The Saudi Arabian GP was notable for the retirements of Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) within a lap of each other, with the first two parking at close proximity at the pit entry.
Earlier, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda hadn’t even made the start after a problem on the way to the grid, having failed to complete a flying lap in qualifying.
Alonso’s unspecified Renault power unit problem followed engine issues for the Spaniard during the Bahrain GP, although he managed to finish the Sakhir race.
Szafnauer says that the wave of retirements reflects the fact that the cars are so new, and also that the power unit manufacturers were in a race to get all possible developments to the track as quickly as possible, because of the freeze on most elements that came into force on March 1.
“A couple of things happened which have an impact on that,” said the American of the attrition in Jeddah. “One, the cars are all new.
“So you’ve got…
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