2025 Saudi Arabian GP Preview

Sebastian Alston
Apr 15
4 min read

The early season triple header comes to an end this weekend as Formula 1 travels to Saudi Arabia and the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for Round 5 of the championship.

Jeddah Corniche Circuit

Length: 6.174km per lap/50 laps

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a temporary street circuit located on the Corniche, a coastal resort area of the city of Jeddah. It's a challenging circuit that first hosted F1 in 2021. It is the second fastest circuit on the F1 calendar, only behind Monza, whilst it also has the most corners on the calendar - 27.

Schedule

18 Apr

Practice 1 - 14:30 - 15:30

Practice 2 - 18:00 - 19:00

19 Apr

Practice 3 -14:30 - 15:30

Qualifying - 18:00 - 19:00

20 Apr

Race - 18:00

Talking Points of the Weekend

Can Lando bounce back?

The early season form would suggest that this year's title fight will be an inter-teammate battle at McLaren between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Whilst Lando currently leads the World Championship, it has arguably been Oscar Piastri who has been the more impressive driver so far, with two wins to his name and what would be the championship lead had it not been for his trip to the grass in Melbourne. Last weekend, Oscar had a clear pace advantage over Lando in both qualifying and the race. Previously it had appeared that whilst Oscar looked quicker than Lando in race conditions, due to qualifying behind Lando he wasn't able to make full use of this pace. If the tide starts to turn from a qualifying perspective, then Oscar could start to dominate. As for Lando, pressure is starting to build on the Brit in a year that looks like his best chance at the drivers' championship. He was clearly affected by the pressure last weekend and needs a good performance in Jeddah to get back on track.

How will Red Bull fare?

Red Bull had their worst weekend of the season in Bahrain and haven't enjoyed a great start to the season, despite Max's victory in Japan. With Helmut Marko increasing fears that Max could leave if Red Bull can't give him a competitive car, there's an increased sense of pressure on the team this weekend. McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all seem to be getting stronger whilst Red Bull have only gone backwards. This is all in conjunction with the teams second driver issues. Yuki Tsunoda may have scored his first points for the side in Bahrain, but was nine tenths off Max in Q3 and then failed to make the same inroads as Mx in the race, despite the Dutchman experiencing issues midrace. It was solid enough from Yuki, but Red Bull will be expecting more.

Can Alpine continue to lead the midfield?

Alpine finally got off the mark in Bahrain and looked like the fifth-quickest car, especially in the hands of Pierre Gasly. Pre-season, there had been a fare bit of hope around the team that they would be top of the midfield, but with VCARB, Haas and Williams starting the season stronger, it looked like being another long season for the side. Bahrain gave the team optimism they could win the development race, however this weekend will be telling. All throughout the current regulation cycle, it has been said that Alpine's Renault engine has been holding them back and with Jeddah a circuit that relies heavily on top speed, it looks on paper like Alpine could struggle. It has been confusing though, as the last two Las Vegas GPs have shown the team can work around the issue by applying less downforce than other sides. How they'll fare in Jeddah could provide the answer as to whether can can truly challenge for P5 in the constructors.

Last time out

Last weekend in Bahrain, Oscar Piastri won from pole comfortably, ahead of George Russell in P2 and Lando Norris in P3. Oscar had the measure on his teammate all weekend. Elsewhere, Alpine and Pierre Gasly had their best weekend of the season so far, with P5 in qualifying and P7 in the race. Red Bull, on the other hand struggled massively despite scoring their first double-point finish since Las Vegas last year. Max Verstappen battled back from issues mid-race to come home P6, whilst Yuki Tsunoda got his first points on the board for the team in P9.

Last year

Last years Saudi Arabian GP saw Red Bull win with a dominant one-two as it looked like their dominance from 2023 would continue. Max Verstappen won by 13s ahead of then-teammate Sergio Perez, whilst Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium for Ferrari. It was a race that was remembered for two things: Ollie Bearman's F1 debut with Ferrari and Kevin Magnussen's brilliant yet controversial strategy to get his teammate in the points. Ollie did a very good job standing in for Carlos Sainz who was diagnosed with appendicitis, finishing P7. If we want to get an idea of which McLaren teammate may be on top this weekend, last year it was one of the few circuits where Oscar outqualifed Lando, and then finished comfortably ahead of him in the race coming home P4 to Lando's P8.