Gasly calls for ‘common sense’ on Jeddah out-laps

Jamie Woodhouse
One of many high-speed sections of the Jeddah circuit. Saudi Arabia. December 2021.

A view down one of the high-speed sections of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Saudi Arabia, December 2021.

Pierre Gasly says drivers must be sensible and avoid traveling too slowly on their out-laps around the high-speed Jeddah track.

It is common in Formula 1 these days for drivers to ease right off the gas on a cool down lap, whether it be to save tyre life, find some clean air, or even look for a tow from another car.

At times though it can all become too much, most commonly around high-speed tracks, with Monza and Baku in particular prone to these unnecessarily slow out-laps.

The newly-built Jeddah Corniche Circuit is set to combine the street track nature of Baku with an even higher average speed, resembling that of Monza, and so there is a chance that this issue could crop up again.

The difference though is that with Jeddah being a street circuit, drivers will have less visibility across a lap due to the walls, and when travelling at a high speed, slow-moving cars then become an even greater hazard.

So, this is where Gasly feels that the drivers simply must use their brains and ensure that no such issues occur.

A view of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Saudi Arabia, December 2021.
A view of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit prior to the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. December 2021.

“The high speed you can’t really slow down, so we’ll have to use common sense between drivers, because it can be very dangerous,” he told Motorsport.com.

“I’ve had the experience with Brendon [Hartley] in Baku, a very high speed section, coming into like a very slow car in a blind corner is not something we should do.

“So I think it’s just using common sense between us drivers. I think with the last long straight, you can create your gap at the end. This is okay. And the last straight is wide enough. But clearly before that we’ll have to be quite careful.”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz hopes that this does not prove to be an issue, arguing that there is no need for drivers to slow down too much due to the high number of fast corners.

 

“Hopefully there’s not too much,” said the Spaniard.

“There’s no need to go too slow in all those high speed corners, because the speed differential can be huge here in a cool down lap. So yeah, let’s see, could be quite an interesting one.

“We need to rely on FIA safety measures and hope that they’ve done their homework correctly, because the track itself looks challenging, looks different. It looks a bit like a completely different circuit than we’ve been to recently.”

 

PlanetF1 Verdict

 

Common sense needed on Jeddah out-laps

Pierre Gasly claims that drivers need to use their common sense when on out-laps in Jeddah.