[GuidoK]

F1 2025: Saudi Arabian GP - Jeddah (Apr 20)

Schedule:
https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2025/saudi-arabia
(adjusts automatically to your local time/date depending on your browsers/internet settings)

Jeddah Corniche Circuit


Circuit stats:
First Grand Prix: 2021
Number of Laps: 50
Circuit Length: 6.174 km
Race Distance: 308.45 km
Lap Record: 1:30.734 (Lewis Hamilton 2021)

Onboard Lap:
(2024 Max Verstappen pole lap)

2024 thread:
https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2086855

2024 race highlights:

2024 lollypop comic:

[GuidoK]

So what are your predictions?
After last weekend's Bahrain GP RB showed that they were in big trouble and not only couldn't compete with McLaren but also team Ferrari and Mercedes got the best of them.
Max could somewhat control the damage with a P6, but he was not happy. Alpine also looked very strong with Gasley's performance.
Of course Jeddah will probably have the same hot weather, but is a street circuit.
I expect we'll see a continuation of what we saw last sunday and expect McLaren to be very strong, but also Mercedes and Ferrari to be strong. I thought that Ferrari looked strong coming out of slow corners, so that might favour the Jeddah circuit.

My prediction:

1. PIA
2. NOR
3. LEC
4. RUS
5. VER
6. HAM
7. ANT
8. GAS
9. TSU
10. ALB

[wizardofOz]

1. Oscar
2. Lando
3. Georgina
4. Charles
5. Max
6. Lewis
7. Esteban
8. Yuki

[M5Rick]

1. MAX with a sorted car.
2. RUS
3. LEC
4. NOR (don't care what's said
5. PIA
6. YUKi
7. HAM
8. OLLie
9. OCO
10. STR

[M5Rick]

It must remembered that RBR are using a post WW2 wind tunnel in Bedford to judge the correlation between aero there and real time on the track, a new wind tunnel is under construction at RBR Powertrains which is ahead of schedule and will be operational next year.

[Rono63]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

It must remembered that RBR are using a post WW2 wind tunnel in Bedford to judge the correlation between aero there and real time on the track, a new wind tunnel is under construction at RBR Powertrains which is ahead of schedule and will be operational next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM3BYuZ6Zoc

They have been in F1 for twenty years.
Wonder why it took so long for them to construct a new wind tunnel?

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Rono63

They have been in F1 for twenty years.
Wonder why it took so long for them to construct a new wind tunnel?

Maybe the first decade it was sufficient, but the last 5 years all I've been hearing is that they've been struggeling with permits etc.
They've been planning a new wind tunnel for quite some time now afaik but it just takes ages.

And over at AMR, in the same time Stroll SR. buys a stake in AMR, builds a completely new factory and a new state of the art wind tunnel which is now operational (since january). He gets things done with permits, local politics, money/sponsors etc.
I guess there's a reason why he became so rich. He knows how to run a business. He does things in half the time.

[E92inNC]

Not a fan of these double and triple headers, very limiting to the car’s development and setup. One of the McClarens will probably win comfortably again.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Maybe the first decade it was sufficient, but the last 5 years all I've been hearing is that they've been struggeling with permits etc.
They've been planning a new wind tunnel for quite some time now afaik but it just takes ages.

And over at AMR, in the same time Stroll SR. buys a stake in AMR, builds a completely new factory and a new state of the art wind tunnel which is now operational (since january). He gets things done with permits, local politics, money/sponsors etc.
I guess there's a reason why he became so rich. He knows how to run a business. He does things in half the time.

By permits it is planning permission that's needed over here and naturally if you're big enough then things do get speeded up depending on the location with favours exchanged together with the other things.
That new building, the AMR Tech Campus being at the Silverstone circuit in the country probably had the permission fast tracked through by West Northants Council which covers a large area of land while RBR hq, being within the confines of a town has Milton Keynes council to deal with which can take much longer.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

By permits it is planning permission that's needed over here and naturally if you're big enough then things do get speeded up depending on the location with favours exchanged together with the other things.
That new building, the AMR Tech Campus being at the Silverstone circuit in the country probably had the permission fast tracked through by West Northants Council which covers a large area of land while RBR hq, being within the confines of a town has Milton Keynes council to deal with which can take much longer.

