Four races in, and the 2025 season is already rewriting expectations. McLaren has come out swinging, with 3 wins from 4 Grands Prix. The result? McLaren leads both championships, with Norris just 3 points ahead of his teammate in the drivers' standings. It’s the team’s strongest start in decades.
Mercedes sits second overall with consistency over fireworks. Meanwhile, unlike the last 2 years, Red Bull has started this year on the back foot with the car reportedly struggling with tire wear, braking issues, pit stop errors, and raw pace. Ferrari has slotted in as the 4th fastest team at the moment.
Haas, and Williams are locked in a scrappy fight for the best of the rest title.
Image Credits - F1 Chronicle
The title fight now heads to Jeddah—a street circuit like no other. Set along the Red Sea, the 6.174km layout is the third-longest on the calendar and the fastest street track in F1, with average speeds nearing 250 km/h. Under the lights, drivers face a relentless mix of flat-out sections and unforgiving corners. As the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is set to test precision, power, and nerve, here are a few interesting stats heading into the race.
Jeddah Journal
Jeddah isn’t just fast - it’s relentless. With 27 corners, it throws more at drivers than any other circuit on the calendar, demanding absolute focus through every twist and turn of its high-speed maze.
And chaos? It's not a question of if, but when. The Safety Car has made an appearance in every race here. Every Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has seen at least two DNFs, and none more chaotic than 2022. That weekend saw Mick Schumacher crash out in qualifying, Yuki Tsunoda fail to start, and five more drivers retire before the chequered flag.
Image Credits - Autosport
Yet through the chaos, patterns have emerged. Each race has delivered a double podium - Mercedes in 2021, Ferrari in 2022, and Red Bull securing 1-2s in both, 2023 and 2024.
Only once has a driver climbed the podium from outside the first two rows: Max Verstappen’s charge from P15 to P2 in 2023.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has witnessed iconic drivers reach iconic landmarks as Fernando Alonso secured his 100th podium in 2023, only for Max Verstappen to meet the same mark in 2024 at the same circuit.
Having covered some of the general statistics and facts about the fastest street circuit, here is a preview for each team going into the 5th race of the season.
P1 : McLaren (151 Points)
Lando Norris is in rare air. Four races, four podiums, a feat no McLaren driver has matched since Lewis Hamilton’s iconic nine-podium streak as a rookie in 2007. It’s not just personal success either.
With three double podiums already in 2025, McLaren is off to its strongest start since that same iconic season with Hamilton-Alonso driver lineup.
Image Credits - Sky Sports F1
But Jeddah hasn’t been kind to them in the past. The team’s best result here is Oscar Piastri’s P4 in 2024, back when they were still fighting to escape the midfield. Now, they return as genuine contenders.
There’s also an intriguing subplot. Jeddah is the only track where Piastri holds a 2-0 qualifying edge over Norris.
Oscar is also riding a 30-race points streak, fourth longest in F1 history and the longest active streak ahead of Norris who sits just behind on 29. One mistake from the Aussie on this high-risk circuit, and Lando could steal back that record.
P2 : Mercedes (93 Points)
George Russell is quietly building one of the most consistent runs on the grid. With 15 consecutive Q3 appearances, the longest active streak in Formula 1, he’s proving to be one of the most reliable qualifiers out there.
Since the 2024 summer break, Russel’s only been outqualified by his teammate once. It was in Lewis Hamilton's final race with Mercedes at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
And when it comes to Jeddah, Russell owns the head-to-head. He’s outqualified and finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in all three of their Saudi Arabian GP outings as teammates.
Russel also heads into the weekend on a nine-race streak of top-five finishes, another category where no one else can match him.
For reference, only one team has ever locked out the front row in Jeddah: Mercedes, with a Hamilton-Bottas 1–2 in 2021. Russell will be aiming to add his name to that list.
P3 : Red Bull (71 Points)
Max Verstappen (82) and Sergio Pérez (61) have turned Jeddah into Red Bull territory. Each of them has led more laps here than every other driver combined.
Image Credits - ESPN
Verstappen is the only driver to win more than once here (2022, 2024) and remains the only one to grace the podium in every Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Yet it’s Pérez, not Verstappen, who owns the qualifying bragging rights. He secured back-to-back poles in 2022 and 2023, making him the only driver with multiple poles in Jeddah.
Verstappen’s 2023 P2 finish from 15th on the grid is the only podium at this circuit from outside the first two rows. His 2022 victory is also the only one not won from pole, underlining just how unforgiving Jeddah’s layout is for those starting further back.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda’s run here has been all heartbreak - DNF in 2021, DNS in 2022, and just missing out on points in 2023 and 2024. Jeddah remains his white whale.
