PWP: The Strategist looks to build on strong start

After scoring 35 out of a possible 40 points at Round 1, ‘The Strategist’ will be looking to maintain momentum going into Round 2 at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Strategist has been one smug individual at Grove recently, grinning like a Cheshire cat, and now they’re back again to provide some useful insights that you may wish to use when making your calls on Pit Wall Predictions.

This is a tough one to start with, even for me. Alex made his first stop on lap 13 of the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, however, a Safety Car in the opening laps of the 2021 edition allowed both cars to make a free stop on laps 9 and 10, along with seven other cars.

Despite this, I'm backing Alex to have a clean start and switch for fresh rubber between laps 11-20.

In Bahrain, we saw both cars pit one after another and I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar pattern this week - Logan to pit in the same window as Albono, laps 11-20!

I predict Logan will stop first in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Our American enjoyed a solid first outing in 2023, and I anticipate that it will be he who stops first ahead of Albono in Jeddah.

A good start for both drivers after a respectable qualifying in Bahrain leads me to believe we can achieve more of the same on a fast, flowing street circuit this week which will hopefully favour the FW45.

I reckon our first pit stop will be made whilst running P11-P15.

I anticipate Alex will be battling amongst the pack when he makes his first stop, so expect him to be within 2.5 seconds of the nearest car.

Similar to Alex, I’m thinking that Logan will be well in the fight when the time comes to make his first stop, maybe hoping to gain positions with a quick turnaround in the box.

0.1-2.5 secs again.

The last two races in Jeddah delivered very different answers to this question. We saw the VSC three times in 2021 as opposed to a single appearance in 2022.

Despite only one VSC in Bahrain, I'm predicting we’ll see at least two VSC periods as the perilous Jeddah Corniche Circuit will punish even the slightest of errors, forcing contact with the walls or other cars around them.

With one full Safety Car period in both 2021 and 2022 races in Jeddah, I think the trend will continue and we’ll see Bernd Mayländer just once on Sunday.

Will you follow The Strategist’s picks, or go your own way? Make your calls below!