Summing up a solid weekend in Jeddah
It wasn’t a podium finish on Sunday! It took a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing in the Stewards’ room, but we were eventually classified P4 and P5. Which was a fair reflection of our performance across the weekend.
That doesn’t take away from a race where the Team maximised the current package we have, though. Sure, a trophy would have been a small reward for everyone’s efforts, but we’re focused on the longer-term outlook. And in Saudi Arabia, we saw small steps in the right direction.
“The result in Jeddah was encouraging,” said Toto after the race. “It shows us that the trajectory we’re going in with the car development is the right one.”
Admittedly, though, the benchmark for everyone right now is Red Bull and they have a considerable advantage. One that we’re focused on hunting down as much as we can.
“We want to hopefully be fighting for wins soon, and the Red Bulls are a minute ahead,” Toto added. “We are making big elephant steps on developments in the factory. But it’s going to take a long time until they are adequate to challenge Red Bull. It’s a fun journey to climb back, though. Everyone is working flat-out.”
George put in some strong qualifying laps on Saturday and kept Fernando in his sights during the race. We didn’t have enough pace to pass the Aston Martin on the road, but George remained close enough to capitalise on the time penalty Fernando was handed after the race.
That P3 feeling only lasted a few hours before the original results were reinstated. At least we got some cool trophy pictures before things swapped back round…
“There was a lot of confusion around Fernando’s penalty, so we were managing our tyres to stay in striking distance,” George explained.
“To be honest, I am pleased to come home P4. Fernando deserved the podium and there were still positives to take from the weekend. To be honest, I am pleased to come home P4. Fernando deserved the podium and there were still positives to take from the weekend.”
What were those positives? First, we qualified ahead of both a Ferrari and an Aston Martin, something that seemed unlikely after Friday. Second, we finished ahead of both Ferraris in the race, with Lewis able to take advantage of the Safety Car to jump ahead of Leclerc before deftly passing Sainz when the race restarted. And we ended the weekend tied on points with Aston Martin in P2.
“We know we have got a lot of performance in the pocket to come in the future, so things are looking good,” George added. “But our goal isn’t to just beat Ferrari, our goal is to fight for Championships. And the Red Bulls are just a step ahead.”
After a challenging Qualifying session on Saturday, Lewis bounced back on Sunday. “I’m grateful to have come from seventh on the grid to finish fifth,” he said after the chequered flag fell in Jeddah. “I think if we had qualified more strongly than maybe I would have had a better result. I stayed at track very late (on Saturday) to make sure I had everything covered. I came here very positive today and had a good race; I went forwards and we got some points. We still have lots of work to do, but there are positives to take away from it. I’ll work hard to make sure we are in a better place next time.”
The trackside team has returned from Jeddah and working with team-mates in the factory, the usual post-weekend meetings and data analysis are well underway. As ‘Shov’ acknowledged in our internal debrief, there is a palpable sense of determination coursing around the factory.
“What’s nice is coming back and sensing the energy. There is a lot that this team gets from how we collectively bounce off each other and coming back, even after Bahrain, you got this sense of people wanting to put it right. Coming back from Jeddah, you’re starting to understand what those building blocks are going to look like, and you can feel there is a great sense of motivation,” he said.
We couldn’t have put it any better ourselves. A week’s hard work lies ahead. Next stop, Melbourne!