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HISTORY · SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

Jeddah.
Fast curves beside the Red Sea.

Five early editions brought title pressure, close finishes, circuit revisions and an unexpected Ferrari debut under the lights.

By Does Your Duck Quack

At a glance

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix began in 2021 on Jeddah’s Red Sea waterfront. Its first five editions produced four different winners, a dramatic chapter in the Hamilton–Verstappen title fight and a memorable Formula 1 debut for Oliver Bearman. The night setting became recognisable immediately; the racing history accumulated just as quickly. The inaugural race The first four winners The fifth edition

For a first-time fan, the key is the relationship between speed and visibility. Many of the corners are quick changes of direction enclosed by barriers. Follow an onboard lap before watching the older races: the need to commit early becomes much easier to appreciate when you know where the road goes.

Origins

The circuit layout was unveiled in March 2021, ahead of the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that December. The Tilke company worked with Formula 1’s own motorsport team on a route beside Jeddah’s coastline and lagoon. The design combined existing roads with newly created sections, aiming for a fast, flowing street circuit. The original unveiling

That design choice gave the event an immediate identity. A street race can draw attention to tight turns and repeated stops; Jeddah placed sustained speed at the centre of its lap. Watching the early races, look at how much steering the drivers do while remaining committed to a quick sequence. The surrounding walls make the available line feel particularly tangible.

The site lies on the Corniche, the coastal area that gives the circuit its name. Some sections are permanent within a venue otherwise described by F1 as a temporary street circuit. The Grand Prix takes place under floodlights. The venue’s character The lighting is part of how the race is presented, while the coastline explains the long, narrow geography visible on its map.

The inaugural edition arrived near the conclusion of an unusually close championship. Hamilton and Verstappen left Jeddah level on points before the final round in Abu Dhabi. The 2021 championship setting This made the first race feel consequential before the venue had acquired a backlog of familiar moments. Jeddah entered the archive carrying immediate title significance.

The early history also includes an event beyond the circuit. On 26 March 2022, following the previous day’s security incident, Formula 1 and the FIA issued a joint statement confirming that the race would proceed after discussions with teams and drivers and assurances from the authorities. The dated joint statement That decision belongs in an account of the event’s second edition alongside the sporting result.

The strongest way into Jeddah’s short history is to keep each year distinct. The first race had late-season title pressure; later editions became early-season tests of pace and execution. The setting stayed recognisable while the competitive meaning changed. Five results are enough to show a young event beginning to develop its own recurring themes.

How the circuit has changed

Jeddah’s early development concentrated on details that matter greatly at speed: barrier positions, the view into corners and the shape of the kerbs. Changes announced in November 2022 for the 2023 race moved walls at Turns 8, 10, 14 and 20 to improve visibility. The announced revisions A small movement on a circuit plan can give a driver a different view of what is coming.

The same programme introduced rumble lines at several points and bevelled kerbs at a series of corners. Turns 22 and 23 were tightened, with an announced aim of reducing speed through that section by around 50 kilometres per hour. The kerb and corner work The intention was specific: retain the lap’s flowing character while addressing particular parts of its challenge.

This makes older onboard film especially interesting. Select the same sequence from the opening edition and a later race, then watch where the driver can first see the next exit. The differences may be less obvious than a new hairpin or an extra straight, yet they affect how early a driver can read the road and how much room is available for a correction.

F1’s 2025 driver guide highlights the demanding end of the first sector and the fast approach around Turn 22. It also notes the difficulty of seeing through some corners and the need to watch for slower cars. The driving challenge Qualifying therefore provides a useful introduction: finding space for a fast lap is part of the contest as well as finding speed once the lap begins.

The event’s wider racing use expanded too. Formula E staged its first Jeddah meeting in February 2025 on a 3.001-kilometre, 19-turn adaptation of the venue. The Formula E arrival This is a shorter course than the Grand Prix configuration. When looking at photographs or comparing times, identify the series and layout before treating two scenes as the same piece of racing history.

That distinction adds another way to understand a circuit. A venue can accommodate several competitions, each making different use of the available roads and infrastructure. The familiar barriers and waterfront may connect the images, while the sporting demands depend on the actual route being used.

For a visitor, carry the current event map alongside any historic image that caught your imagination. A revised sightline or a different race layout can change the relationship between a remembered moment and a ticketed viewpoint. The circuit’s identity survives through those changes, and learning to notice them makes repeat viewing more rewarding.

Great races and moments

2021: a first race carrying a title fight

The inaugural Grand Prix brought two red flags, contested restarts and further contact between the championship rivals. Hamilton hit the rear of Verstappen’s car when the Red Bull slowed to give back a position. Hamilton eventually won, with Verstappen second and Valtteri Bottas third. The title contenders left level on 369.5 points. The first race report

Watch this edition in stages rather than relying on a short collection of incidents. Each restart changed the immediate problem facing the drivers. Knowing the order at the beginning of each phase makes the later decisions easier to follow and reveals why the race felt so unsettled.