As I said in the last 2 years ...
The Jeddah track is a deadly rat trap (!)

The question is not if it can happen . But when will it happen (!)
Hopefully I'm wrong ...

The FIA security regulations are a 'hypocritical joke.
Concrete monster walls are all over the track .The only place to go..Is in a big wall(!)
The Arab $Billions rule (!)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

As I said in the last 2 years ...
The Jeddah track is a deadly rat trap (!)

The question is not if it can happen . But when will it happen (!)
Hopefully I'm wrong ...

The FIA security regulations are a 'hypocritical joke.
Concrete monster walls are all over the track .The only place to go..Is in a big wall(!)
The Arab $Billions rule (!)

If it's too dangerous then Russell being GPDA Director should act and Ben should back him up but we know he won't do that.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

That new building, the AMR Tech Campus being at the Silverstone circuit in the country probably had the permission fast tracked through by West Northants Council which covers a large area of land while RBR hq, being within the confines of a town has Milton Keynes council to deal with which can take much longer.

True. But maybe RBR should've taken the step to move the entire factory away from Milton Keynes to a location that is more willing to coöperate.
If you're serious about that, a city might be more coöperative to comply too.
I mean, an F1 factory generates a lot of money for the local economy.
I mean, the budget cap is tight, but every big F1 team has a shitload of money they can spend every year on goodies, promotional activities, maintenance of buildings etc etc. They have money to burn as long as it's not directly involved with car development and wages for people working on car development.
I think I saw reports back in late 2018 or early 2019 or so, before covid that they were already planning a new wind tunnel because their old one was not really up to standards anymore. And prognoses now is that it'll be finished well into 2026, so chances are that the base car for 2026 and 2027 will be crap too.
So it could cost them 3 titles....

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

True. But maybe RBR should've taken the step to move the entire factory away from Milton Keynes to a location that is more willing to coöperate.
If you're serious about that, a city might be more coöperative to comply too.
I mean, an F1 factory generates a lot of money for the local economy.
I mean, the budget cap is tight, but every big F1 team has a shitload of money they can spend every year on goodies, promotional activities, maintenance of buildings etc etc. They have money to burn as long as it's not directly involved with car development and wages for people working on car development.
I think I saw reports back in late 2018 or early 2019 or so, before covid that they were already planning a new wind tunnel because their old one was not really up to standards anymore. And prognoses now is that it'll be finished well into 2026, so chances are that the base car for 2026 and 2027 will be crap too.
So it could cost them 3 titles....

RBR happy years being 21-24 winning titles may have relaxed that urgency in building a new wind tunnel as the present one sufficed enough and it's understandable now that Stroll had the AMR one built together with the new building housing the F1 team in his haste to make the AM F1 car more competitive.

[wizardofOz]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

If it's too dangerous then Russell being GPDA Director should act and Ben should back him up but we know he won't do that.

Ben will back himself and himself only...Thats all he does

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by wizardofOz

Ben will back himself and himself only...Thats all he does

Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem is a drunken idiot .
At the 2022 FIA prize giving , he was a true shame for global motorsports (!)

Even Horner was afraid of him (!)

[HFW003]

My prediction:

1. Oscar
2. Who cares

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by HFW003

My prediction:

1. Oscar
2. Who cares

I'm fine with MAX at P2

[dfox]

Lando
Piastri
Charles
Max
Princess George
Kimi
Ham...

I think the circuit at Jeddah favors Lando.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem is a drunken idiot .
At the 2022 FIA prize giving , he was a true shame for global motorsports (!)

Even Horner was afraid of him (!)

The drunken old fools in Paris picked him.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

I'm fine with MAX at P2

I'm not, no one remembers when you're 2nd

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

The drunken old fools in Paris picked him.

I think you mean the Paris clochards .
Usually they live under the Parisian bridges ...

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

I think you mean the Paris clochards .
Usually they live under the Parisian bridges ...

Nous aimons une boisson.. hic