Read here the standings after the GP Saudi Arabia 2024. We noticed 7 things that we would like to share with you!
It's over again! Only two retirements and one safety car situation. We expected a little more at the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP. Normally, Jeddah Corniche is good for a lot of spectacle.
The Dutch spectator had a great time with a great victory by Max, Max, Max, Super, Super, Max, Max.
Things we noticed about the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP
As you have come to expect from Autoblog, we have all the ranks, positions and overviews that matter for you. In addition, we noticed a few things about the race:
Debut Bearman
It is of course no surprise for a reserve driver that you are allowed to fill in once in a while. Especially with 24 races this season, it will probably happen again. But having to make your debut here in Saudi Arabia is tough. And especially if it is for a Ferrari team, because the whole world is watching. He did a more than creditable job.
He just missed Q3 by 36 thousandths. In the beginning of the race he took a few chances, but Oliver Bearman made a few nice overtakes and drove a very good race. Yes, more should be possible with that Ferrari, but this is a neat debut.
Jeddah is great
Yes, the Saudi Arabia GP is a prestige object for the oil-rich country. And that is why we may find it very stupid in advance. In spite of the sportswashing, we have to say that this track is a valuable addition to the calendar. The qualifying on this track in particular is a pleasure to watch.
Verstappen will not be fooled
He starts from pole and drives away. Wins the race. Is it still special? Of course! With 56 P1s under his belt (and his 100th podium already!), he is simply the third best driver of all time when it comes to victories. This was again beautiful.
Even if you take Pérez's time penalty (5 seconds for the unsafe release), the difference between Max and his teammate was very big. And don't forget that Pérez is a specialist on street circuits.
Red Bull is also not fooled
Red Bull is very much under fire. Horner is being treated quite harshly in the British press. And yes, Horner is British (and Red Bull resides in Milton Keynes, England), but the crowd favorite (a Brit) drives for another team from Brackley.
The pressure is on, because it is quite shady what is happening there. The great thing is that you can't tell from the performance on the track. The pit stops also went smoothly, except for Pérez's unsafe release.
Not a good weekend for Lance Stroll
Things didn't go well for Lance Stroll this weekend. His crash looked much worse than it was. He fell just a little bit off the wall, causing his left wheel to immediately lose control.
It's just a crash that suits a young dog. Stroll has been a Formula 1 driver since 2017. Then mistakes like this are no longer appropriate.
Magnussen is Magnussen
K-Mag is a special phenomenon. The Danish driver absolutely belongs in the F1 circus, although he is not such a glitz & glamor driver. His style on the track is sometimes Verstappen-esque and by that we mean that he resembles father Jos.
Magnussen is also trying with all his might to get the best out of that soapbox. And yes, the overzealous defending earned him a 10-second penalty this time, but it does make everyone think twice before passing Magnussen.
Tension is hard to find
Red Bull's surplus of speed is interesting if you like Het Wilhelmus. However, it is becoming a bit boring for the neutral observer.
Especially because not much happened behind it. The fact that the most exciting moments were between P7, P8 and P9 says a lot.
Daniel Ricciardo new form of mediocre
Yes, come on. Hobble along a bit behind. Nyck de Vries could do that too! Daniel Ricciardo did not go well on this track. Perhaps there was a technical defect. We hope so for him, because last week's performance was below par.
Admittedly, Tsunoda was not brilliant either, but the lack of speed and the crazy mistakes (especially at the end of the race) were distressing for the Australian.
Drivers Championship
Leclerc is doing well with his P3, especially because his teammate did not participate in this race. Bearman is immediately more successful than a lot of other riders.
George Russell is well ahead of Hamilton. Even though things are not yet going as expected for Alonso, the Spaniard is still doing excellently here with a well-deserved P7.
The standings after the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP in the Drivers' Championship are as follows:
Position | Driver | Team | Points |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 51 |
2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 36 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 28 |
4 | George Russel | Mercedes | 18 |
5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 16 |
6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 15 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 12 |
8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 12 |
9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 8 |
10 | Oliver Bearman | Ferrari | 6 |
11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Hare | 1 |
12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1 |
13 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 0 |
14 | Guanyu Zhou | Stake F1 | 0 |
15 | Kevin Magnussen | Hare | 0 |
16 | Daniel Ricciardo | VCARB | 0 |
17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 0 |
18 | Yuki Tsunoda | VCARB | 0 |
19 | Logan Sargeant | Alpine | 0 |
20 | Valtteri Bottas | Stake | 0 |
21 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 0 |
Constructors' Championship
Alpine did itself no favors with Gasly's retirement. The French factory team is simply last. Aston Martin seems to have taken over Alpine's place: far ahead of the rear, but far away from the top teams.