The first chapter also established an enduring viewing habit: keep the timing information and the race-control messages in view. A position on the road may be only one part of the situation a driver is managing.

2022: Verstappen and Leclerc calculate the finish

Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc by 0.549 seconds in the second edition. Their late duel included tactical use of the DRS detection point as each sought the advantage on the following straight. Sergio Pérez had taken his first Formula 1 pole, but the timing of a Safety Car after his early stop helped change his race; he finished fourth. The 2022 contest

The fascination is in the changing value of being ahead. An apparent opportunity to pass could also leave the other driver better placed to respond. Follow the cars before the detection point as carefully as the eventual overtaking move. The duel rewards knowing how the assistance available that year affected the next few seconds.

For a new spectator, it is an excellent example of why the screen can show a very different contest from the one suggested by a simple list of lap leaders.

2023: Pérez converts pole

Pérez won in 2023, leading a Red Bull one-two. Verstappen recovered to second after a driveshaft failure in qualifying left him 15th on the grid. The qualifying setback The race result The two team-mates reached the podium by very different routes: one began with the strongest starting position, the other had to recover ground.

Smart move

Fernando Alonso was finally classified third after a post-race penalty was rescinded. The final classification That detail matters when looking at older headlines or photographs from the evening. The definitive result belongs to the completed classification process, and an early report can preserve a temporary version of events.

Alonso’s reinstated third place was his 100th Formula 1 podium. The career milestone The figure gave the review an additional significance: an established driver’s long record briefly depended on the final interpretation of how a time penalty had been served.

Watching both Red Bulls gives the replay a wider structure. Compare the space available to the leader with the traffic encountered by the recovering car. The same performance advantage must be used differently depending on where the race begins.

2024: an assured win and an unfamiliar Ferrari

Verstappen took his second Jeddah victory in 2024, ahead of Pérez and Charles Leclerc. Further back, Bearman finished seventh on his Ferrari debut, ahead of Norris and Hamilton. The 2024 report The winner controlled the headline result while the newcomer supplied a separate focus for attention.

This is a good race to watch with two questions in mind. Follow how the leader maintains an advantage, then switch to the rookie trying to complete an unfamiliar task under pressure. A convincing afternoon can be measured by very different standards at opposite ends of the same group of drivers.

The late pursuit of Bearman gives the closing laps an additional purpose even after the leading order looks settled. A spectator who follows only the winning car misses part of what made this edition memorable.

2025: Piastri wins as Norris recovers

Oscar Piastri won the 2025 race ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc. Verstappen received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at the first corner. Norris, starting tenth after his qualifying crash, recovered to fourth using a long opening stint on hard tyres. The 2025 race report

The result brought a fourth winner in the event’s first five years. Its interest also extended beyond that new name: the opening-corner decision and the offset tyre strategy created different ways of reading the progress of the race.

Follow Norris’s pit-stop timing alongside the front pair’s positions. A car can climb the displayed order while still owing a stop, so the apparent place and the strategic place can diverge for many laps. Jeddah’s fifth edition offers a clear opportunity to practise keeping both pictures in mind.

The British story in Jeddah

Hamilton won the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and set the race lap record listed in the 2025 circuit specification: 1 minute 30.734 seconds. Hamilton’s Jeddah landmarks Those achievements gave British supporters an immediate connection to the new event, before any longer tradition could develop.

Bearman’s 2024 appearance supplied a very different beginning. The 18-year-old was preparing for a Formula 2 weekend when Ferrari called him up after Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis. Bearman had one hour of final practice before qualifying and placed 11th on the grid. The debut timeline

His seventh-place finish completed the move from junior-racing preparation to Formula 1 points within the same weekend. The race outcome Look at the practical demands behind the result: learning the car’s controls, adapting a seat and preparing for a qualifying session with very little track time. The familiar shape of a race weekend had become an unusually compressed examination.

The story is particularly accessible for a first-time fan because the immediate goal is easy to understand. Bearman had to stay composed, establish a rhythm and bring the car home while experienced opponents remained close. Seventh place carried significance that the position alone cannot communicate.

Another British success came in F1 Academy’s second Jeddah race in 2024. Abbi Pulling was promoted to victory after Doriane Pin received a penalty for crossing the chequered flag twice and completing two additional laps at full speed. The final F1 Academy result Including that race broadens the venue’s British story beyond the Grand Prix grid and gives the support programme a place in the history.

Jeddah’s first Formula E meeting added another British chapter in February 2025. Oliver Rowland won the second race ahead of Taylor Barnard and Jake Hughes, producing the championship’s first all-British podium. Barnard had also become its youngest pole-sitter at 20. The 15 February race The achievement belongs to Formula E on the venue’s shorter route, giving the waterfront a racing history across more than one championship.

