F1 driver compares track to Mario Kart after dodging plastic bags like bananas
Formula 1 is back on track after its winter break and the motorsports circus is currently halting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where the first two sessions of Free Practice are taking place on March 7, 2024. As a street circuit, the track in Jeddah is incredibly quick and narrow with nearly no margin for error. Unfortunately for Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, his outings in Free Practice 1 featured several obstacles in the form of plastic bags laying on the track.
Since these can get into openings of the car, preventing it from properly using the airflow to cool itself down, they are actually quite a formidable opponent – and with dodging being difficult on the narrow streets of Jeddah, Leclerc caught himself some uninvited passengers, which had to be cleared away during a pit stop.
Luigi's Circuit is much cleaner.
Nintendo
Speaking to his race engineer on the radio, Leclerc complained: “The track, it’s like Mario Kart. There’s plastic bags everywhere.” It’s always a little difficult to relate to millionaires who drive quick cars for a living, but in this instance everyone who’s ever played the popular racing game and had to dodge bananas and fake item boxes will empathize with the driver from Monaco – those things are really annoying.
You can watch the whole Leclerc vs. plastic bags saga in the F1 highlights video below:
Funnily enough, this isn’t the only time Mario Kart, Saudi Arabia, and F1 have appeared together in the same context this week: The Saudis want to build a new F1 track in Qiddiya that partly resembles the iconic Rainbow Road from the game.
Don’t worry, racing game fans, you won’t have to learn how to fly just yet, though – EA Sports recently announced the F1 24 release date and made no mention of any yet-to-be-built tracks appearing, so that 70m rise won’t be able to haunt you for the moment.
