Saturday, December 4th 2021
Before F1 qualification in Saudi Arabia
Hamilton and Verstappen share concern
Lewis Hamilton was blown away by the new Formula 1 circuit in Saudi Arabia. “Fast, incredibly fast” is the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after the first warm-up. The Mercedes driver set the fastest time in both practice sessions on the 6.174-kilometer route yesterday, Friday. “Once you have found the rhythm, it is wonderful to drive,” said the World Cup runner-up before the important qualification on Saturday (6 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de; tomorrow’s Sunday race will be broadcast on free TV on RTL from 5.15 p.m.).
Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas found the floodlit course with the many full throttle sections to be “pretty hardcore”. But that’s “what you want. That’s what we enjoy, and it definitely gives you a little adrenaline rush.”
Before the penultimate race of the season, Hamilton is eight points behind front runner Max Verstappen and even has to fear an early title win for the Red Bull driver. The prerequisite for this would be that the Dutchman finishes first or second in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, while Hamilton misses at least the top five. If Verstappen gets 18 points more than Hamilton, he ends the Mercedes dominance after 14 silver world championship titles in a row.
Verstappen seeks solution to temperature problem
For the start chase, Hamilton sees problems in heavy traffic. “That is definitely much worse than in many other places where we drive, similar to Monaco,” said the Englishman, who just managed to evade Haas driver Nikita Mazepin after a spin in the second practice session. Shortly before the end of the session, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc even crashed into the wall at high speed, but was uninjured.
“Looking ahead to qualifying, I think it could be quite difficult because of the traffic,” said Verstappen, who, like his competitor Hamilton, needs a clear run for a strong lap. The 24-year-old struggled himself. “In the second practice session we had problems getting the tires up to temperature, which we will of course see,” explained Verstappen, who finished second and fourth in the units.
For the qualification he hopes for the “right balance” of his car, because the changes from the first to the second practice didn’t pay off for him. Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel after 16th place and Mick Schumacher after 18th place also hope for progress in the back field.