Diriyah ePrix lap guide

Circuit length 2.49km
Turns 21

Lap START
After the timing line the first thing you look for is the 100-metre braking board on your right. It’s very easy to throw away your lap right here as if it’s early in the session then your brakes are likely still cold. That leads into a 90deg left-hander, and then a right-hander and the wall comes up extremely fast here so you have to make sure you don’t carry too much speed in and get yourself into trouble.

Turns 3 – 4
It’s then a flowing complex from three-four-five where it’s all about track positioning and not making the mistake of running out onto the dust that collects at the edges for this track in particular. This is the dustier side of the circuit so staying on-line here is key.

Turn 5
You start to climb uphill from the exit of turn five, and this whole climb is one big flowing S section. It’s definitely the most exciting and rewarding section of the circuit as it’s high risk high reward and the braver drivers definitely excel here. You have to give it 100% and you can gain a lot of laptime.

Turns 6 – 13
Turns six and seven are a right-left and an over-the-crest right. Then you start to work your way downhill and into the fast approach to turn 12, which is a very difficult braking zone and you have the wall right in front of you here so there’s zero margin for error and this section has caught a lot of drivers out. You can gain a lot of laptime here if you nail it, but get it wrong and it’ll hurt.

Turn 14 – 15
There’s not too much you can do here, again it’s such a challenge to stay on-line and not throw the lap away by running onto the dust and losing both grip and time. You’ve done the hard work by this point and survived the all-important middle sector. Don’t throw it away.

Turns 16 – 17
The run to the final corner before the race start line is vital. You have a 2-3sec breather before you come up to one of the hardest sections of the track technically, which is turns 16/17. It’s technically a long double-apex right, but it’s actually quite hard to hit both of them. It’s more important to maximise your exit speed for the long straight. It’s also quite bumpy when you’re trying to get the power down so controlling the dynamics of the car and your wheelspin is key.

Turns 18 – 21
The last sector has the biggest braking zone on the circuit. You need really good systems on the software here to help you with the braking as it’s the biggest stop of the lap. We’re generally braking around the 150m board and into the right-left chicane where Attack Mode is. It’s quite technical and it’s the best place to plan an overtake and launch an attack. The final two corners start with a flat-out kink (just about, if the car’s feeling good), and a 90deg right hander to finish. It’s a very short sprint to the timing line so in qualifying you can fire the car in with a load of apex speed and not have to worry about the exit to gain the laptime across the finish line.