The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023 was the 2nd round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the weekend of the 17th to the 19th of March.
Sergio Pérez won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 24 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 13-19: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Charles Leclerc's, stopping the clock at 20.026 seconds during his pit stop on lap 16, while the slowest one was was Oscar Piastri's, who stopped the clock at 31.534 seconds, 11.508 seconds slower than Leclerc, during his pit stop on lap 1.
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 2 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sergio Pérez, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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7Oscar Piastri
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3Kevin Magnussen
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2Nico Hülkenberg
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15Lance Stroll
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-Pierre Gasly
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2Carlos Sainz
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2Esteban Ocon
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5Charles Leclerc
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2Alexander Albon
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5Yuki Tsunoda
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4Nyck de Vries
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2Lewis Hamilton
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1Fernando Alonso
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-Sergio Pérez
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13Max Verstappen
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1George Russell
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4Logan Sargeant
2 stops
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2Lando Norris
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2Guanyu Zhou
3 stops
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4Valtteri Bottas
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.4 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 4 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
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Alexander Albon, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 27, and Lance Stroll, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 16.
Brakes
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Alexander AlbonLap 27
Engine
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Lance StrollLap 16
Qualifying
Sergio Pérez managed to get the pole position by 0.155 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:28.265. 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 14 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.