Ferrari is clearly number two. It is unprecedentedly exciting between McLaren and Mercedes. Then again, yes.
The standings after the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP in the constructors' championship are as follows:
Position | Team | Points |
1 | Red Bull | 87 |
2 | Ferrari | 49 |
3 | Mercedes | 28 |
4 | McLaren | 26 |
5 | Aston Martin | 13 |
6 | Hare | 1 |
7 | Williams | 0 |
8 | Stake F1 | 0 |
9 | VCARB | 0 |
10 | Alpine | 0 |
Qualifying match
Russell has now been twice faster than Hamilton, which will give George a good feeling. Ricciardo can't really keep up with Tsunoda yet. At Haas, the drivers keep each other in balance. Of course Verstappen has the maximum score.
Nice for Piastri that he was now faster than Norris. Other than that, nothing very surprising, although Gasly will be quite pleased with the French Pé that Ocon now qualified twice better. Alonso was not only faster than his teammate, the difference with Stroll was also large in terms of time.
The standings after the GP Saudi Arabia 2024 in the qualifying match are as follows:
Driver | Driver | ||
Verstappen | 2 | Pérez | 0 |
Hamilton | 0 | Russell | 2 |
Leclerc | 1 | Sainz | 0 |
Leclerc | 1 | Bearman | 0 |
Norris | 1 | Piastri | 1 |
Alonso | 2 | Stroll | 0 |
Gasly | 0 | Ocon | 2 |
Albon | 2 | Sargeant | 0 |
Tsunoda | 2 | Ricciardo | 0 |
Bottas | 2 | Zhou | 0 |
Hulkenberg | 1 | Magnussen | 1 |
Fastest race lap
Max Verstappen did not go for the fastest lap this time. Lewis Hamilton seemed to go for it during the pursuit of Norris. But on the last lap there was Charles with a time of 1:31.632. He also takes an extra World Cup point.
The head-to-head standings after the 2024 GP Saudi Arabia in terms of fastest race laps are as follows:
Driver | Team | Number of fastest race laps |
Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 |
Leclerc | Ferrari | 1 |
Driver of the Day
Bearman won with an enormous superiority Driver of the Day-price. The public voted en masse for Oliver. And of course rightly so. He gets into the Ferrari halfway through the weekend, narrowly misses Q3 and immediately takes some points.
The mutual standings after the 2024 GP Saudi Arabia in terms of Driver of the Day nominations are as follows:
Driver | Team | Number of nominations |
Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1 |
Oliver Bearman | Ferrari | 1 |
Did the Autoblog editors predict the race correctly?
Well, for the first time Jaap has predicted the entire top 3 correctly!! Congratulations! That's because all cars have premium RWD, probably. Wouter was also close by predicting both Red Bulls at the front, but he did not see Carlos Sainz's failure coming.
Michael is normally the editor who scores the most points, but this was not his weekend. All those Schnapps give you après-ski.
The standings after the 2024 GP Saudi Arabia in the editorial rankings are as follows:
Editor | Points |
Jaap (FAR,PER, LEC) | 25 |
Wouter (FAR, PER, SAI) | 15 |
Michael (FAR,SAI,PER) | 13 |
1 point for correct driver in the Top 3, 5 points for driver in correct position.
These Grands Prix have already been held:
- March 2 |GP of Bahrain
- March 9 | GP of Saudi Arabia
These Grands Prix are on the calendar:
- March 24 | Australian GP
- April 7 | GP of Japan
- April 21 | GP of China
- May 5 | GP of Miami
- May 19 | GP of Emilia-Romagna
- May 26 | Monaco GP
- June 9 | Canadian GP
- June 23 | GP of Spain
- June 30 | GP of Austria
- July 7 | GP Great Britain
- July 21 | GP of Hungary
- July 28 | GP of Belgium
- August 25 | GP of the Netherlands
- September 1 | GP of Italy
- September 15 | GP of Azerbaijan
- September 22 | Singapore GP
- October 20 | United States GP
- October 27 | GP of Mexico
- November 3 | GP of Brazil
- November 24 | GP of Las Vegas
- December 1 | GP of Qatar
- December 8 | Abu Dhabi GP
The first meters of the 2024 Australian GP will be held on March 22 at 2:30 am!
This article Standings after GP Saudi Arabia 2024 and 7 things that stood out. first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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