Christian Horner: "What a race! All credit to the Team today. They've built an incredible car. That coupled with some truly fantastic driving has made for the best start to a season in our history, consecutive 1-2 finishes. Max had a mountain to climb, overcoming a significant deficit, but with over half the race to go, was already in P4. Similarly, Checo turned in an equally outstanding performance, perhaps the best drive I have ever seen from him. They were both going flat out, hard at it. Both drivers were free to race and they went for it. Max secured the fastest lap and Checo came away with the victory. It was an exemplary performance from both drivers, the Team here at the track and everyone back at the factory. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into a race such as this and it is the epitome of a team performing at the top of their game. We wont rest on it though, Australia is just around the corner. It is a track that has not been kind to us in the past so we want to ensure we are prepared, just as we were here, to give us the best chance of success and another first class performance."
Scuderia Ferrari leaves Saudi Arabia with 14 points, courtesy of a sixth place for Carlos Sainz and a seventh with Charles Leclerc. It is clear that there is still work to do to improve the SF-23 performance level on Sunday, because, as in Bahrain, there was a clear gap between how the car performed in qualifying and the race.
Leclerc was going very well in the first part of the race, making a perfect getaway from 12th on the grid, helped by the Soft tyres that allowed him to be extremely aggressive in the opening laps, gaining three positions. By lap 13, he had moved up to sixth, having passed Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon. He was now behind Carlos, who had lost a place at the start to Lance Stroll. On laps 15 and 16, the team called the drivers in for their only pit stop with Sainz going from Medium to Hard and Leclerc from Soft to Hard, which allowed them to get the jump on Stroll to move up to fourth and fifth. The pleasure of getting the overcut to work did not last long, replaced by the cruel let-down of seeing the perfectly executed plan come to nothing, as the Safety Car was immediately called out after Stroll parked at the side of the track. The two SF-23s were now sixth and seventh, as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were both able to pit under the Safety Car, their stops thus costing them half the usual time.
There were no more changes from this point to the chequered flag, so Carlos and Charles endured a monotonous and somewhat frustrating race. The two Ferrari men ran at a consistent pace which meant they could keep up with, but were unable to pass Fernando Alonso, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. The next round is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: Overall, we can't be satisfied with today's result. We did not have the pace we were expecting from our car, especially on the Hard tyre. There was also a big gap in our performance level between qualifying and the race.
However, there were some positives today, starting with Charles' pace on the Soft tyres which was good and allowed him to make up six positions on his first stint. Carlos also ran well on the Mediums. Our strategy was on point and our pit crew executed two good stops.
There is still a long way to go this season and we will continue to fight. We are fully committed to maximising our package and further developing the SF-23 for the coming rounds.
After a well-executed one-stop race on offset tyre strategies, George Russell finished third, following a post-race penalty for Fernando Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton fifth.
With George lining up P3 and Lewis P7, the Team opted to split strategies with George starting on the medium and Lewis the hard tyre.
Both cars opted to stop under the Safety Car on lap 17, with George switching to the hard tyre and Lewis taking the medium.
George took the restart in fourth with Lewis passing Carlos Sainz for fifth; both cars ran in these positions to the flag. Post-race, the Aston Martin of Alonso was given a 10-second time penalty, promoting George to third.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: Today was positive and we'd rather take a small trophy home than none. I think we saw some performance gains to Bahrain which is encouraging. It shows us that the development trajectory is going in the right direction. I think both of our drivers under our guidance probably over-managed their tyres a bit, and we had a little more pace. Bahrain is still in our heads, and we could have maybe pushed more. It was a strong driver from George and a great recovery from Lewis to get solid points. Red Bull are still far away in terms of performance and that won't be easy to catch. Nevertheless, today we've seen that our development is heading in the way we want to head.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: A good effort by the team and both drivers today to collect some very useful points and clearly a pleasing end to the weekend for George picking up third place. The car is hard work to get into the right window and it's not as easy for the drivers as it needs to be, but we've certainly found a better balance than in Bahrain and it has been a lot kinder on its tyres. We're under no illusion that we have a lot of work to do. We've been busy at the factory searching for performance and the initial findings are encouraging which gives us the motivation to keep working hard to improve. Today, we did exactly what we needed to do, which is to maximise the potential in what we have. We're looking forward to the next race in Melbourne; it's closer in characteristics to Saudi than Bahrain, so hopefully we'll have a car that we can fight for a podium. If there is any more performance that we can bring we'll make sure we get it to the track.
BWT Alpine F1 Team made it two points scoring finishes from the first two races of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship as Esteban Ocon finished eighth and Pierre Gasly ninth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Esteban's four points ensured he claimed his first points of the 2023 campaign, while Pierre was able to repeat his ninth-place effort achieved in Bahrain on debut with the team a fortnight ago.
