2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The **2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix** was a Formula 1.5 motor race that was held on 27 March 2022 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia. It was the second edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the second round of the 2022 Formula 1.5 World Championship.

## Background

The race weekend was held on 25–27 March 2022 and was the second race to be held in Saudi Arabia after the first one held in December 2021. The race took place one week after the Bahrain Grand Prix and two weeks before the Australian Grand Prix.

### Missile Strike

On 25 March, an Aramco oil depot near Jeddah, approximately 16 km (10 mi) from the circuit, was attacked by drones and missiles, triggering a large fire. Yemen's Houthi movement rebels, who were also accused of launching a missile during the 2021 Diriyah ePrix, allegedly claimed responsibility. Black smoke was seen during the first practice session. The second practice session was delayed by 15 minutes to allow for an emergency meeting between the drivers, team principals and Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali. Despite the attack, Formula One and the organisers announced that the event would continue as planned.

The Grand Prix Drivers' Association held a further meeting with the drivers at 22:00 local time; all drivers agreed to participate for the remainder of the event after 4+1⁄2 hours of talks. According to the BBC, drivers were reassured over security and convinced to race after being warned of "the consequences of not racing", which reportedly included potentially being denied exit visa to leave the country in the event of a boycott.

### Championship Standings before the race

Kevin Magnussen was the Drivers' Championship leader after the previous weekend's first round, the Bahrain Grand Prix, with six points separating him from Valtteri Bottas and 10 points from Esteban Ocon. In the Constructors' Championship, Haas led Alfa Romeo by 4 points and Alpine by a further 2.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list, with the exception of Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, who was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg for a second consecutive race, with the former still recovering from coronavirus.

### Tyre Choice

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3, and C4 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

### Criticism

Hosting country Saudi Arabia was under constant condemnation for sportswashing its human rights through the Grand Prix. The event took place just days after the 2022 Saudi Arabia mass execution, in which 81 men were executed in a single day. Amnesty International said the race "must not be allowed to cover up" Saudi Arabia's human rights violations. Maya Foa, the director of Reprieve, said that the contract with Saudi Arabia was "to sportswash Mohammed bin Salman's blood-soaked regime".

## Practice

Three practice sessions were held, each lasting one hour. The first two practice sessions were held on Friday 25 March at 17:00 and 20:00 AST (UTC+03:00). The third practice session took place at 17:00 on 26 March. Bottas topped the first practice session ahead of Gasly by 0.233 seconds and Tsunoda a further 0.188 back. In FP2 Lando Norris topped the session by just 0.025 seconds over Esteban Ocon, Bottas was third. In final practice, Bottas once again topped ahead of Ocon and Gasly.

## Qualifying

Qualifying took place on 26 March at 20:00 AST (UTC+03:00) and lasted for one hour. Q1 was red flagged for a crash by Williams' Nicholas Latifi. Q2 was red flagged following a crash by Haas' Mick Schumacher, from which he was largely unhurt; he was sent to hospital for precautionary medical scans. After a lengthy suspension, the session was resumed, with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, Schumacher, Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu, and both McLaren drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris all eliminated at the end. Ricciardo was given a grid penalty for impeding Alpine's Esteban Ocon.

While Schumacher was subsequently medically cleared to race, Haas opted to run just one car (with Kevin Magnussen driving) because repairing Schumacher's heavily damaged car would have compromised his ability to compete normally at the Australian Grand Prix due to a limited supply of spare parts during the three fly-away races at the start of the season.

## Race

The race was started at 20:00 AST (UTC+03:00) on 27 March and lasted for 50 laps. Yuki Tsunoda's car suffered a power unit issue on the way to the grid, preventing him from starting the race. On lap 15, Nicholas Latifi retired after hitting the wall. During the race here was a hard-fought battle between Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, which ended after Ocon was given orders to hold position for the lead. On laps 35 and 36, Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas all retired within moments of each other due to unrelated mechanical issues. On lap 47, there was a collision between Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll, ending Albon's race.

## Championship Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

  1
  1
  7
  1

Constructors' Championship standings

  1
  1
  2

## External Links

1. ↑  Daniel Ricciardo received a grid penalty for impeding Esteban Ocon during Q2.
2. ↑  Mick Schumacher qualified 9th, but he withdrew due to a crash. Drivers who qualified behind him gained a grid position.
3. ↑  Yuki Tsunoda failed to set a time during qualifying, but he was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.
4. ↑ Includes 1 point for fastest Lap
5. ↑  Alexander Albon was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
6. ↑  Yuki Tsunoda did not start the race. His place on the grid was left vacant.
7. ↑  Mick Schumacher withdrew due to a crash in qualifying. Drivers who qualified behind him gained a grid position