Official 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
Discussion
Round 21 and we’re in Saudi Arabia. This will be the 2nd fastest track after Monza, so with Mercedes more powerful engine back in the car, it could well be a cakewalk for Hamilton.
Date(s): Friday 3 December to Sunday 5 December 2021.
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1 and as highlights on Channel 4.
Live timing for all sessions available here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html
Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...
Weather forecast:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/105343
Tyre options:
Teams have two hard, three mediums and eight soft sets available per driver for each weekend.
2020 race result:
N/A
2020 Race Highlights:
N/A
Date(s): Friday 3 December to Sunday 5 December 2021.
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1 and as highlights on Channel 4.
Live timing for all sessions available here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html
Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...
Weather forecast:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/105343
Tyre options:
Teams have two hard, three mediums and eight soft sets available per driver for each weekend.
2020 race result:
N/A
2020 Race Highlights:
N/A
Deesee said:
McLaren, Alpine and Ferrari are all match or better than red bull in a straight line, and high speed corners.
Red Bull have an advantage in he low speed corner (one of)!
If red bull can’t use the medium downforce rear wing (problems in Sao Paolo and Doha) and compromise with a spoon wing (not enough downforce), or a barn door they could find themselves in the middle of a midfield DRS train.
Could see a very mixed up podium.
It does look a challenging (dangerous?) circuit.- safety cars will mix things up for sure. Red Bull have an advantage in he low speed corner (one of)!
If red bull can’t use the medium downforce rear wing (problems in Sao Paolo and Doha) and compromise with a spoon wing (not enough downforce), or a barn door they could find themselves in the middle of a midfield DRS train.
Could see a very mixed up podium.
RB will surely fix its medium rear wing, but I'd expect Hamilton to win at a canter unless things are really mixed up.
DaveE87 said:
Dim Halo thinks he shouldn't race 
I know some people think F1 shouldn't be there, but by F1 being there it helps highlight the issues that these countries have. Here in the UK we're not exactly squeaky clean when it comes to Saudi either.
Below is from Amnesty International- 10 ways SA violates human rights:I know some people think F1 shouldn't be there, but by F1 being there it helps highlight the issues that these countries have. Here in the UK we're not exactly squeaky clean when it comes to Saudi either.
1. Torture is used as a punishment
Courts in Saudi Arabia continue to sentence people to be punished by torture for many offences, often following unfair trials. Corporal punishment like flogging, for example, is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that has no place in the justice system.
Besides Raif, in the past two years the human rights defenders Mikhlif bin Daham al-Shammari and Omar al-Sa’id were sentenced to 200 and 300 lashes respectively, and Filipino domestic worker Ruth Cosrojas was sentenced to 300.
There are other forms of torture issued as punishment: Saudi authorities have carried out amputations, including ‘cross amputations’ (where the opposite hand and foot are removed) on people found guilty of robbery.
2. Executions are on the increase
Saudi Arabia is among the world’s top executioners, with dozens of people being executed by the state every year, many of them in public beheadings.
So far this year Saudi Arabia has executed 40 people – almost four times as many as the same period last year.
3. No free speech
Besides Raif Badawi, dozens more outspoken activists remain behind bars, simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
In the last two years, all of Saudi Arabia’s prominent and independent human rights defenders have been imprisoned, threatened into silence, or fled the country. The authorities have targeted the small but vocal community of human rights defenders, including by using anti-terrorism laws to suppress their peaceful actions to expose and address human rights violations.
4. No protests
Going to a public gathering, including a demonstration, is a criminal act, under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those who defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as ‘inciting people against the authorities’.
5. Women are widely discriminated against
Women and girls remain subject to discrimination in law and practice, with laws that ensure they are subordinate citizens to men - particularly in relation to family matters such as marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance.
Women who supported a campaign against a ban on women drivers face the threat of arrest and other harassment and intimidation.
6. Torture in police custody is common
Former detainees, trial defendants and others have told us that the security forces frequently use torture in detention, and that those responsible are never brought to justice.
7. You can be detained and arrested with no good reason
Scores of people have been arrested and detained in pre-trial detention for six months or more, which breaches the Kingdom’s own criminal codes. Detainees are frequently held incommunicado during their interrogation and denied access to their lawyers. Some human rights activists have been detained without charge or trial for more than two years.
8. Religious discrimination is rife
Members of the Kingdom’s Shi’a minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face entrenched discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Shi’a activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012.
9. Migrant workers have been deported en masse
According to the Interior Ministry, a crackdown on irregular foreign migrant workers in November 2013 led to the deportation of more than 370,000 people. Some 18,000 were still being detained last March. Thousands of people were summarily returned to Somalia, Yemen or other states where they could face human rights abuses on return.
10. Human rights organisations banned
The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact us.
DaveE87 said:
Thanks for highlighting some of the things that Hamilton is bringing attention to. I never realised you would agreed with him pork chop.
He's always been my favourite 
It is clearly daft to expect Hamilton not to race, but I posted the above as we should be clear just how bad SA human rights record is. And yes, I've been there!
JonChalk said:
I'm still quietly confident about the Mclarens (well, Norris anyway) - they've spent most of each session running on used tyres and doing long-ish runs - don't appear to have spent much time chasing quali times, so either very confident, or just focussing on the race.
Hope you’re right, but last few races have been pretty grim. Hopefully Norris can do something Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff