2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, March 17 - 19

[Artur Craft]

Hamilton sleeping again??

This is unacceptable again at Jeddah like last year! Can’t understand why he can’t get the car to work at this track…

In 2021 he was rapid around here…

Was he though, let's remember he barely beat Bottas, the man that's getting all he can handle against Zhou.

Yup. He only got pole on 2021 because Max crashed while on a monster lap and Mercedes was much quicker at that point in the championship. Now he´s 7th again.....

Alonso also was pretty underwhelming today. Stroll is clearly not 100% prepared yet but he was the only one threatening Perez, despite only having one set of tyres for Q3

[AR3-GP]

Checo on pole in Jeddah...imagine that

The Perez street circuit legend continues

It's funny how things work out. You have to be in it to win it and Perez is always in the right car on the street tracks.

[Vanja #66]

Hopefully you’re right - and Perez pulled out a special Q3 lap here last year to beat Max (somewhat out of nowhere), so perhaps it’s just a Checo special circuit.

Just look at how "bad" Checco's FP3 lap was. Also, Max's FP3 lap got the engine to 11980 RPM, 60 more than Perez' Q lap... So, I mean, either Max has much better engines or there was some tail wind in FP3 in his lap...

[Gillian]

Hamilton sleeping again??

This is unacceptable again at Jeddah like last year! Can’t understand why he can’t get the car to work at this track…

In 2021 he was rapid around here…

Was he though, let's remember he barely beat Bottas, the man that's getting all he can handle against Zhou.

Yup. He only got pole on 2021 because Max crashed while on a monster lap and Mercedes was much quicker at that point in the championship. Now he´s 7th again.....

Alonso also was pretty underwhelming today. Stroll is clearly not 100% prepared yet but he was the only one threatening Perez, despite only having one set of tyres for Q3

Agreed, Alonso's laps looked a bit mehh, just like in Bahrain. I hope he'll have a great race tomorrow, but pace deficit to RB is probably too much.

[AR3-GP]

Hopefully you’re right - and Perez pulled out a special Q3 lap here last year to beat Max (somewhat out of nowhere), so perhaps it’s just a Checo special circuit.

Just look at how "bad" Checco's FP3 lap was. Also, Max's FP3 lap got the engine to 11980 RPM, 60 more than Perez' Q lap... So, I mean, either Max has much better engines or there was some tail wind in FP3 in his lap...

https://i.ibb.co/7rYrRG9/jeddah-q-rb-2023.jpg

So was there tail wind on all his FP3 laps? Even the one on hards? Did this tailwind therefore only blow exactly when Max lapped, but ceased when everyone else did. That's awfully convenient. I would have thought the Saudi weather machine would favor Alonso

[chrisc90]

Hopefully you’re right - and Perez pulled out a special Q3 lap here last year to beat Max (somewhat out of nowhere), so perhaps it’s just a Checo special circuit.

Just look at how "bad" Checco's FP3 lap was. Also, Max's FP3 lap got the engine to 11980 RPM, 60 more than Perez' Q lap... So, I mean, either Max has much better engines or there was some tail wind in FP3 in his lap...

https://i.ibb.co/7rYrRG9/jeddah-q-rb-2023.jpg

So was there tail wind on all his FP3 laps? Even the one on hards? Did this tailwind therefore only blow exactly when Max lapped, but ceased when everyone else did. That's awfully convenient. I would have thought the Saudi weather machine would favor Alonso

Clutching at straws in my opinion from him.

[Artur Craft]

I think tomorrow is gonna be a legendary race, I mean, literally.

[Vanja #66]

So was there tail wind on all his FP3 laps? Even the one on hards? Did this tailwind therefore only blow exactly when Max lapped, but ceased when everyone else did. That's awfully convenient. I would have thought the Saudi weather machine would favor Alonso

You're right, Max must have a better engine than Checco. Wonder which other better components he also has...

[dialtone]

Leclerc relatively close to a Red Bull - albeit you’ve got to assume Max would have been several tenths down the road.

2 tenths at most, he was already insanely quick in all FP sessions, pushing to the limit in every lap...

I mean Max's fp3 time already has him in p2 on the grid you assuming that he wouldn't find time from track evolution like everyone else did?

My man... Track temperature was 7 (!!) degrees different between FP3 and Quali.

[AR3-GP]

So was there tail wind on all his FP3 laps? Even the one on hards? Did this tailwind therefore only blow exactly when Max lapped, but ceased when everyone else did. That's awfully convenient. I would have thought the Saudi weather machine would favor Alonso

You're right, Max must have a better engine than Checco. Wonder which other better components he also has...

Well I'm not going to answer that

I just think Verstappen would have been quicker than Perez that's all. He has been the quicker of the two all week.

[AR3-GP]

2 tenths at most, he was already insanely quick in all FP sessions, pushing to the limit in every lap...

I mean Max's fp3 time already has him in p2 on the grid you assuming that he wouldn't find time from track evolution like everyone else did?

My man... Track temperature was 7 (!!) degrees different between FP3 and Quali.

Yes it was lower...Faster track.

[AR3-GP]

I think Alonso will lead out of T1. Perez's starts of the past haven't impressed me.

[Silent Storm]

So was there tail wind on all his FP3 laps? Even the one on hards? Did this tailwind therefore only blow exactly when Max lapped, but ceased when everyone else did. That's awfully convenient. I would have thought the Saudi weather machine would favor Alonso

You're right, Max must have a better engine than Checco. Wonder which other better components he also has...

Ferrari needs to learn this from Redbull and give Charles better components too or else championship will forever be a dream.

[dialtone]

I mean Max's fp3 time already has him in p2 on the grid you assuming that he wouldn't find time from track evolution like everyone else did?

My man... Track temperature was 7 (!!) degrees different between FP3 and Quali.

Yes it was lower...Faster track.

That's true on a normal track, not on an ice skating ring where everyone but RBR struggles to get the tires up to temp.

[AR3-GP]

My man... Track temperature was 7 (!!) degrees different between FP3 and Quali.

Yes it was lower...Faster track.

That's true on a normal track, not on an ice skating ring where everyone but RBR struggles to get the tires up to temp.

Right, but we were only discussing the thought of Verstappen doing a better lap than Perez which you tried to downplay.

Earlier it was suggested that nah, Perez had done the lap of his life (because of last year here, which already had many caveats). And then further suggested Verstappen wouldn't have gone much quicker if any, despite a large body of evidence suggesting Verstappen probably had another 4-5 tenths.

I'm not really concerned about what other cars were doing and if they were struggling on tires. I'm only concerned with what the realistic laptimes were for the cars in the track conditions that decided the order for the race. ultimatly that is the challenge all teams must answer to. There's no re-run of qualifying to make sure other cars can warm their tires. F1 doesn't work like that.

Perez didn't even do a second run! And you people tried to downplay the gap last weekend in Bahrain when Leclerc didn't do a second run vs the RBs. You can't have it both ways.