The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2022 was the 2nd round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the weekend of the 25th to the 27th of March.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 4th position, followed by Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz completing the podium.
Sergio Pérez started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 4th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 19 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 15-16: 11 stops
The fastest pit stop was Guanyu Zhou's, stopping the clock at 15.103 seconds during his pit stop on lap 27, while the slowest one was was Guanyu Zhou's, who stopped the clock at 33.734 seconds, 18.631 seconds slower than Zhou, during his pit stop on lap 16.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
3Daniel Ricciardo
-
-Lance Stroll
-
2Alexander Albon
-
3Sergio Pérez
-
1Pierre Gasly
-
9Fernando Alonso
-
3Max Verstappen
-
-Carlos Sainz
-
1Esteban Ocon
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
4Lando Norris
-
1George Russell
-
5Nico Hülkenberg
-
1Kevin Magnussen
-
5Lewis Hamilton
2 stops
-
7Valtteri Bottas
-
1Guanyu Zhou
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.33 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
The reace did not end without incidents... 7 drivers out of the original 20 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Alexander Albon, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 47, Valtteri Bottas, who had a problem with the cooling system on lap 36, Fernando Alonso, who had a water pump failure on lap 35, Daniel Ricciardo, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 35, Nicholas Latifi, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 14, Yuki Tsunoda, who had a power unit failure on lap 0, and Mick Schumacher, who withdrew on lap 0.
Collision damage
-
Alexander AlbonLap 47
Cooling system
-
Valtteri BottasLap 36
Water pump
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 35
Gearbox
-
Daniel RicciardoLap 35
Accident
-
Nicholas LatifiLap 14
Power Unit
-
Yuki TsunodaLap 0
Withdrew
-
Mick SchumacherLap 0
Qualifying
Sergio Pérez managed to get the pole position by 0.025 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:28.200. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Charles Leclerc.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.