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Superfast pole in Jeddah awaits: these are the numbers

Superfast pole in Jeddah awaits: these are the numbers

30-11-2021 13:28 Last update: 14:13
15

GPblog.com

The circuit in Saudi Arabia promises to be a real spectacle. On the second-longest track on the calendar, the drivers are likely to reach an average speed of over 250 kilometres per hour. With the walls always very close and hardly any possibilities to take an escape route, the smallest mistakes will be punished.

Flying time

Only at Spa, the drivers have to bridge more metres to complete a lap. The Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, designed by Hermann Tilke, is 6.174 metres long and has no less than 27 bends (although the question is if you can really call most of them bends). Undoubtedly the F1 cars will drive there with wings similar to those at the also super-fast Monza. The expectation is that the pole position in Saudi Arabia will be 1 minute and 28 seconds.

For a large part of the lap, the drivers will be going full throttle. Still, it is expected to be a tough race for the brakes. Having to reduce top speed in a short period of time is demanding for both driver and machine. About 14 percent of the lap the drivers will use their brakes.

How are the tires doing?

An important point of concern is the tyres. Nobody knows exactly how they will behave on the brand new circuit. Pirelli brings the middle range of its five compounds, to be exact the C2, C3, C4. The Italian tyre manufacturer doesn't dare to use the softest compound, and therefore the fastest. Turn 13 is the most demanding for the tyres: it's a left-hander with a 12-degree gradient that should subject the tyres to forces of 4.1g.