It was a largely uneventful evening for the team with both drivers on a one-stop - Medium to Hard - strategy in the 50-lap race. Pierre had a small scare on lap one as he was tagged by McLaren's Oscar Piastri on the exit of Turn 2 and escaped without damage to his A523.
Pierre pitted first for Hards on lap 14, with Esteban into the pits two laps later for the same compound. A Safety Car on lap 17 for Lance Stroll's retirement meant both drivers were jumped by Yuki Tsunoda who was yet to pit at that stage of the race. At the restart, Esteban cruised past the Alpha Tauri on lap 24, before Pierre repeated the move with a neat overtake into Turn 1.
From there, both drivers ran conservatively to the chequered flag to guarantee a deserved six points.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal: "Today's race highlighted many things: areas where we know there are positives and other areas where we need to improve. Finishing with Esteban in eighth and Pierre in ninth was probably the best we could achieve today and we're making steps in the right direction towards our targets. We're not where we want to be right now, that is clear, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us if we're to take the fight further up the grid. We've reeled in some of the teams who were in front of us in the championship last year and we must continue to chip away at that gap and close it. As a team we'll debrief on this weekend as there are many positives as well as some finer details for us to improve on. We have a good batch of upgrades coming up as per our development plan and we look forward to Australia in two weeks' time where we aim to apply our learnings and again come away with a good team result."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "After beginning the race with high hopes of scoring points, we had both cars at the back of the pack after the first lap and we come away from Jeddah empty-handed. Oscar had contact at the first corner, which required him to pit with a broken front wing, while Lando hit the debris coming off Oscar's car and also suffered a broken front wing.
"We're racers, we take these things on the chin, and we will be even more determined to succeed when we get to Australia. Before we go to Melbourne, we know we have work to do to improve our car, and that will be our immediate focus."
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake had a challenging evening in Jeddah as Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas finished 13th and 18th respectively in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The team wasn't able to convert its starting positions into a top-ten finish, despite the best efforts of drivers and crew: as we return to our headquarters, we will analyse the data from the race and come up with the answers to this unrepresentative performance, while also finalising the next upgrade package for the C43.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Starting where we were on the grid, we were expecting to fight for the points, but, unfortunately, we weren't able to finish in the top ten this time around. The team had a difficult weekend, and we weren't able to be at the level for which we aimed: we'll need to go back to base, analyse the data from this performance and understand where we've fallen short, and what steps we need to make to return to the level we were in Bahrain. We are confident we can make it there in Melbourne, where we will also bring some updates to further improve the performance of our C43. We need to keep working hard, of course: the season is long and the battle will be intense in each race."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "It is very satisfying to score our second podium of the year with Fernando here in Jeddah. It is Fernando's 100th career podium, which is a very impressive milestone. The car has been competitive throughout the weekend and we showed strong race pace once again tonight. Full credit to everyone in the team for their hard work this week. It is a real shame that Lance was forced to retire early with an energy recovery issue, the cause of which is still being investigated, because he had strong pace and would surely have scored big points tonight as well."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team saw Kevin Magnussen bringing home the team's first point of the season in 10th, with Nico Hulkenberg 12th at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit - Round 2 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Hulkenberg and Magnussen both started the night race on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and held competitive positions in the congested midfield group during the opening stages. Magnussen came in on lap 8, taking on White hard tires, with Hulkenberg following suit three laps later and switching to the same compound. The pair cycled through to 11th and 12th respectively, Magnussen in front of Hulkenberg, after the pit stop phase, with those yet to stop doing so under a safety car period caused when Lance Stroll came to a halt on lap 17.
