Since the inaugural Grand Prix in 2021, Saudi Arabia has produced some brilliant moments in both qualifying and on race day.
Since Lewis Hamilton won the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Red Bull have won all three editions since, with one-two finishes in 2023 and 2024.
The 27-corner track is known for its high speeds, and drivers have described it as a beautiful track.
Although Saudi Arabia is planning to build a new track that hosts the Grand Prix, Jeddah will continue to provide more entertaining weekends for the time being, hopefully leading to more of the big moments explored below.
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2021: Verstappen Qualifying Disaster
The inaugural Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in 2021 was the penultimate race in the calendar.
Max Verstappen and Hamilton were in a championship battle for the ages and were providing one of the best title fights Formula 1 has ever seen.
Before the drivers arrived in Jeddah, Hamilton was only eight points behind Verstappen with two races to go.
With it being a new track, no one could predict who would come out on top before the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Qualifying on the Saturday teased the drama that would unfold in the race.
In Q3, Hamilton topped the charts to only be beaten comfortably by Verstappen in both drivers’ first laps.
For their final laps, Hamilton headed out first, and his lap claimed provisional pole.
All the cameras were on Verstappen, whose first two sectors of the lap were purple. The Red Bull was flying around Jeddah.
As Verstappen turned the final corner of the circuit, the Dutchman floored the accelerator too early and slammed the car against the wall.
The car came to a halt on track and Verstappen qualified third fastest behind a Mercedes front-row lockout.
This would not be the only damage caused by the Red Bull on the weekend.
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2021: Verstappen and Hamilton Drama
Hamilton was desperately trying to catch Verstappen in the drivers’ standings on race day.
The Brit was eight points behind the Dutchman and had claimed pole position in Jeddah.
Verstappen’s qualifying crash gave Mercedes the best possible outcome of a front-row lockout.
On lap 10, Mick Schumacher crashed out of the race and Mercedes pitted both cars under yellow flags, which saw Verstappen take the lead of the race.
On the race restart, Verstappen completely missed the chicane after Hamilton had jumped him on the start.
Verstappen came back onto the track recklessly and forced Hamilton wide, which meant Esteban Ocon forced his way through to separate the two championship contenders.
Only a few seconds would pass before Sergio Perez, Nikita Mazepin and George Russell would crash out and cause yet another red flag.
On lap 37, after another near miss between the two due to Verstappen nearly causing a crash, Red Bull ordered the Dutchman to give the place back to Hamilton.
With Hamilton sitting on the back of the Red Bull going into the final corner, Verstappen tapped the brakes to ‘let Hamilton pass’, however Hamilton crashed into the back of the Red Bull, causing front wing damage.
Verstappen was later given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
On lap 44, Hamilton would overtake Verstappen and go on to win the race to go level on points ahead of the final race weekend of the season.
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2022: Verstappen edges out Leclerc
The final 10 laps of the 2022 Grand Prix saw a battle for the ages between Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Each lap saw changes in the race lead, and no one could predict who would eventually come out on top.
Both drivers realised a trick to try and gain the upper hand.
In sector three of the circuit, drivers have DRS both heading into the final corner of the track and on the exit into the main straight.
There is a detection point for the final part of DRS in the braking zone of the final corner.
What both drivers would do, which Verstappen did first, is use the DRS to close in on the final corner.
Verstappen would then ease off to make sure he was behind Leclerc in the DRS detection point, which would then give him DRS on the main straight.
This would be where Verstappen would get the overtake and both drivers did this lap after lap.
It was a game of chess between the two drivers and viewers were captivated watching these very smart tactics to try and win the race.
Verstappen would go on to win the race, but only by 0.5 seconds in a very close and entertaining race.
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2024: Brilliant Bearman
Ollie Bearman was named as Ferrari’s reserve driver for 2024, and the Brit could never have imagined he would be thrown in as early as round two of the calendar.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz was ruled out due to appendicitis on the Friday, meaning Bearman only had FP3 to get used to the car before qualifying.
Bearman had already taken pole position in F2 that weekend, however, the cars in F1 are a different kettle of fish.
Having had less than an hour on track in the car, Bearman took part in his first-ever qualifying session.
The young Brit qualified in a very impressive P11, missing out on Q3 by only 0.036 seconds.
On race day, Bearman would move up the grid and finish in P7, claiming points on debut.
After the race, Bearman said: “It was a mentally difficult race as expected, and physically I was struggling too, but great fun out there.”