P4 : Ferrari (57 Points)
If anyone has consistently taken the fight to Red Bull in Jeddah, it’s Charles Leclerc who has started P2 in each of the last three races here
The Monegasque driver remains unbeaten by a teammate in qualifying at Jeddah, having outqualified Carlos Sainz between 2021-2023 and Oliver Bearman in 2024 (more on him later).
He’s also the only non-Red Bull driver with multiple podiums (2022, 2024), proof of his one-lap skill and late-race pace under pressure.
Hamilton’s dramatic pole and win in the 2021 inaugural race remain the only time a non-Red Bull driver has topped both charts on a Sunday. No other driver has scored a hat-trick at Jeddah since Hamilton did it in 2021.
Image Credits - Reuters
Ferrari is one of just two teams to score points with both cars in every Jeddah race, a stat that speaks to quiet, but crucial, consistency.
P5 : Haas (20 Points)
Haas arrives in Saudi Arabia sitting fifth in the Constructors’ standings after the first 4 races of the season, their best start to a season since debuting in 2016.
Oliver Bearman is quietly making waves. He’s the only driver outside the McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes camps to string together a three-race points streak in 2025, a rare feat in today’s top-heavy grid.
For Bearman it all started here in Jeddah as this was the scene of his F1 debut in 2024, when he stepped in as Ferrari’s reserve and stunned the paddock with a composed drive to P7. At just 18, he became the fourth-youngest points scorer in F1 history, earning his stripes at one of the sport’s toughest circuits.
Esteban Ocon, meanwhile, has made Jeddah his own personal stronghold. He’s never been outqualified by a teammate here, and he’s never finished behind one either.
For Haas, Jeddah is a scarred reminder of the risks that come with speed. Mick Schumacher’s violent crash in 2022 forced the team to withdraw a car from a race for the first time in its history.
P6 : Williams (19 Points)
Jeddah has been a fortress Williams still can’t breach. It’s the only team that has never scored a single point at the purpose built street circuit.
On the other end of that spectrum is Carlos Sainz, who’s quietly built a flawless record under the Saudi lights and has never finished outside the points at this circuit
Sainz holds a unique statistic as he’s the only driver to ever start and finish P3 in a Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Image credits - Ferrari
But in 2025, Sainz has found himself shadowed by an unlikely rival - Alex Albon. Since joining Williams, Albon has finished ahead of Sainz in every race. He leads their qualifying head-to-head 3–1.
More tellingly, Albon has never been outqualified by a teammate at Jeddah. Sainz? He’s never outqualified a teammate here. In a season that’s already rewriting expectations, the Albon-Sainz battle is quietly one of the most compelling and given their past (largely incomparable) history, Jeddah may just tip it further in Albon’s favor.
P7 : Aston Martin (10 Points)
Jeddah was the scene of Fernando Alonso’s early-season magic in 2023. With a lightning start and flawless execution, he became the only driver outside the Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari trifecta to stand on the Saudi podium. Coincidentally, it was also his 100th podium.
Image credits - Formula 1
That weekend also saw him line up on the front row, thanks to a grid penalty for Charles Leclerc. That start has made Alonso the only non-top-three-team driver to start from the front at this circuit.
The Spaniard has been relentless in qualifying, outpacing teammate Lance Stroll in 16 consecutive Grands Prix, a streak that underlines just how sharp Alonso remains at 42.
And yet, 2025 has been a nightmare. Alonso hasn’t scored a single point in the opening four races, a drought he hasn’t experienced since 2017, during the painful twilight of his McLaren-Honda era, just before his first exit from the sport.
As for Stroll, Jeddah has brought nothing but heartbreak. He’s DNF'd in both of the last two races here and has yet to score a single point at the Saudi Grand Prix.
The Bottom 3 : Racing Bulls, Alpine and Sauber
For Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, Jeddah will be uncharted territory. Both rookies will take on the fastest street circuit in Formula 1 for the first time.
Lawson arrives needing a turnaround. He’s currently tied with Gabriel Bortoleto for the lowest average qualifying position in 2025 at 17.5, a stat that underlines the challenge he’s facing in keeping pace with the grid.
On the other end of the experience spectrum, Nico Hülkenberg will make a quiet bit of history. He becomes the first driver to race for three different teams at Jeddah - Aston Martin in 2022, Haas in 2023 and 2024, and now Sauber in 2025.
Jeddah Jeopardy🤔
In this section, I will ask you, the reader a question related to the history of the upcoming Grand Prix. You can share your answer in the comments section. So here it goes:
Who is the only driver to secure a fastest lap in multiple races at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit?
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Hope you enjoyed reading this article. If so, I request you to kindly support my work here to help me grow this project. Your encouragement will go a long way in improving my work. Do not forget to share this with other F1 enthusiasts who might enjoy this.