It was just recently that Saudi Arabia was added to the Formula 1 calendar. Kicking off in 2021, the venue has hosted 3 years of cutting-edge racing. Currently preparing for its fourth year, it has already come to be known as the fastest street track on the calendar. Taking place in Jeddah on the 9th will be the second unusual Saturday race in the 2024 calendar.

Although the track is new, it has become one of the most exciting races on the calendar. The long track with quick curves will be the reason behind many close overtakes while drivers battle it out for the win. But how did the Jeddah Corniche Circuit come to be the home of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

The official Sponsors of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: stc Group

There are two main players behind Jeddah being added to the calendar and they are the Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation along with sct. While the federation helped get the legalities of it taken care of, stc Group is a big player in making it happen as the official sponsor. The more accurately named 2024 stc Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, will be the fourth year that the company has sponsored the event along with providing teams and audiences high-quality network connectivity at the venue. Saudi Telecommunication Company positions itself as an engine of digital transformation in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region.

According to ArabNews, stc Group CEO, Olayan Alwetaid spoke about their partnership and stated, “The extension of our strategic partnership with Formula 1 will take the Formula 1 stc Saudi Arabian Grand Prix into the future. We look forward to continuing to provide seamless, world-class connectivity at the race this year under the theme ‘limitless drive,’ and we are proud of our support for Formula 1 over the last three years.”

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As a response, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali spoke about the Grand Prix being added to the calendar and said: “Formula 1 fans at the race weekend in Jeddah can expect high speeds on the track and fantastic fan experience off it. As we continue to grow our sport around the world, the support of high-quality technology partners is invaluable, so we are delighted to extend our relationship with stc.” With that said, we are ready for the countdown to the second race and the predictions begin!

Who will take the win at the Saudi Arabian GP?

The state of Formula 1 with Max Verstappen’s dominance on the track remains similar to last year when it comes to being P1. It would take an accident or a car malfunction to put the Dutch driver away from P1, but that is still just everyone’s hunch. The RB20 is already showing top-class performance and Verstappen displayed its power with a 22.7-second lead in Bahrain. Considering that Verstappen takes P1, P2 could be Checo again. But considering what happened last year with Sergio Perez taking the win, anything can happen.

But like in the last race Ferrari was creeping up closer to the slower Red Bull, there is a chance that Carlos Sainz Jr. or Charles Leclerc will contest Checo if he is at P2. But like Helmut Marko said about the first race, Perez can’t win, so he was just holding the Prancing horses behind him. On the other hand, maybe with some significant improvements, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be able to compete for the top 3. Judging from Bahrain, Mercedes is not in that race yet and McLaren is a problem they will need to tackle first.

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For the rest of the board, it is hopefully that all teams improve their times and score points, while the bottom finishes from the first race trying to catch up early on into the season. But while we have only seen the cars race once, Jeddah will be a good opportunity to understand the progress of the cars. Ultimately, this is our take on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, what are your thoughts?