For a British fan, that result offers an additional set of names to follow when exploring the circuit’s archive. The energy-management contest creates a different viewing puzzle, while the importance of preparing a move and choosing when to commit remains easy to recognise.

Norris’s recovery to fourth in 2025 adds a further perspective: a difficult qualifying session can create a demanding race even for a driver in a leading car. Norris’s recovery These Jeddah stories connect different stages of a sporting life—an established champion, a sudden debut and drivers building their own records—within a circuit whose history was still only five editions old.

Records and numbers

All sporting totals here stop at the end of 2025. Jeddah had staged five Saudi Arabian Grands Prix within this period.

MeasureFigure and meaning
Grand Prix winners, 2021–2025Hamilton; Verstappen; Pérez; Verstappen; Piastri. 2021–2024 winners 2025 report
Most winsVerstappen, two, in 2022 and 2024.
2025 lap length and turns6.174 kilometres and 27 corners. Circuit specification
2025 scheduled race laps50. Event data
Race lap record in the 2025 specificationHamilton, 1 minute 30.734 seconds, set in 2021. Official statistic
2022 winning marginVerstappen beat Leclerc by 0.549 seconds. Race report

Five races give the event a compact record book. The useful comparison is between how those wins were achieved: a disrupted title contest, a close tactical duel and more controlled victories all appear in the same short list.

Keep a race lap record separate from a qualifying time, and a Formula E lap separate from the Formula 1 route. A number becomes informative when the session and configuration attached to it are clear.

A timeline

  • March 2021: The Jeddah street-circuit layout is unveiled. The original announcement
  • December 2021: Hamilton wins the first Grand Prix; he and Verstappen leave level on championship points. The inaugural race
  • March 2022: Verstappen beats Leclerc by just over half a second. The close finish
  • November 2022: Visibility, barrier and kerb changes are announced for the following edition. The revision programme
  • March 2023: Pérez wins from pole while Verstappen recovers from 15th to second. The Red Bull one-two
  • March 2024: Verstappen wins again; Bearman scores points on his Ferrari debut. The fourth edition
  • February 2025: Formula E visits a shorter Jeddah layout for the first time. The new series arrival
  • April 2025: Piastri becomes the Grand Prix’s fourth different winner. The fifth edition

Watch the early races in order if you want to follow the venue’s development. The short sequence makes it possible to see the opening impact, the circuit revisions and the beginnings of recurring competitive patterns without working through decades of footage.

See it for yourself

Begin with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix visitor guide. It brings together the practical decisions about tickets, travel and accommodation. Use this history to decide what interests you at the track, then match that interest to the current event map and the actual ticket description.

The opening corners connect to the starts and restarts that shaped several early editions. The later part of the lap helps explain the tactical contest around DRS in 2022. Compare an onboard lap with the seating plan, and consider what you can see before and after the single corner that first caught your attention.

The F1 night-race guide helps you build a day around an evening sporting programme. Give the journey back and the following morning as much thought as the arrival. A schedule that looks relaxed before the first session can feel quite different after several hours of walking and watching.

Use grandstand or general admission to compare the value of a reserved place, the available view and access to a screen. Seeing the cars close to the barriers is absorbing; following strategy and decisions elsewhere in the lap adds another part of the experience. Both can inform the ticket choice.

If Bearman’s debut or Pulling’s win drew you in, read the support-session timetable alongside the Grand Prix schedule. The race-weekend explainer helps distinguish the sessions, while the British fans abroad guide covers the wider preparation.

Finally, choose one sequence of corners to study for several laps. Watch where a driver changes direction, how closely the car approaches the wall and how the line differs when another car is nearby. That concentrated view turns Jeddah’s reputation for speed into something you can recognise from your own position.

FAQs

When was the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

The first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix took place at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on 5 December 2021. Lewis Hamilton won ahead of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Is Jeddah a street circuit or a permanent track?

Formula 1 describes Jeddah as a temporary street circuit with some permanent sections. The route runs beside the Red Sea waterfront and hosts the Grand Prix under floodlights.

What changed at Jeddah for the 2023 race?

The announced programme moved barriers at several corners to improve visibility, changed kerbs and rumble lines, and tightened Turns 22 and 23 to reduce speed through that section.

Who has won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix most often?

Through the end of 2025, Max Verstappen leads with two wins, in 2022 and 2024. Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Pérez and Oscar Piastri each won one of the other three editions.

Why is Oliver Bearman’s 2024 Jeddah race remembered?

Bearman made his Formula 1 debut for Ferrari at 18 after Carlos Sainz was sidelined by appendicitis. With only final practice to prepare in the car, he qualified 11th and finished seventh.

Sources