The second race of the 2024 F1 season is taking place in Saudi Arabia tomorrow, following practice sessions yesterday and qualifiers at 5pm (GMT) today.
Races are usually scheduled for Sundays, but the holy month of Ramadan is expected to start on 10 March, so the Jeddah leg of the season was brough forward by a day.
FIA rules dictate, there must be at least seven days between races, which is why the Bahrain GP had a Saturday slot too.
As the first two races of the season are on Saturdays, there will be three out of the record-breaking 24 races held a day earlier than usual in 2024, with Las Vegas set for a Saturday as well.
Verstappen and Red Bull Racing are on a remarkable run. The Dutchman has won 18 of the last 19 Grands Prix and is just two races shy of equalling his record-breaking consecutive streak, which began in 2023.
Verstappen is tipped for more success in Saudi Arabia, and these are just some of the records and milestones he can hit this weekend.
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It starts with qualifying. If Verstappen gets pole position in Jeddah, the Dutchman would have achieved the feat at 20 different circuits in his career. This is more than Michael Schumacher and equals those of Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. Only Alain Prost (22), Sebastian Vettel (23), and Lewis Hamilton (32) would’ve secured pole position at more circuits should he get P1 on tonight. It will be his 34th career pole, taking him to P5 on the all-time list.
Should Ferrari get pole position instead, they will secure their 250th pole in Formula 1. No other constructor has achieved that many. Charles Leclerc will attend his 100th Q3 on Friday if he gets through to that session.
Verstappen has more records and milestones to achieve on Saturday. Should he lead for 17 laps, he will overtake Senna for most Grands Prix laps led. He is fast approaching 3,000 laps led, but that cannot be reached this weekend even if he leads from start to finish. Only Vettel, Schumacher and Hamilton have achieved 3,000 or more laps in the lead.
A podium for Verstappen will mark him finishing in the top three 100 times in his F1 career. That’s almost as many as Kimi Raikkonen (103) and Fernando Alonso (106) achieved in their entire careers. Should either Perez or Verstappen win the race, Red Bull will overtake Williams in the list of all-time wins.
As F1 returns to the circuit for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for its fourth event on what is dubbed the world’s fastest street circuit,we can expect drama as always.
This circuit can be dangerous. F1 driver Zhou Guanyu has labeled the “brutal” exit turn 10 exit kerb at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit “quite dangerous”.
