Things to know ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Following on from the Grands Prix in Japan and Bahrain, the first triple-header of the year comes to a close, still in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo picks out the key facts of the Jeddah race.

Round 5 of the 2025 F1 season takes place at the Jeddah Corniche street circuit, notable for high speeds and the technical challenges it throws up for drivers and teams.

Running alongside the Red Sea, the 6.174 kilometre track is the second longest on the Formula 1 calendar after Spa-Francorchamps. It boasts 27 corners and holds the Formula 1 record for the highest number of direction changes.

The challenging circuit has the characteristics of a street circuit, but in reality it is a permanent facility located in the city, with long flowing corners and several high speed sections, with an average lap speed of over 250 km/h between the concrete barriers.

There are three DRS zones, which make for plenty of overtaking opportunities. The first is on the main straight, the second is between turns 19 and 22 and the third on the back straight that leads onto the final hairpin before the start-finish line.

After the choice of compounds for the first four races of this season were the same as last year’s, Formula One's sole tyre manufacturer Pirelli elected to take a softer step for Jeddah, with the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft being the trio available this weekend.

With air temperatures expected to surpass the 30 degrees mark in Jeddah, teams and drivers will need to take the high temperatures into consideration both in terms of the cooling configuration of the cars and tyre management.

However, as the track surface is not very abrasive, Pirelli has suggested that a one-stop strategy might be the way to go, but the track characteristics, with the walls always ready to catch out the unwary, mean teams have to be ready to modify their strategy in the case of any unexpected incidents in the race.