How Jeddah is shaping up for historic first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
By Calum Forster
From 3-5 December the coastal city of Jeddah will make F1 history becoming the first ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On an anticlockwise layout that is predicted to be the championship’s fastest street circuit on this year’s F1 calendar with an average speed of up to 250km/h.
The course is 6.174km, which passes through Jeddah’s seafront and will become the second longest circuit on the F1 calendar after Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. There are several turns in the track adding up to 27, with 16 of them being left-handers and 11 right-handers this new circuit will have several sweeping corners.
"Red Bull RB15 / Pierre Gasly / FRA / Red Bull Racing Formula One Team" by Renzopaso is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
It’s extraordinary to create a new circuit in this record time of just over eight months, while a larger-scale project for 2023 is underway at Qiddiya that will be looking to host rally cross, karting, drag, circuit, so it can facilitate for all types of motorsports.
The idea of the new Jeddah track is to create a new and exciting street race that offers a more thrilling race towards the end of the Formula one season. The tracks characteristics are most like the Baku Street circuit, which is known for its mixture of being wide and open while also tight and twisty.
The latest predictions lean towards Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton having the most joy at Jeddah due to their cars straight-line speed performance and how with the thought that Mercedes will roll out a fresh engine in order to take advantage of the new circuits high-speed characteristics.
As the Formula one calendar season coming to a climatic end, this race will with the added thrill of being a new circuit the tough battle that fans have experienced this season between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Fans have been waiting a long while for a competitive season like this one and it has delivered right until the end. The drama has been never ending and the race at Jeddah should give fans the tense drama that this title fight has created throughout
