Preview
Jeddah Preview: The high-speed streets await
Rodin Motorsport and Zane Maloney made an incredible start to the 2024 season by scoring victories in both the Sprint and Feature Races at the opening round of the year in Sakhir.
They head down to Jeddah for Round 2 looking to continue that fine form at the fastest street circuit on the calendar. So, how will they fare and can any of the other 10 teams challenge them for top honours this weekend?
Here is your guide and all you need to know ahead of Round 2 of the 2024 FIA Formula 2 campaign.
THE FORM BOOK
Rodin and Maloney head to Jeddah as the leaders in both Championships but they were not the only team and driver to enjoy a strong start to the season.
Invicta Racing will arrive with plenty of confidence given that Kush Maini and Gabriel Bortoleto qualified on the front row in Sakhir. Maini lost pole position after being disqualified for a technical infringement on his car, but both drivers left with a solid haul of points.
Similarly, Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar and Josep María Martí drove well with the latter scoring two podium finishes on debut, while the Frenchman placed fourth in the Sprint Race.
READ MORE: CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
They, like Hitech Pulse-Eight, will be confident after rookie Paul Aron finished third in the Feature Race and fifth in the Sprint. In Jeddah, however, Amaury Cordeel will a take five-place grid penalty for the Sprint Race following a collision with Oliver Bearman in Bahrain.
DAMS Lucas Oil showed plenty of promise with Jak Crawford finishing second in the Sprint Race. As did MP Motorsport with Dennis Hauger scoring points in both races while Franco Colapinto placed sixth in Saturday’s 32-lap Feature.
Rookie Zak O’Sullivan scored all of Reigning Champions ART Grand Prix’s 14 points, but the team and Victor Martins will be hoping for more in Jeddah, as will PREMA Racing, Trident, PHM AIX Racing, and Van Amersfoort Racing – the latter three going without points in Bahrain.
FROM THE GRID – Oliver Bearman, PREMA Racing
“It's one of my favourite circuits because first of all the grip level is really high. Also, the fact that it is a street track, really high speed, the walls are close which adds a bit of adrenaline, so I really enjoy this track.
“Precision is really important. You have to be really close to the walls of course but also not too close. It's a fine line between a perfect Qualifying lap and not finishing it. The high-speed section takes a lot of commitment, so you really need to build up your confidence there and get it right.
“For the drivers, the heat is a tough one. We have to prepare physically and also cool ourselves down. I remember last year it was one of the most difficult races, especially the Feature Race under the sun. The race is more difficult because the tyres are hotter, so you struggle a bit more with degradation.
“The main goal is to win your strategy. It depends where you qualify, if you qualify on the front row like I did last year then you can run the optimal strategy, which of course depends how the tyres are performing in Practice and Qualifying. We have to wait and see until the weekend.
“I think I had a really good Friday there last year, but the races were a bit difficult. I got taken out of race one which made my whole weekend a bit difficult, so I am looking to just build on what I did last year. I know I can have good pace there, and of course I would like to finish on the top step.”
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
Jeddah is made up of a mixture of high and low speed sections which means that while the teams may opt to run higher downforce setups to deal with the slow corners they must still account for the faster parts of the track.
As well as that, tyre degradation while high is not expected to be to the level as last seen in Bahrain with the tarmac in Jeddah much smoother. That said, the warmer temperatures and the level of grip offered by the track mean the tyres still need to be managed.
The layout of the track also leads to heavier fuel use and to hard braking, especially true of Turns 1 and 2 as well as in the final corner.
RACE STRATEGY
Pirelli for the second consecutive year have allocated the yellow-walled mediums and the purple-painted supersoft tyres for this week’s Jeddah action. This gives the teams the same strategic options that were available to them last season.
Teams and drivers might be open to the risk of starting on the supersofts in the Feature Race. The quicker warm-up time and the initial grip it offers in the beginning might be beneficial in making early gains up the field.
This was the strategy employed by last year’s Feature Race winner Frederik Vesti, who opted to start on the supersoft tyre which gave him the opportunity to make a fast getaway to go from sixth to fourth, before putting on the mediums with 22 laps to go.
However, under the hot Jeddah temperatures, some teams did opt to start their drivers on the slower medium tyre before switching to the supersofts. This meant they would be at their fastest to come through the field late on in the race.
Gareth Haynes, F2/F3 Pirelli Trackside Engineer
“The compounds we have chosen for the Jeddah event will allow teams and drivers to work with a wider range of strategies in terms of which tyre compound to use at which stage of the Feature Race. Last week in Bahrain, we saw that the tyres, which are the same as those from last year, performed in line with our expectations, despite the fact that the new for 2024 car is very different to its predecessor.
“There is definitely still room to optimise its performance and gain a thorough understanding of how to extract its full potential, so it will be interesting to see how things go on a very different track like Jeddah.”
STAT PACK
Zane Maloney’s victories in Bahrain made him the 45th winner in Formula 2 history.
Maloney led 47 of the 55 laps raced across both the Sprint and Feature Races in Sakhir
Maloney also became first driver to win both races on the opening weekend of the season.
Victor Martins qualified on pole position at last year’s race though no driver on the current grid has won in Jeddah.
Eight rookies earned points in the opening round, scoring 88 points across the Sprint and Feature Races combined
A total of 12 drivers from eight different teams scored points in Bahrain.
Two rookies, Paul Aron, and Josep María Martí scored podium finishes in Bahrain, taking the total number of podium scorers on the grid to 11.