Daniel Ricciardo labels Jeddah a "maze" after self-coaching through practice

Ricciardo, McLaren, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Photo: © LAT Images

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Ricciardo labels Jeddah a "maze" after self-coaching through practice

Ricciardo finished 11th in FP2

Ewan Gale

Friday 3 December 2021 20:39

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed how he had to remind himself where he was amidst the Jeddah Corniche Circuit "maze" during Saudi Arabian Grand Prix practice.

F1's inaugural event in the Kingdom saw the drivers constantly on track in attempting to learn the 6.1km, 27-turn venue.

With only three distinct heavy braking zones, drivers are almost consistently turning the wheel, with no chance to settle into a straight line until the start-finish straight.

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Ricciardo had spoken of his excitement at being able to drive the circuit ahead of the weekend and after finishing 11th quickest, the McLaren driver said: "It was good fun.

"Two weeks ago in Qatar, after the first or second lap, I was like 'This is good fun'.

"I had to say it here when I got back to the pits after the first run because it is busy. It keeps you on your toes but it is fun, a good track, really high speed, kind of a good flow to it.

"It kind of all looks the same so you have to talk yourself through each corner, 'This is this corner, this is that corner, fourth gear, okay, this is now fifth'.

"Yeah, it is a maze but a lot of fun and the grip is good. On a track like this which is fast and a street circuit, it is nice to feel something like that."

The first two practice sessions have raised fears over the number of close calls between cars on flying laps and others on a cooldown trundling at slow speeds.

Addressing the issue, Ricciardo explained: "There are so many blind corners and closing speeds are high so you try and get out of everyone's way.

"I probably got in some people's way, other people got in my way. It was just trying to navigate things even on a cooldown lap.

"In quali, everyone will kind of be in the same sequence so everyone will be pushing or doing cooldowns."