Jeddah Corniche Circuit
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Good for Racing?
Yes, by street circuit standards. F1 counted 52 overtakes here in 2024, and the pole lap on the right shows why. It spent 76% of the lap at full throttle, peaked at 338km/h and never dropped below 88km/h, so there’s very little slow running between the walls.
With only seven braking zones, passing is concentrated at the Turn 1 chicane and the Turn 27 hairpin, both at the end of long flat-out runs. The 2025 race was quieter at the front. Oscar Piastri was barely troubled once he’d taken the lead and won by 2.843s.
Jeddah Corniche Circuit
Strategy Factors
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
What to Look Out for at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Watch the first 168m. That’s all the run pole gets before the braking point for Turn 1, and it’s where Max Verstappen’s 2025 race turned. He cut across the apex to stay ahead and picked up a five-second penalty.
After that, plan around the Safety Car. It’s come out in all five races at Jeddah, and a Virtual Safety Car appeared in two of the first four. A green-flag stop costs 19.2s, so a neutralization makes pitting far cheaper and the timing of it often settles the order.
Pit lane loss of 19.2s, Safety Car and VSC rates, 52 overtakes in 2024 and the 168m run to Turn 1.
Verstappen's five-second penalty at Turn 1, the first-lap Safety Car and Norris starting tenth on hards.
Corner-by-corner guide covering the Turn 1 chicane, the banked Turn 13 and the final corner passing chance.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Tire Strategy
All of the top 10 stopped once in 2025, and eight did it the same way, medium first and hard to the flag. Pirelli had gone a step softer to C3, C4 and C5, yet nobody in the top 10 raced the soft.
The outliers flipped the order. Lando Norris started 10th on hards, stayed out 34 laps and finished fourth, and Isack Hadjar copied him to take tenth. Charles Leclerc stretched his mediums to 29 laps for third. F1 says the one-stop has always won here, and graining mostly shows up in first practice.
The 2025 C3, C4 and C5 allocation, one step softer than earlier years, with set numbers per driver.
Stint lengths and compounds for the top 10 finishers of the 2025 race shown in the chart.
Jeddah Corniche Circuit Sector by Sector and Corner by Corner
Speeds, gears and braking points below come from Max Verstappen‘s 1:27.294 pole lap in 2025 qualifying, the most recent at Jeddah because the 2026 race was canceled. He was at full throttle for 76% of the lap and braked for 10.1 seconds across seven braking zones. Top speed was 338 km/h on the pit straight, and the slowest point was 88 km/h at Turn 2.
FastF1 timing data for Max Verstappen's 1:27.294 pole lap, used for the speeds, gears, braking points and sector figures
Brembo's 2025 Turn 1 figures for speed, deceleration and pedal load
Fred Vesti's Monza comparison, the Red Sea sand and the DRS tactic before the last corner
Jeddah among the tracks with a lower 2026 energy-harvesting limit
The cancellation of the 2026 race at Jeddah
History of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit
Jeddah was turned from open seafront into a Grand Prix venue in about eight months, and five races in, it’s produced four different winners.
November 2020 confirmation, the eight-month build and the 2022 barrier changes at Turns 2, 3, 14, 21 and 27.
Confirms Hamilton's 1:30.734 on lap 47 of the 2021 race, still the Jeddah race lap record.
Race date, the two red flags including Schumacher's Turn 22 crash, and the Turn 26 contact.
Confirms the 27-corner layout runs anticlockwise and ends with a left-hand hairpin at Turn 27.
How Much Does the Jeddah Corniche Circuit Cost?
There's no reliable figure for what it cost to build the Jeddah Corniche Circuit or to set it up each year. The main known cost is the hosting fee, which PlanetF1 estimates at about $65m for 2026, paid by a state-backed Saudi promoter, and the contract runs to 2030. The race is due to move to the Qiddiya circuit near Riyadh, which one estimate puts at about $500m.
How Much Did the Jeddah Corniche Circuit Cost to Build?
No reliable figure has been published for building the street circuit on Jeddah's Red Sea Corniche, which Tilke designed with F1's own Motorsports team for the first race on December 5, 2021, or for setting it up each year. The race is due to move to Qiddiya Speed Park, a purpose-built track about 30 miles (48km) from Riyadh. Tilke now lists its opening and F1 debut for 2028, after earlier plans for 2027. Parametric Architecture put its cost at about $500m in December 2025, an estimate with no named source.
How Much Is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Hosting Fee?
Neither F1 nor the Saudi promoter has published it. PlanetF1 estimated in March 2026 that the promoter would have been expected to pay about $65m for that year's race, and that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain together pay more than $100m a year, potentially worth $1.4bn to F1 over the coming decade. The 2026 race was canceled on March 14, 2026 over the Middle East conflict and never rescheduled, so it isn't public whether any fee changed hands. The contract runs to 2030. PlanetF1 also estimated that losing both Gulf races would cut F1's race promoter income to about $971m in 2026, from $1.04bn in 2025.
The $65m fee estimate for 2026, the combined Gulf fees above $100m, the $1.4bn decade value, the contract to 2030 and the promoter income estimates
The official cancellation of the 2026 race
The street circuit designed by Tilke with F1's Motorsports team and its first race in 2021
The Qiddiya opening and F1 debut planned for 2028, about 30 miles (48km) from Riyadh
The earlier plan to move the race from Jeddah in 2027
The unattributed estimate of about $500m for the Qiddiya track
How Much Are Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Tickets?
At 2027 prices, three-day general admission costs SAR442 ($118) and covers the fan zones and concerts. All four Central grandstands cost SAR850 ($227), Main B is SAR1,751 ($467), and a seat in the premium Main A stand costs SAR2,448 ($653). Hospitality starts at SAR11,160 ($2,976) in the Premium Lounge. The $118 entry price is below Japan's $140 and less than half of Bahrain's $250, although China is cheaper at $72.
Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Questions
Lewis Hamilton holds the Jeddah race lap record with 1:30.734, set on lap 47 of the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Four races have passed without anyone beating it. Qualifying laps are far quicker, and Max Verstappen took pole in 2025 with 1:27.294, more than three seconds under the race record.
Jeddah is built for speed rather than slow city junctions. Verstappen’s 2025 pole lap averaged 254.6km/h, the highest average of any street circuit F1 has raced on. Where other street tracks stop and start through right-angle turns, Jeddah threads fast sweeps between walls that sit very close to the racing line.
No, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Qiddiya are different venues. Jeddah is the temporary seafront track that’s held every Saudi Arabian Grand Prix since 2021, and it hosts the March 19-21, 2027 race. Qiddiya is a proposed purpose-built circuit, and none of its future specifications apply to Jeddah.
Before the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, barriers at Turns 2, 3, 14 and 21 were moved back by 1.5m to 2m so drivers could see further round the blind curves. The right-hand wall at Turn 27 was widened by about 1.5m, and steel plates smoothed the apex barriers at Turns 4, 16, 22 and 24.
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit has 27 turns, more than any other track on the F1 calendar, in a 6.175km lap. The promoter splits them into 16 left-handers and 11 right-handers. Plenty are fast kinks taken without braking, especially in the linked sweeps from Turn 4 to Turn 9.
The Saudi promoter pays an estimated $65m a year to host the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, based on PlanetF1’s figure for 2026, although the fee has never been published. PlanetF1 puts the combined fees of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain at more than $100m a year, and the Saudi contract runs to 2030.
There’s no reliable published figure for building the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, a temporary street track on the Red Sea seafront that first held the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on December 5, 2021. Its annual setup cost isn’t public either. The planned replacement at Qiddiya, near Riyadh, has been put at about $500m in an unattributed estimate.
