It appears the new rules in place in Formula One this season have made for new possibilities after years of stagnation. Ferrari looks like a championship contender, Mercedes doesn’t, Haas is talking about podiums and cars can have multi-lap battles with back-and-forth passing.
In the season-opening race in Bahrain, we saw race results that were unthinkable in the past few years. Just in qualifying, seeing an Alfa Romeo (Valtteri Bottas) and a Haas (Kevin Magnussen) ahead of a Mercedes (George Russell) in dry conditions is incredible.
Will we see more of that in Saudi Arabia this weekend? F1 went to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the first time just four months ago in the second to last race of the 2021 season. Lewis Hamilton won from pole position, but it was a crazy race with Max Verstappen cutting the track and having to give back his position multiple times.
There have been some minor changes to the track, but it should still be a fast street circuit. It’s narrow in many parts of the track, which obviously makes passing difficult in those sections. Bahrain was exciting last week, most notably the mid-race battle between Charles Leclerc and Verstappen, but Jeddah will test just how fun these new cars are.
After Leclerc won in Bahrain from pole, the Monegasque driver is the betting favorite to take pole position and the co-favorite, alongside Verstappen, to win the race. At least as far as the sportsbooks are concerned, it appears we are set for a “Big 3” season with Ferrari re-joining Red Bull and Mercedes at the top.