Red Bull may have dominated the F1 season opener in Bahrain, but data suggests that this weekend's Saudi Arabia will be far from one-sided. Here's why other teams could be in the mix in Jeddah:
Certainly, the first two contests on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit haven’t been short of talking points. See Verstappen clipping the wall in 2021 to scupper his hitherto sensational Q3 lap before the title battle withtook another heated turn as the protagonists repeatedly went wheel-to-wheel between red flags before their infamous collision.
But the two teams appear to have swapped places for 2023. GPS traces from pre-season running and the race at Sakhir reveal that the new SF-23 now has the legs over its rival machine in a straight line. In turn, Red Bull now has more fire power out of the slower corners but is comparatively out of puff north of 180mph as the Ferrari eventually drags itself in front.Motorsport Images
After Leclerc qualified 0.292s behind polesitter Verstappen only to never mount a challenge for victory before retiring, new Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said: “I never saw a car to match the pace of another one in quali and not to able to race. [So] then it's a matter of set-up and some choices on the car. It's not a matter of concept at all.” He believes the SF-23 already has what it needs to challenge the RB19, and it’s not fundamentally an inferior design.
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