Mercedes-Benz Group AG

04/15/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/15/2025 07:20

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Preview

The fifth race of the 2025 F1 season takes place in Saudi Arabia, the final leg of the triple-header.

  • Toto talks Saudi Arabia
  • Fact File: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
  • Stat Sheet: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Toto Talks Saudi Arabia

Bahrain was an eventful race. George battled through several failures on his car to take P2 along with his, and the team's, third podium of the season. It was a superb drive from him under significant pressure, aided by the calm troubleshooting input from the team. We are hard at work to understand what caused the issues we had in order to avoid a repeat in the future.

For Kimi, Bahrain was an important part of the learning curve. He showed through the weekend that he had the pace to challenge for the top-five. He found himself out of position on the opening lap though and, as he fought back in the opening two stints, his tyres suffered. Switching to a different strategy, he was then unfortunate with the timing of the Safety Car and our choices didn't give him the chance to fight back to the points.

It has been easy to forget that Kimi is in the very earliest stages of his F1 career given his performances so far. Bahrain will prove an important milestone in his continued development.

We now head to Saudi Arabia for the final race in this triple-header. Although we were encouraged by our performance in Bahrain, Jeddah poses a different challenge. We go from a rear-limited track to one that is more front-limited, with several high and medium-speed sections. It would be foolish to try and predict the likely order but we will be aiming to fight for the podium once again.

Another driver aiming to do similar will be our F1 Academy racer, Doriane (Pin). It's round two of the championship and we will be supporting her trackside as she bids to increase her points lead.

Fact File: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

  • The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is held on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, located in a waterfront area next to the Red Sea.
  • The location presents similar challenges to Abu Dhabi with sand blowing onto the track and changes in wind direction from day to night.
  • The Jeddah Corniche Circuit has the most corners of any track on the F1 calendar with 27: 16 left and 11 right.
  • The pit lane in Jeddah is the fourth longest on the F1 calendar, but the time spent in the pit lane is the second shortest of the year at 15 seconds.
  • It is also the third-longest track we visit at 6.174km. Only Las Vegas and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium are longer.
  • Turn 13 has a 12% gradient, with banked corners opening up more lines and helping to build momentum onto the next sweeping, high-speed section.
  • Turn 2 is the slowest corner on the circuit, taken around 80 km/h, whilst the quickest are Turns 20, 21, and 26 which are taken at 300 km/h.
  • Owing to its nature as a street circuit, Jeddah has a high risk of incidents leading to Safety Cars. Across the four races in Saudi Arabia to date there have been five full Safety Car periods, and two red flags.
  • Drivers will spend around 70% of their lap time at full throttle around the Corniche. Only Melbourne and Monza record a higher figure than that.
  • Jeddah has the fourth-shortest pit lane on the calendar, and drivers will only lose 15 seconds by making a pit stop, the third-shortest loss of the season.
  • The run down from pole position to the first braking point is the fourth-shortest of the season. Only Belgium, Baku and Las Vegas are shorter.
  • Mercedes won the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021 with Lewis Hamilton. First held in December as the penultimate race, the event has taken residence in the early portion of the season ever since.
  • In 2024, Jeddah hosted the first round of the all-female F1 ACADEMY series - which officially joined the F1 support bill full-time that season. It will host the second round of the championship in 2025.

Stat Sheet: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Session

Local Time (AST)

Brackley (BST)

Stuttgart (CEST)

Practice One - Friday

16:30 - 17:30

14:30 - 15:30

15:30 - 16:30

Practice Two - Friday

20:00 - 21:00

18:00 - 19:00

19:00 - 20:00

Practice Three - Saturday

16:30 - 17:30

14:30 - 15:30

15:30 - 16:30

Qualifying - Saturday

20:00 - 21:00

18:00 - 19:00

19:00 - 20:00

Grand Prix - Sunday

20:00

18:00

19:00

Race Records - Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team in Saudi Arabia

Starts

Wins

Podiums

Pole Positions

Front row places

Fastest laps

DNF

Mercedes

4

1

2

1

2

1

0

George Russell

4

0

0

0

0

0

1

Kimi Antonelli

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

MB Power

4

1

3

1

3

1

8

Technical Stats - Season to Date (Pre-season Testing to Present)

Laps Completed

Distance Covered (km)

Corners Taken

Gear Changes

PETRONAS Fuel Injections

Mercedes

1,552

8,480

24,632

88,602

62,080,000

George Russell

766

4,184

12,163

43,521

30,640,000

Kimi Antonelli

760

4,155

12,079

43,157

30,400,000

MB Power

5,665

30,929

89,970

322,031

226,320,000

Mercedes-Benz in Formula One

Starts

Wins

Podium Places

Pole Positions

Front Row Places

Fastest Laps

1-2 Finishes

Front-Row Lockouts

Mercedes (all-time)

321

129

301

141

266

110

60

84

Mercedes (since 2010)

319

120

284

133

246

101

55

80

George Russell

132

3

18

5

15

8

N/A

N/A

Kimi Antonelli

4

0

0

0

0

1

N/A

N/A

MB Power

591

226

626

237

479

225

97

127