Max Verstappen won qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, beating Charles Leclerc by three-tenths of a second.
Pérez and Alonso started from the second row, the McLaren drivers from the third (Piastri beat Norris in qualifying), the fourth row belonged to the Mercedes drivers (Russell ahead of Hamilton) and the fifth to Cunod and Stroll.
Carlos Sainz had to have an operation on his appendix and was replaced from the third practice by Ollie Bearman, who qualified in 11th place.
Race
Max Verstappen took first place after the start. Leclerc had to fight with Pérez but kept the first place. The order did not change in other positions either.
In the second round, Oscar Piastri got ahead of Fernando Alonso. Gasly headed to the pits and became the first driver to retire this season – according to Alpine it was a gearbox problem.
In the fourth lap, Pérez got ahead of Leclerca. Three laps later, Lance Stroll crashed, breaking his suspension after contact with the wall and subsequently crashing into the wall. The safety car had to be on the track, which most drivers used for pit stops. Norris, Hamilton, Hülkenberg and Chou remained on the track.
This put Lando Norris in first place. He was followed by Verstappen in second and Lewis Hamilton in third.
The safety car went into the pits at the end of the 9th lap. On lap 13, Verstappen regained the lead. Bearman was also moving. At the restart he got ahead of Cunoda, later ahead of Chou and Hülkenberg.
Piastri tried to get ahead of Hamilton for a long time, but he did not succeed. In addition to this fight, the fights in the second ten where it was tight between Magnussen, Ocon, Cunoda and the Williams drivers were especially entertaining. But Magnussen’s position was rather virtual. He received two ten-second penalties – first for contact with Albon after the restart and then for gaining an advantage in a duel with Cunoda.
Pérez also received a five-second penalty, although in his case it was a mistake by the team – they released him during the stop in the path of Alonso. But it had no influence on the outcome of the race.
On lap 37, Hamilton went to the mechanics. Norris followed a lap later. His stop was slower and he rejoined the track behind Bearman but ahead of Hamilton. The roles were thus reversed and Hamilton did not have McLaren in the rear-view mirrors but in front of him – only Piastri was replaced by Norris.
Both drove Bearman to seventh position in the following laps. But he drove solid laps and kept the seventh place.
Max Verstappen won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Red Bull won another double. Leclerc, who drove the fastest lap of the race, only managed to get the full number of points at the end.
The results
P. Driver Team Time / lost Laps Points 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20:43.273 50 25 2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 13.643 50 18 3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 18.639 50 15+1 4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 32.007 50 12 5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 35.759 50 10 6 George Russell Mercedes 39.936 50 8 7 Ollie Bearman Ferrari 42.679 50 6 8 Lando Norris McLaren 45.708 50 4 9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 47.391 50 2 10 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:16.996 50 1 11 Alexander Albon Williams 1:28.354 50 12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:45.737 50 13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1 lap 49 14 Júki Cunoda RB 1 lap 49 15 Logan Sargeant Williams 1 lap 49 16 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1 lap 49 17 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber 1 lap 49 18 Kuan-yü Chou Kick Sauber 1 lap 49 – Lance Stroll Aston Martin 5 – Pierre Gasly Alpine 1
- Fastest lap of the race: Charles Leclerc
- Rider of the Day: Oliver Bearman
Target:
49/50: Ricciardo spun.
48/50:
48/50: But it’s closer between Norris and Hamilton. About 1 second.
48/50: Norris has now reduced the deficit, but only to 2.3s. And the checkered flag is close…
46/50: Bearman still holds a lead of 3 seconds.
45/50: Great job Bearman. Last lap faster than Leclerc, who of course no longer has the motivation to go faster…
44/50: Norris and Hamilton overtake Bearman. But it’s still 3.6s.
43/50: Another race and another problem in the Sauber pits. This time it was paid for by Čou, who ran a nice race.
41/50: Correction: Both Hamilton and Norris have soft. He messed up the live timing. Norris now saw the black and white flag for zigzagging on the straight.
39/50:
39/50: Alonso kissed the wall in the ninth corner, but all ok.
39/50: Norris put on the hard, Hamilton has the soft behind him. It will be interesting.
38/50: Norris in the pits… hmm a little slower stop (4s). Norris returns behind Bearman and ahead of Hamilton.
37/50: Hamilton in the pits. Slips on soft…
35/50: Piastri ahead of Hamilton… but at the cost of shortening the corner, so he let him go straight away. To be continued…
34/50: Hulk in the pits…
33/50: Albon overtook Cunoda.
33/50: Bearman outruns Hulk… the difference is over 10 seconds. But the loss to the eighth Russell is more or less the same – around 5.5 s.
30/50: Nice fight between Magnussen, Ocon, Cunoda. And Albon watches the whole thing. Cunoda was worst off, losing two positions. But it is a question whether Magnussen acted in accordance with the rules and did not push the Japanese.
