F1 Saudi Arabia: Another desert storm win for Verstappen

It was another Max Verstappen show at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix as the defending champion won his ninth race in a row. As calm and composed was the win for the Red Bull driver things behind the scenes have only been getting worse for the team with now reports trickling in of a power struggle between the Team Principle Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.

Getting back to the race, this Grand Prix win marked Verstappen’s 100th podium finish in only 187 races. In typical Max Verstappen fashion, the champion joked, “It’s 88 missed podiums”. Red Bull showed its dominance again as it was their second 1-2 finish in 2024 as Sergio Perez continued his good form and came second while the third position went to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

F1 Saudi Arabia: The indomitable Max Verstappen

The Saudi Arabian GP continued to throw a curve ball as the safety car was deployed on Lap 6 after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll hit the wall and crashed into the barriers. As expected almost all the teams called in their drivers for a pitstop and switched to hard compound tyres except for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris. After completing his quick pitstop, Perez was given a five-second penalty by the stewards for an unsafe release. The Red Bull driver almost ran into Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso when he got out of the pit box. 

Once the race resumed on Lap 9, Norris was leading the pack with Verstappen just behind him with a set of fresh tyres. With the McLaren driver’s primary aim to conserve the tyres as long as possible, he had to surrender the lead to the defending champion and from then on it wasn’t a question of if but when will Verstappen take the chequered flag. The Dutchman crossed the finish line 13.643 seconds ahead of this teammate. 

F1 Saudi Arabia: The ‘Bear’ necessities

Super-sub is quite a familiar term in football, but Ferrari’s 18-year-old Oliver Bearman proved that he can be that in the world of Formula 1 and more. As a last-minute replacement for Carlos Sainz, Bearman showed his mettle as he kept Norris and Hamilton at bay as he finished seventh and scored his maiden points in F1.

With McLaren and Mercedes opting for a late tyre change strategy, both drivers were initially gaining momentum and catching up to Bearman, but the Ferrari driver held his nerve and Norris and Hamilton ended up fighting for eighth place. Norris finished behind Bearman as it was another disappointing outing for Hamilton as he had to contend with ninth position. 

F1 Saudi Arabia: Who finished where?

It was a great race for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who finished just outside the podium but scored a valuable 12 points for the team. With McLaren not having blistering straight-line speed as the Aston Martin, it was commendable of Piastri to finish over 3.7 seconds ahead of Alonso. Behind the two-time world champion were four Englishmen, Mercedes’ George Russell, Bearman, Norris and Hamilton. Haas continued to show signs of improvement as Nico Hulkenberg rounded up the top 10 and scored a vital point for the team.