Just over three months since visiting Jeddah for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, F1 is back at the fastest street track on the calendar.
Being the penultimate race of the 2021 season, the Saudi Arabian round was always likely to be dramatic but surely nothing prepared us for what was to come, the race featuring numerous incidents that resulted in one safety car period, two red flags, and four virtual safety car periods.
After the first restart Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were involved in an incident where the Dutchman went off-track in order to pass his rival. Another incident saw the race restart with Verstappen on pole, ahead of Ocon and Hamilton. However, following objections from the teams over the way Verstappen had passed Hamilton at the initial restart, the order was changed thereby putting Ocon ahead of the Briton and then the Dutchman.
The lobbying, from both Mercedes and Red Bull, over the incident at the first restart was surely a portent of what was to follow a week later in Abu Dhabi.
Billed as the fastest street circuit on the calendar, and the second longest track, while Jeddah provided thrills, spills and controversy, the drivers weren't particularly happy with the track, many citing an inability to see sections of the track ahead. As a result, ahead of this year's race, a number of barriers have been moved back and sections of the track widened.
While Hamilton won here last time out there is a question mark over the Mercedes outright pace, something that is surely going to be a factor at a track where average lap speeds are over 150 mph. Other than pace, the Mercedes W13 is one of those cars most affected by the porpoising phenomenon witnessed following the rules overhaul.
However, just a week ago, we witnessed a double DNF for Red Bull as Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez both succumbed to an issue which the Austrian team has yet to explain. The double retirement left the way clear for Mercedes to claim a surprise 3-4, but while the German team is unlikely to have found a cure for its issues over the intervening seven days, has its Austrian rival?
Having impressed in pre-season testing, Ferrari proved the sceptics wrong, Charles Leclerc leading home teammate Carlos Sainz for the Scuderia's first 1-2 since Singapore 2019.
Such was the F1-75's superiority, along with the win, Leclerc claimed pole position and fastest lap of the race.
Having proved it has pace and reliability, little wonder that the Monegasque goes into the weekend as favourite.
Odds via Sportsbettingdime.com indicate that Leclerc opened as 13/10 favourite to win the race this weekend ahead of Verstappen (3/2) and Sainz (13/2).
Following the controversy of Abu Dhabi, F1 needed to deliver something last week to raise fans spirits, and other than the drama provided by Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, there was the feelgood factor of Haas and Alfa Romeo.
Weeks after losing its title sponsor, which in turn meant sacking driver Nikita Mazepin, the American outfit claimed a popular result with Kevin Magnussen finishing fifth.
The Dane, who had been dropped by the team at the end of 2020, was hastily recruited to replace the departing Russian, and despite not having driven an F1 car for almost two years was quick from the outset. For a while it looked as though the American team would get both cars home in the points, but a late clash with Esteban Ocon meant that Mick Schumacher finished eleventh.
Along with Haas, Alfa Romeo has spent the last couple of seasons at the wrong end of the grid, perennial backmarkers picking up the odd crumb when others fell by the wayside.
However, Valtteri Bottas, who had been dropped by world champions Mercedes at the end of last season, brought his car home in sixth, while on his debut, Chinese rookie, Guanyu Zhou finished a highly impressive tenth.
Pirelli has once more chosen the compounds in the middle of its range, the C2, C3 and C4, however this time it's with the new family of F1 cars and 18-inch tyres, as the teams get their first taste of the C4 compound in competition this year.
This choice has been made as a result of the track's characteristics (both in terms of layout and asphalt), the expected temperatures, as well as the data collected from the debut race.
The new surface from last year offers a good level of grip and reasonably contained levels of asphalt abrasion, which should lead to moderate wear and degradation.
Due to the rapidly flowing layout, the track is not particularly demanding in terms of traction and braking, while a high degree of track evolution over the weekend is expected, thanks also to the support race programme.
"Jeddah marks a completely different challenge compared to the opening grand prix in Bahrain," admits Pirelli's Mario Isola, "due to the diverse track characteristics, both in terms of layout and asphalt.
"Drivers will also use a softer range of compounds this weekend to cope with the specific demands of the track, which is nearly as quick as Monza.
"The teams head into Jeddah with no experience of these tyres and cars on the circuit, and conditions could be somewhat different from last time in Saudi Arabia, with the race now being held at a different time of year and a few track modifications in store.
"The nominated compounds are the same as 2021, but their make-up has also changed entirely from last year. As a result, the teams will have a lot of work to do to assimilate as much data as possible during free practice, especially in FP2 which will be the only relevant session, being held at the same time as qualifying and the race."
