Fernando Alonso what was seen yesterday on the first day of training was very clear Saudi Arabian GP may not be true or applicable for today’s qualifying session at jeddah (6:00 p.m./DAZN F1).
“Until we got to qualifying, we weren’t sure where we were. I think Friday is not very representative, even in Bahrain we were first on Friday and then we were fifth, almost sixth in the standings, so you never know until we get to Saturday.”commented the Spaniard. And it is that the Asturian pilot is good to keep in mind what happened two weeks ago in Bahrain, the best example of what can happen this Saturday.
What happened in Bahrain could happen again
There, at the Sakhir circuit, the man from Oviedo led Friday’s Free Practice 2 with a 0″169 margin over Verstappen, 0″171 over Pérez, 4 tenths over Leclerc and 1 second better than Sainz. In addition, he left the first Mercedes, Hamilton’s, by 6 tenths.
A similar picture unfolded in free practice 3 on Saturday. Fernando led again before ‘qualification’, with a 5 thousandth advantage over Verstappen, 0″106 compared to Pérez, two tenths to Hamilton and another two compared to Leclerc and Hamilton, 4 to Russell and put 6 tenths to Carlos Sainz.
But everything changed when Ferrari and Mercedes put their full potential on the track and discovered their masks in qualifying. In the middle of the dispute for pole position, Alonso dropped from first place, to 5th, only to be overtaken by two Red Bulls, two Ferraris and with Mercedes behind. Alonso is 6 tenths behind Max’s pole position, just over 3 tenths behind Leclerc and two behind Sainz. For his part, Russell, the best Mercedes, finished only 4 thousandths behind the Spaniard.
Ferrari and Mercedes should improve now
Ferrari played recklessly yesterday without looking at the time table and focused its entire program on finding the best configuration and improving its long run. The Italians are expected to make a big move this Saturday as they did in Bahrain, although Fernando will gain a place on Leclerc due to his 10-place penalty. A move from Mercedes is also expected and the fight could be tight.
‘Deserving’ for Alonso should be more important than Bahrain
One of the big differences between Bahrain and Jeddah is that in the race Fernando Alonso had a major weapon in Sakhir that allowed him to regain the lost positions in the classification and he could not get in Jeddah: a tremendous superiority in terms of degradation compared to Ferrari and Mercedes.
In Saudi Arabia, rubber degradation is lower and Fernando Alonso should not be so easy on the track to overtake Ferrari and Mercedes if they are ahead of him in the ‘qualy’. Considering the step forward expected from Ferrari, another Top-5 for Alonso should be a good result, or even a Top-4, considering that Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday. It would be a very good position to do so. podium.
Hence the importance of today’s classification of Asturian. His race speed seems better than Ferrari and Mercedes, but everything is tighter and his top speed should be lower than the Italians and on a circuit with so many straights, overtaking is may be more difficult for his Aston Martin. Of course, on this track between the walls, opportunities always present themselves in the form of a ‘Safety Car’ that Sainz and Alonso can take advantage of.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
