Premiere in Saudi Arabia: What's so special here?

Is it about the World Cup now? Oh yeah. Max Verstappen has his first chance at the early title in Jeddah. With an eight-point lead over Lewis Hamilton, the starting position for the 24-year-old Dutchman is clear: he has to finish at least second himself in order to perhaps become world champion for the first time in the penultimate race of the season. After Mercedes' pursuer Hamilton's two victories at the last two Grand Prix, Red Bull's motorsport director Helmut Marko said: "Then we have to do it in Jeddah, even if everything there speaks against us." The long full-throttle sections and the fast corners should actually be Mercedes rather lying. “The car has developed well recently and is probably better than ever this season,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, attesting that his racing team has “strong momentum”. What is so special about this Grand Prix? <a data-caption="Prinz Khalid bin Sultan al-Faisal, Präsident der Motorsport-Föderation in Saudi-Arabian, stellte die neue Formel-1-Strecke vor. © APA/afp / AMER HILABI" data-fancybox="inline-91715" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2021/12/prinz-khalid-bin-sultan-al-faisal-praesident-der-motorsport-foederation-in-saudi-arabian-stellte-die-neue-formel-1-strecke-vor.jpg"> Prince Khalid bin Sultan al-Faisal, President of the Saudi Arabian Motorsport Federation, presented the new Formula 1 track. © APA/afp / AMER HILABI

Formula 1 is stopping off in Saudi Arabia for the first time. Jeddah is located west of Mecca, on the Red Sea coast. The circuit is the 75th to host a Formula One race and the fourth in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is also the second longest in the racing calendar and, according to the simulations, is already one of the fastest. Many passages are narrow and allow no mistakes along the walls - there is a risk of safety car phases. “A new course is good for a lot of surprises. “You never know what will happen,” said Alpine driver Fernando Alonso about the eagerly awaited night race. The scheduling also means that only the second practice session on Friday and qualifying on Saturday after sunset can reflect race conditions. What else is it about? Mercedes could win the constructors' championship in Saudi Arabia for the eighth time in a row - no racing team has ever achieved that. Ferrari is the sole leader in this category with a total of 16 world championship titles. Mercedes is currently just five points ahead of Red Bull. A total of 88 points are still up for grabs in the last two Grand Prix. Behind them, Ferrari and McLaren are fighting for third place, which means higher bonuses in the millions. The Scuderia is currently a whopping 39,5 points ahead of the British. This means that the duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have to get five points more than Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris to celebrate early. “I still think we did a better job as a team. I think there were more races where they were faster but just made more mistakes than us. So they should be further ahead,” said Norris about the duel with Ferrari.

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Premiere in Saudi Arabia: What's so special here?

The pressure on Lewis Hamilton is enormous. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion is fighting against losing the world championship crown at the Grand Prix premiere in Saudi Arabia on Sunday (18.30:XNUMX p.m.).

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