Max Verstappen dominated the F1 Saudi Arabian GP with an over 6 second gap to his teammate Sergio Perez and rival Scuderia Ferrari Charles Leclerc, repeating the team’s 1-2 result from the season-opener.
Rookie Oliver Bearman secured his first championship points after an eventful weekend.
Max Verstappen started from pole for the first time here and successfully defended his lead. However, Charles Leclerc had a sluggish start, coming under pressure from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez as he battled to maintain his position. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri showcased impressive skill in the early corners, overtaking Fernando Alonso to claim fourth place with a strong pace. Despite a suspect
Unfortunately, Pierre Gasly’s race was plagued by mechanical issues from the outset, forcing him to retire the car and marking the first retirement of the 2024 season.
The race took a dramatic turn on lap 7 when Lance Stroll collided with the barrier at Turn ?, following a brush with the wall that damaged his front tire, prompting the deployment of the Safety Car. This incident triggered a flurry of pit stops, with both Leclerc and Alonso experiencing lengthy stops to avoid an unsafe release. In the midst of the chaos, Lando Norris briefly took the lead and opted to stay out on track.
In the restart, Lando Norris maintained the lead with Verstappen, who had switched to hard tires, trailing behind. Meanwhile, there was excellent defense from Charles Leclerc against Oscar Piastri for the 5th position.
The Scuderia Ferrari rookie executed an impressive pass on Tsunoda, overtaking him on the outside to secure the 12th position. On lap 13, Verstappen successfully passed Norris, whose jump start was noted by the stewards, though no further action was taken. However, Perez finds himself under investigation for an unsafe release getting 5 second penalty, along with Magnussen from a nasty maneuver on Albon handed a 10 second penalty.
On lap 18, Norris was overtaken by both Red Bull cars, dropping down to third place. Verstappen reclaimed the lead of the pack. Meanwhile, in 10th position, Hulkenberg found himself fending off Bearman who was attempting to make a move. He got it right on the main straight with DRS help.
A rough night for Magnussen as he received another penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage against Tsunoda. Despite DRS and Slipstream Oscar Piastri was incapable of overtaking Hamilton, even with a margin of 3 tenths.
Things then heated up in the midfield pack, with plenty of action between Magnussen, Tsunoda, Ocon, and Albon. But more importantly for the podium, Charles Leclerc easily got past the McLaren of Lando Norris, who failed to put up any defense. On lap 29 Tsunoda overtakes Magnussen using DRS, but Magnussen cleverly regained the position by going around the outside of Turn 1. Ocon seized the opportunity and managed to pass Tsunoda on the exit.
On lap 34 an impressive overtake from Albon on Tsunoda in Turn 1 for the 14th place. Hulkenberg made a pit stop and came out ahead of Magnussen. A stressed Piastri tried a move on Hamilton but he outbraked himself and gave the position back.
On lap 37 Mercedes called Lewis Hamilton in the pits the pits for a second pit stop, fitting him with soft tires for the remainder of the race. Norris responded immediately but suffered from a slow pit stop of 4.1 seconds, finishing ahead of the Englishman by just 1.3 second with used soft tires. Hamilton put pressure on his compatriot. Lando got a black and white flag for weaving on the straight, getting an official warning while trying to catch on Bearman for the 7th position.
On lap 43 another disastrous pit stop for the Sauber F1 team, following their mishap with Bottas in Bahrain. The right front tire failed to be fitted, sending them back into last position.
Hamilton reduced his gap to Norris, re-entering the DRS zone with 4 laps to go, gaining the fastest lap of the day.
During the final lap, Daniel Ricciardo spun on the track, and the positions remained unchanged. Max Verstappen took maximum points after the first two races of the championship.