Some concerns with the Jeddah Street Circuit

A new, slippery, tight street circuit labelled "the fastest in the world" has some safety concerns.

We all know there have been some concerns over the Jeddah Street Circuit, that will host the second to last race of this season, around whether it will even be complete in time for the race weekend. While it looks promising we will see some running around the track on Friday afternoon, there are some issues I fear have not been properly addressed.

Slippery Track Surface

The 2020 Turkish Grand Prix is a prime example of when a freshly layed tarmac surface can cause unexpected conditions for drivers as the track has not been run-in enough. We saw many drivers struggle to get up to speed, trying to find the limit of the new conditions, and constantly going off or complaining of the ice-like surface. I fear we will have similar issues this weekend in Saudi Arabia as the surface was only complete a matter of weeks ago and has had no race running.

We do have the Porsche Sprint Challenge and Formula 2 running ahead of the Formula 1, but an incident can happen at any point during the weekend to any race series.

Tight and Fast

This track has been given the label of "the fastest street circuit in the world". While an exciting claim, and I'm sure it will be fun to watch the onboards of drivers flying around the track, it does also mean we are going to be witnessing a first; a tight street circuit with very little run off but at the speeds you would expect on a regular track.

"I'm a bit worried about the speed. I mean, there's not much run-off" Damon Hill, Speaking on F1 Nation Podcast

Several F1 pundits have given their thoughts on the track layout. Damon Hill has made his thoughts clear that despite the excitement of a fast flowing, tight track, he has his fears over the speeds the cars will be going considering the lack of run-off.

Martin Brundle has also shared his thoughts on the track on Twitter, saying the "brave and accurate" drivers will be rewarded significantly, with absolutely no room for error.

Lack of Data

With this being the first running on the track, the only data teams, the FIA, Pirelli etc. have is from simulations. And while this is the best they can do, we have seen from previous races such as Silverstone 2020, or Baku 2021, where Pirelli or the teams get something wrong with tyre pressures and it can cause dangerous tyre blowouts.

I fear a tyre blowout, combined with the blind corners and no run off, will cause another incident similar to the W Series crash in Spa this year or with what happened to Verstappen/Stroll in Baku.

Hopefully we get a smooth weekend with no incidents, and the championship battle continues to the final race of the season.