New regulation cars were front and centre
Published:
March 28, 2022

The potency of Formula One's new regulation cars was front and centre of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc resumed their on-track battling for a second consecutive week. The Dutch world champion took his first victory of 2022 after an engaging late-race fight with last week's winner that gave a grandstand finish to the race.

The pair had to re-learn everything they've ever known in Formula One as the new generation's cars, with their ability to follow closely through corners, gave the victim of an overtake the chance to challenge back. So, it may be that on-track passes don't need to be do or die in this new age of F1, and the racing may instead reward patience and intelligence more than last-second lunges.

F1's second visit to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit saw just 18 drivers line up on the grid. After his horrific qualifying crash, Mick Schumacher sat out of the race. Additionally, Yuki Tsunoda suffered a second mechanical issue in as many days on his installation lap to retire before the race began.

For those who could reach their starting position, all but three men began on Pirelli medium compound tyres as the teams and drivers shunned the softs. Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Hulkenberg decided to try a contrary strategy and lined up with the white-walled hards.

While Sergio Perez looked comfortable leading from P1 from his first pole position, the sister Red Bull of Verstappen made the critical move off the line. Max outdrove Carlos Sainz's Ferrari into the Turn 1/Turn 2 chicane to put himself into contention for the win. The lonely front-running Mercedes of George Russell managed to slice past Esteban Ocon to follow the Red Bull-Ferrari quartet but didn't have the speed to threaten the top four places.

New regulation cars were front and centre

Ocon soon found himself with his teammate Fernando Alonso for company, too, as the Alpine drivers got a little too close for comfort in an intra-team scrap for bragging rights at the Enstone team. Eventually, Alonso prevailed, leaving Ocon to fall into the clutches of Valtteri Bottas behind.

With Leclerc closing in on Perez for the lead, the Monegasque driver wanted to head into the pits for new Pirelli tyres to take P1 through the undercut. However, Red Bull got there first, and Perez peeled into the pit lane for a new set of hards. The timing couldn't have been worse for the Mexican, though; moments later, the Williams of Nicholas Latifi found the wall to trigger the safety car.

As expected, all runners, aside from those already on the hard tyres, dove into the pits to equip themselves with the Pirellis they'd look to finish the race with. Perez tumbled to third, which soon became fourth after incorrectly overtaking Sainz on the pit exit. His hopes for a win were, unfortunately, over.

The drivers who began the race on hard tyres had benefitted through the safety car period but would need an additional slowdown later on for their plan to come together. Hamilton had found himself up to P6 and right behind his teammate by staying on track while most runners took their stops.

Their dreams came true on Lap 37 when a blitz of retirements triggered the Virtual Safety Car. Alonso started it off as he lost drive halfway through the lap before McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo also had no power and stopped on the pit entry. Valtteri Bottas also retired but had the good manners to do in the safety of his pit box. Hulkenberg and Magnussen immediately pitted, while Hamilton's radio message came seconds too late, and the Brit lost all the places he had gained as the pit lane closed due to Ricciardo's stranded car.

The slowdown did see Verstappen come out of the VSC period noticeably closer to Leclerc, and as the race entered its final eight laps, the reigning champion pounced into the final hairpin. His move gave him the lead but also handed DRS to Leclerc, who immediately reclaimed his P1 into the first corner. An entertaining situation arose one lap later where both drivers locked up trying to be the slowest car and thus benefit from DRS down the main straight.

The final laps had the two constantly within a few car lengths of each other as they found that they could follow much closer than in years before. However, Verstappen finally took the decisive blow on Lap 48 with a DRS pass down the main straight, leaving Leclerc unable to fight back, try as he might.

The Formula One circus now packs up from their Middle Eastern adventure to race at the returning Australian Grand Prix in two weeks. The teams now better understand their cars and the new 2022 Pirelli tyres with a couple of Grands Prix under their belts. Still, with mechanical gremlins affecting every engine manufacturer this weekend, there's a lot of learning to be done over the upcoming fortnight.

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New regulation cars were front and centre
New regulation cars were front and centre
New regulation cars were front and centre