Finally we have race-related conversation in F1 again. After weeks of mud-slinging off the track, we can talk about Sainz's retirement, Bearman's replacement, Max Verstappen's strong pole position and the duel behind him between Pérez, Leclerc and Alonso. Behind them the McLarens and Mercedes start, followed by Tsunoda and Stroll.
All drivers except Bearman and Hülkenberg will start the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP medium-tyres. The debutant and TheHulk start with the softest compound. Pirelli predicts a one-stop strategy from the mediums to the hard tires. Bearman and Hülkenberg will want to make up a lot of ground in the initial phase in order to regain the time of an extra stop. Alright, enough predicting: let's go racing!
The start of the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP
Max Verstappen is the best and immediately cuts off Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari can also take a better look in its mirrors, because just like last week, Sergio Pérez has a strong start. A bit further back, Lando Norris releases his clutch too quickly and rolls out of his starting box. Norris responds by braking, but the moment he comes to a standstill again, the lights go out. So Norris has a false start and he has an additional disadvantage as a result. Strangely enough, he doesn't get any punishment for this. Would he have stopped again in time and not been outside his profession?
The sad start to Alpine's season continues early in Jeddah. Gasly reports during the warm-up lap that he has a problem with the transmission. After the first lap, the team brings the car inside to prevent worse problems. In the meantime, Pérez continues to hook up with Leclerc and at the start of round four it's a hit. When Pérez is second, the gap to his teammate is two seconds.
Stroll crashes and causes a pit stop parade
In the sixth of 50 rounds it is also the end of practice for Lance Stoll. The Canadian driver touches the inside of the wall with his left front wheel in the fast turn 22. A steering rod breaks off, the Aston Martin becomes uncontrollable and Stroll ends up in the wall. Stroll's mistake ensures that the new Vantage safety car is allowed onto the track. Great marketing, Lance!
The yellow flags bring the entire field of Norris, Hamilton, Hülkenberg and Zhou in for a new set of tires. Red Bull gives the green light to Pérez too early after his tires have been changed. Pérez sends his car back into the pit lane but blocks Alonso. The Aston Martin barely manages to avoid a collision. Pérez receives a five-second penalty for this.
Norris is allowed to lead the field at the restart and does so well. Verstappen cannot launch an attack in the first corner and again even open a gap of one second. The McLaren may drive faster on a type of tire, but Norris is still an excellent match.
Verstappen takes back the lead and runs out
But in round thirteen it's over. Verstappen blows past the McLaren on the straight with much more speed. Then the championship leader opens a two-second gap in no time. Albon and Magnussen are in a clinch at the back. The Haas driver pretends that his competitor is not there and forces him towards the wall. Magnussen receives a ten-second penalty for this. Later, the same Magnussen uses more asphalt than is legal to overtake Tsunoda. That means he gets another ten penalty seconds.
Halfway through the race, Verstappen still controls the race and is seven seconds ahead of teammate Pérez. The reigning world champion improves on the fastest lap almost every lap and he seems to be heading for an easy victory again. In the midfield the cars remain fairly close to each other and outside the top ten there is a lot of exchange with nice overtaking actions. But yes, the objective football fan will not turn on Studio Sport tomorrow evening to hear what PEC Zwolle – Volendam has become.
Norris and Hamilton go hunting softs
With twelve laps to go, Hamilton and Norris make their first pit stops. They switch mediums to the soft tires. On this rubber, the two British drivers should now quickly make up ground to get back into the top five. The problem for both drivers is that they keep attacking each other and thus lose valuable time.
The first the two encounter is rookie Bearman. He asks every lap what the difference is between his Ferrari and the two cars on the soft tires. But there are too few laps left for Norris and Hamilton to overtake the Ferrari. Bearman finished seventh in his first F1 race. Despite his penalty, Pérez finished second and Leclerc completed the podium and took the fastest race lap.
Max Verstappen has achieved another nice statistic
Verstappen finishes first for the 56th time in 187 F1 races. This means he has a higher race/win percentage than Michael Schumacher. Verstappen has now won 29.94 percent of his races. Only Hamilton has a higher percentage with 30.8 percent. This way it won't be long before Verstappen also overtakes Hamilton.
Results of the 2024 Saudi Arabia GP
- Verstappen
- Pérez
- Leclerc
- Piastri
- Alonso
- Russell
- Bearman
- Norris
- Hamilton
- Hulkenberg
- Albon
- Ocon
- Tsunoda
- Sargeant
- Magnussen
- Ricciardo
- Bottas
- Zhou
- Stroll
- Gasly
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