Cracking the Corniche
Don’t overdo it, indeed. While Monza may have the design of a traditional circuit with run-off areas and luxuries, in Jeddah the walls are never very far away.
There’s no respite for the drivers, either. The steering wheels will be working furiously around the Corniche, the circuit with the most corners (27) of any on the current F1 rota.
Add in sand blown in from the neighbouring Red Sea, a 12% gradient at Turn 13, and three corners towards the end of the lap taken at around 300 km/h, and it is easy to see why the layout draws so much attention from drivers and fans.At 6.1km in length, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit is the third-longest on the 2025 F1 calendar. Only Las Vegas and Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps are longer.
The pit lane is also one of the shortest on the schedule, and making a pit stop won’t cost a driver too much race time.
At just over 15 seconds, the time spent in the pit lane in Saudi Arabia is the third-shortest loss of the year, after Australia and Azerbaijan.
The start in Jeddah is crucial, and often a chance to make up positions before the race settles down. The run from the line to the first braking point is just 148m, the fourth shortest of the season.
The DRS detection marker just before the final corner has become a talking point in recent years, with drivers occasionally choosing to cede position before the line so as to not provide DRS advantage to the cars behind along the pit straight.
The driver giving up position then receives DRS themselves, taking back the place on the pit straight, aiming to avoid losing position into Turn One.
Expect a Safety Car or two, too. In four editions of the race to date, there have been five Safety Car and two red-flag periods.
Weather-wise, the only water you’ll likely see all weekend will be from the Red Sea itself. No Formula 1 session at the circuit has ever witnessed any rainfall.