29/50: Albon tries to get ahead of 14th Ocon.
27/50: Leclerc ahead of Norris. He loses 8 seconds to Pérez, who has a penalty.
26/50: McLaren wants to complain about Hamilton changing direction while braking…
24/50: Piastri is still trying to get ahead of Hamilton, but he still can’t.
22/50: Magnussen gets an extra 10 seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in the duel with Cunoda. If he builds, he should stand there for 20 seconds.
21/50: Leclerc overtakes Norris, who still hasn’t stopped yet.
21/50: And now, apparently, definitely Bearman before Hulk. M.Sc
21/50: Bearman complains that the Hulk is slow. Well, we have a solution…
19/50: Bearman fights with Hulk, but in the end he keeps the ninth position.
18/50: Pérez before Norris. Bearman caught the Hulk…
17/50: Piastri went slightly off the track after attacking Hamilton.
16/50: And Magnussen 10 seconds for a collision with Albon after the restart.
16/50: Pérez receives a five second penalty for a dangerous pit stop.
15/50:
14/50: Norris’s possible foul start will not be investigated. Everything is OK…
14/50: Bearman ahead of Chou in 10th place.
13/50: Verstappen takes the lead…
12/50: It is confirmed that Norris’ possible start was recorded.
11/50: Norris still holds first place in the secondary.
10/50: Restart… Bearman beats Cunoda.
9/50: SC goes into the pits…
9/50: Cunoda’s release in the pits before the race will be dealt with by the stewards after the race. Maybe they will meet Red Bull representatives there. Pérez pulled ahead of Alonso.
8/50:
8/50: Most riders in the pits. Norris, Hamilton, Hülkenberg, Chou remained on the track.
8/50: But eventually the others also go to the pits.
7/50: Bearman called to the pits. It runs on soft so… probably a logical step. After the restart, they wouldn’t give him an advantage anyway.
7/50: Bearman is on points. There is a safety car on the track.
7/50: Stroll destroys…
5/50: Bearman is hanging onto Cunoda, who is still on the edge of DRS behind Stroll.
5/50: Norris could have a problem… maybe he blew the start.
4/50: Pérez ahead of Leclerc.
3/50: And Gasly retired. The first rider not to finish the race this year.
2/50: Piastri ahead of Alonso. Gasly in the pits.
2/50:
Start: Pérez fought with Leclerc, who returned to second place.
18:00: Riders head out for a warm-up lap…
17:56: Tires for the start:
- Soft: Bearman, Bottas
- Medium: others
17:50: After the national anthem, we also have a drone show. Hopefully it will stay with the official drones only…
17:48: Starting grid
P. Driver Team 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 4 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 6 Lando Norris McLaren 7 George Russell Mercedes 8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 9 Júki Cunoda RB 10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 11 Ollie Bearman Ferrari 12 Alexander Albon Williams 13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 14 Daniel Ricciardo RB 15 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 16 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber 17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 18 Pierre Gasly Alpine 19 Logan Sargeant Williams 20 Kuan-yu Chou Kick Sauber
17:43: Strategy: Pirelli predicts one more stop…
17:40: Pérez and Alonso will start from the second row. The Mexican thrives at tracks like Jeddah. Red Bull has stepped on another double today. Will Alonso hold on to fourth place? The McLaren driver will be behind him.
The Mercedes drivers will start after them.
17:34: The statistics will come in the overview, but we’ll give one here… Ferrari will have the youngest driver line-up in its history today.
17:28: Jeddah is a fast circuit. If nothing happens, the race could last just over 1 hour and 20 minutes. One of the longest circuits in the calendar with a record number of turns awaits the riders. There are 27 in Jeddah. In second place is Singapore with 23, and third is Baku with 20.
17:28: Jeddah has been held three times so far and we have seen three different winners – Hamilton, Perez and Verstappen.
17:25: The riders have already gone to the starting grid. Lando Norris was not happy with the way the mechanics launched Cunoda. They say he almost crashed…
17:19: It’s quite nice that the organizers managed to redo the signs above the garage… Bearman will start from 11th place. The goal is clear… reach the finish line and ideally score some points.
17:18: Sainz is already out of surgery. And it’s even in the paddock. The photos below are a few tens of minutes old…
Foto: Getty Images / Clive Rose
17:17: At Ferrari today, history is written in many statistics, but only in the traditional overview of statistics after the race. Oliver Bearman will replace Carlos Sainz today, who has undergone appendicitis surgery.
17:15: The second race of the season awaits us, and once again Max Verstappen is the favorite, who, like in Bahrain a week ago, will start from pole position. Charles Leclerc will stand next to him again.
17:10: Welcome to the online broadcast of the second race of the season.
2024-03-09 18:46:00
#Max #Verstappen #won #Saudi #Arabian #Grand #Prix
