George Russell wants safety-based changes to be made to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit ahead of next year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, after describing the inaugural event as "a bit of a recipe for disaster". F1 visited the high-speed street track for the first time last weekend, with drivers labelling it as "hardcore" and "unbelievably quick" after the opening practice sessions. However, fears were also raised over several 'blind' sections of the track, leading Sergio Perez to warn that a "big shunt" could occur in the race , adding that it was "too dangerous without a real reason".
"It's a recipe for disaster"
As it happened, Perez crashed out of Sunday's race after contact with Charles Leclerc through Turn 3 at the first restart, with Russell also a victim when he slowed and got rear-ended by Nikita Mazepin - who had arrived at speed. Russell, a Director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, along with Sebastian Vettel, is keen to see several issues addressed before F1 returns to Jeddah for the second round of the 2022 season on 25-27 March. Reflecting on the race with media, including RacingNews365.com , the Williams driver said: "It was just chaos through Turn 3 to 7. You couldn't see anything [and] cars were everywhere. "It's a great track to drive, but it's a bit of a recipe for disaster, so definitely a rethink is needed. "If we do come back here next year, which I guess we are, I think there are some things that they need to modify to make these kinks just straights, because it's so blind. "We've already seen too many incidents waiting to happen."
"There's a lot to learn from"
Russell described a "big impact" with Mazepin but admitted there was little the Russian could do given the nature of the circuit. "It's so difficult for all of the drivers, you come around the corner, which is full gas, and suddenly there's a car sideways, there's tyre smoke everywhere - you don't know what's about to happen," Russell added. "[There's] a lot to learn, I think, from this weekend, in terms of these circuits. It's incredibly exhilarating, so fast and exciting to drive from a driving perspective, but lacking quite a lot from a safety perspective and the racing perspective. "Let's see what happens in future and [there's] just generally a lot to learn."
Most read
