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The Saudi Arabian GP will be hosting its second F1 race this weekend. After what was a slightly chaotic first race of the season in Bahrain, the F1 circus reaches Saudi Arabia with a fear of heading into the unknown.
The track layout is still new to the F1 teams, and so are the technical regulations. In what will be just the second race of the season, there are quite a few key questions that need to be answered heading into the race.
In this piece, we're going to talk about some of the key questions that need to be answered heading into the second race of the season.
#5 What will be the pecking order?
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Most of the competitive running and testing that we have seen so far with these new regulations has been in Bahrain. We have only seen the cars attack one particular layout so far and based on that, we had a certain pecking order last season.
Coming to the Saudi Arabian GP, however, we have a very different layout on our hands. With the regulations still new, we can expect different cars to have different characteristics. Will those characteristics yield a change in the pecking order? We cannot count that possibility out.
#4 Can the Mercedes customer teams recover?
The Bahrain GP was particularly brutal on the Mercedes customer teams. If we look at the final classification of the race, then the last 6 running cars were all Mercedes customers.
Now the entire blame for the fall in the competitiveness of these teams cannot be put on the power units. Aston Martin suffered from excessive porpoising, while McLaren has had its issues with overheating brakes.
Coming to a new track, will we see these teams recovering from an early dip in form? Let's wait and watch.
#3 How accident-prone will the Saudi Arabian GP layout be?
Remember the Saudi Arabian GP last season? The track is notoriously fast and narrow, making it susceptible to accidents. We saw plenty of them last season with the race featuring red flags, safety cars, and some crazy incidents.
The new regulations are expected to make cars even faster in the fast-speed corners as compared to last season. Will that lead to even more stoppages? Let's hope that is not the case.
#2 Can Mercedes close the gap to the front?
Mercedes were on average around half a second slower than the two frontrunners. The car still suffers from porpoising and is producing too much drag on the straights. Yet, every time the car runs on track, it is an opportunity for the team to learn more about its car and make changes.
With a complete race distance under its belt will we see Mercedes cutting down the gap to the front? Will we see them suffer even more because of the track being much faster in nature than in Bahrain? It will be interesting to see where the German team finds itself in the Saudi Arabian GP.
#1 Can Red Bull fight back?
The biggest takeaway from the Bahrain GP was the fact that Ferrari and Charles Leclerc have come prepared for a championship battle. At the end of the Bahrain GP, Red Bull went home with nothing on the board while Ferrari scored the maximum possible points.
It's not unfair to say that Red Bull is on the backfoot right now. It needs to bounce back in the Saudi Arabian GP and beat the Italian outfit. Will it have the car to compete with and beat Ferrari? That's going to be one of the more intriguing questions for the weekend.
