las Vegas and, of course, Jeddah. More and more street circuits are also joining the calendar.

Drivers explain why Jeddah is so tough

In Jeddah, it is generally very hot. Despite the race being held in the evening, this is one factor that makes the race very tough, but there are other factors at play, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc explains. "I think the fact that it's a street track but with so many fast corners you are obviously on the limit of the car and every little bumps have an effect on the car and when you lose the rears at those speeds it's not a nice moment., so that makes it very, very challenging, as well as obviously the very high-speed corners. You need to be super precise and yeah, that makes it very, very difficult, because if you are out by 5 or 10 centimetres, it's not like you go wide and that's it. You touch the wall and it's done. So to find the confidence on a track like this is much more difficult than other tracks."

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen agrees with Leclerc that Jeddah is one of the most difficult races on the calendar. "Yeah, it’s early in the season, anti-clockwise, a lot of G forces continuously in Sector 1. The walls are super close, so your focus is constantly at 100%. Some tracks you can relax a bit on the straight or whatever, but here the straights, most of them are not even straights, you're constantly turning, pulling G, so your body doesn't have a lot of rest. In some places, like Turn 22, for example, it's getting a bit bumpy. So your view is also a bit more difficult. And yeah, the degradation is very low. So you can push quite high every single lap compared to maybe some other tracks where you have to pace manage a lot more. And that, of course, naturally brings the G-forces down a bit. And naturally, you can ease yourself into it a bit more, which is not the case here. And yeah, I think that all together makes it one of the hardest tracks on the calendar."

His teammate, Sergio Perez, even calls the race in Jeddah 'unpleasant' because of the amount of effort it requires. "Yeah, I remember my race from last year with Max pushing all the way through the end. It was very intense, one of the most physical demanding races I've had. just because of the amount of G you pull into the high speed, but consistently. Like Max says, there's a lot of straight, but it's not really. You're always turning, pulling some G. And yeah, the race is just quite a fast, low degradation race. And I think it just makes it all together a very unpleasant race."