Magnussen and Hulkenberg ran in tandem at the restart before setting off in pursuit of AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda. Magnussen made several attempts at usurping his opponent before finally wrestling the position away on lap 46 to move into the top 10. Magnussen preserved the position across the remaining moments of the 50-lap race to secure his and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team's first point score of 2023. Hulkenberg ensured a two-car finish by taking the checkered flag in 12th position.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "First point this season. We had the speed but didn't luck into it as some people were in a better position after the safety car, but the drivers fought hard, and we got a point. The whole team performed flawlessly all weekend, they kept their heads up and everyone just kept on pushing. That's what we're going to be doing all season long and I'm really looking forward to going to Australia now. As I said after Bahrain, I didn't really know where we were with the car, but we now know where we think we are. We're in the mix, we're actually pretty good I think - it's all coming together. We didn't panic after Bahrain - now we're cautiously optimistic."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Both drivers delivered a solid race putting in consistent lap times tonight. The strategy was good, and the double stack pitstop under the Safety Car worked well as we gained track position. We achieved this as both drivers managed the medium tyre very well, meaning we could extend the first stint and not lose time to our midfield competitors, who stopped for the hard compound earlier. This strategy, together with the Safety Car, put Yuki into the fight for the final points positions tonight. Although Yuki put up a good fight for eighth, the Alpines were quicker and he couldn't keep them behind for long. However, he was able to fight with Magnussen for P10 for most of the final stint, defending from consistent pressure and only losing out in the last laps for the final point, finishing P11. We weren't able to move Nyck into the points with the strategy, but he made some progress from his starting position, had some good battles, and was putting in solid lap times on both compounds tonight. It's frustrating to miss out on a point, but there were positives to take from the drivers and team's performance tonight. We're now looking forward to the planned aero developments and we trust they will improve our performance in the upcoming events."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: The pace was good today and Alex had a good chance of finishing in the top 10. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire with an issue in the mechanical brake system, which we will investigate and fix before the next race. This is a shame as a lot of good work was done here and in Grove on Friday evening to prepare the cars for the race.
Logan's race was compromised by the Safety Car, which left him with a lengthy stint on the Medium tyre and a defensive race against a close group of cars. He eventually lost a few places to faster cars but gave a good performance in his 2nd Formula 1 race.
We can take a lot of positives away from this weekend but at the same time we missed a good opportunity to score some more points and we must make some improvements to succeed in a very tight midfield.
Red Bull sealed its second one-two of the season in Jeddah, with Sergio Perez winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Max Verstappen. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso followed the Dutchman over the line but dropped to fourth after a 10-second penalty, promoting Mercedes driver George Russell onto the podium. All four used P Zero White hard C2 tyres for their final stints.
The night race took place with asphalt temperatures between 29 and 31 degrees C, while ambient temperature remained consistent at 26 degrees C: lower values than those previously seen in FP2 and qualifying.
The three podium finishers used identical strategies, making their pit stops on the same lap. Perez, Verstappen, and Russell all swapped from their P Zero Yellow medium C3 starting tyres to the hard tyre on lap 18, under the safety car.
Only four drivers, all from different teams, chose to start on a tyre other than the medium. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Lando Norris both selected the P Zero Red soft C4, while Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Logan Sargeant (Williams) went for the hard.
Max Verstappen set the fastest lap on the hard tyre (1m31.906s) while Lewis Hamilton was the driver who covered most laps on the medium: 32. Hamilton also set the fastest lap for the medium compound, 1m32.941s. Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas established the quickest benchmark for the soft compound, which was a 1m34.384s.
No fewer than seven drivers set their best lap times of the race on the final lap, with the hard tyre. These included Verstappen - who also set the overall fastest lap, giving himself the extra point that allowed him to stay in the lead of the championship - as well as Alonso and Russell, fighting hard for the final podium place.
Most team strategies were quite similar. A total of 16 drivers started the race on the medium, as predicted by Pirelli's simulations. Of those, only the two Alfa Romeo drivers didn't finish the race on the hard. Bottas did three pit stops, going onto the hard and then the mediums again on lap 17, before fitting the soft 15 laps from the end. Guanyu Zhou stopped before the others and then stopped again during the safety car period to go from hard to medium.
Hamilton and Sargeant finished the race on mediums as they were the only drivers to start on hards. Leclerc and Norris chose a different strategy, beginning the race on the soft and ending it on the hard. Norris was forced to stop just two laps into the race and then went onto the mediums under the safety car, keeping them on until the flag.
Mario Isola - Motorsport Director: "The third Saudi Arabian Grand Prix went largely as we expected it to; both from the point of view of strategies as well as that of tyre behaviour. Eighty per cent of the drivers chose the medium at the start, which ensured maximum flexibility in the event of a race neutralisation - which duly happened for the third time in three years of racing here. The arrival of the Safety Car following Lance Stroll's retirement coincided with the pit stop window, which meant that the drivers who hadn't made a stop so far were able to take advantage of this neutralisation to put on the hard tyre. The performance gaps between the compounds also fitted in with our expectations, and that was the case for degradation as well. This was practically nothing on the medium and hard tyres, and quite limited on the soft used by Charles Leclerc: the only driver to have carried out a significant stint on this compound. The absence of degradation was what allowed even the drivers who had fitted the hard tyre before the safety car came out - such as Kevin Magnussen and Oscar Piastri, who completed 42 and 49 laps on it respectively - to push all the way to the end, with both of them pulling off some great passing moves in the closing stages. The medium also showed a lot of consistency, as underlined by Lewis Hamilton, who was able to take advantage of its superior performance compared to the hard in order to get past Carlos Sainz shortly after the re-start."
