Max Verstappen, representing Red Bull Racing, continued his dominant start to the 2024 Formula 1 season by completely controlling the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, resulting in another impressive 1-2 finish for Red Bull. The Dutch driver secured a comfortable win at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with his teammate Sergio Perez finishing in second place and Charles Leclerc from Ferrari taking third.
In terms of tire strategy, most of the drivers on the grid, except for Oliver Bearman and Valtteri Bottas, opted for the Medium compound due to limited degradation and the expectation of a one-stop race.
At the start of the race, Leclerc seemed ready to challenge Verstappen, but the Dutchman quickly took the lead and maintained his position into Turn 1. This compromised Leclerc’s position and allowed Perez to overtake him on the outside. However, Leclerc managed to regain the inside line into Turn 4.
Further down the field, Lance Stroll managed to overtake Yuki Tsunoda, who then faced pressure from Bearman. The British driver attempted to pass the Red Bull car at Turn 13 with a daring move and made another attempt at Turn 1 on the following lap, but ultimately couldn’t make the pass.
In the midst of this action, Oscar Piastri in the leading McLaren took advantage of the slipstream to pass Fernando Alonso and secure fourth place at Turn 1. Unfortunately, Alpine’s struggles continued as Pierre Gasly was instructed to retire his car.
Verstappen gradually extended his lead over Leclerc, leaving the Ferrari driver vulnerable to Perez, who eventually used the DRS (Drag Reduction System) to overtake and secure second place on Lap 4.
The race settled into a more predictable rhythm until Stroll’s incident on Lap 6, when he made contact with the inside wall at Turn 22 and crashed into the opposite wall, causing a disruption in the order of the race.
The introduction of the Safety Car was the catalyst for a strategic shift in the race. Multiple teams took advantage of the opportunity to make a pit stop and switch to the Hard compound tires, which were expected to last for the entire duration of the race. Red Bull drivers, along with Leclerc, Piastri, Alonso, and Russell, all made the decision to discard their starting tires. However, Norris and Hamilton chose to stay on track and split Verstappen.
Hamilton expressed his dissatisfaction with the decision not to pit, believing that he was now at a significant disadvantage compared to his rivals. He communicated his frustration to his race engineer, Peter Bonnington.
The race resumed on Lap 9, with Norris executing a flawless restart to maintain his lead over Verstappen. Meanwhile, Piastri almost caught Leclerc off guard, putting pressure on the Ferrari driver.
In addition to Norris and Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg for Haas and Guanyu Zhou for Sauber also opted not to pit. This strategic move allowed them to climb into positions within the top 10.
Bearman, following closely behind Zhou, overtook Tsunoda at Turn 1 during the restart. He then swiftly passed the Sauber driver to secure 10th place.
Alex Albon was furious with Kevin Magnussen for not leaving him enough room on the approach to Turn 4. This forced the Williams driver to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
As Verstappen’s Hard compound tires reached their optimal temperature, he closed the gap to Norris and ultimately reclaimed the lead on Lap 13. At the same time, Perez executed a similar move on Hamilton.
Hamilton’s struggles became apparent, as he began to impede the cars behind him. However, Russell, on fresher tires, capitalized on this opportunity and overtook Hulkenberg to secure ninth place.
Leclerc found himself losing ground to Perez in the battle for second place. However, he made a crucial move on his future teammate at Mercedes, overtaking him at Turn 1.
The stewards were investigating an incident involving an unsafe release, in which Perez was released into the path of Alonso. As a result, Perez received a five-second time penalty.
There was more news from the stewards as the new regulations for 2024 resulted in Magnussen receiving a 10-second penalty for causing the collision with Albon.
Hamilton had fallen out of the crucial one-second range behind Leclerc, but Piastri was unable to make a successful move at Turn 1 and had to give back the position.
In an attempt to establish a five-second lead over Leclerc, Perez easily overtook Norris, putting Red Bull in the familiar position of running in first and second.
Bearman had expressed frustration that Hulkenberg was slowing him down, but Hulkenberg managed to keep his position clean through the final hairpin and make a comfortable pass down the start-finish straight with the assistance of DRS.
Magnussen, who was in 12th place at the halfway point, received an additional 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when passing Tsunoda.
Piastri had been held up behind Hamilton, and McLaren’s expected lack of speed on the straight was hindering their chances as Mercedes continued to stay ahead.
McLaren informed Piastri that they had reported Hamilton’s braking maneuvers to the stewards, even though Piastri himself had not expressed disapproval of his rival’s actions.
Norris began to feel the pressure from Leclerc behind him, but he was informed over the radio that McLaren planned to extend his first stint in the race.
The British driver acknowledged that it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain his pace, and Leclerc easily overtook him to reclaim a position on the podium.
Magnussen had been helping Hulkenberg’s chances by holding up a long line of cars behind him, and he successfully defended his 12th place by closing the door on Tsunoda at the exit of Turn 3.
The Japanese driver’s compromised run towards Turn 4 resulted in him losing a position to Esteban Ocon in the only remaining Alpine car while Magnussen continued to lead that group of five drivers. Magnussen’s defensive maneuvers allowed his teammate Hulkenberg to build up a sufficient gap to make a pit stop and come out ahead of the pack in 10th place. Piastri had been closely following Hamilton’s Mercedes but missed an opportunity to overtake the seven-time champion when he went wide at the first turn. Hamilton made a pit stop at the end of Lap 36 for the Soft compound tire and re-entered the race in ninth place, 7 seconds behind Bearman in the Ferrari ahead. McLaren decided to cover the threat of an undercut and Norris, also on the Soft tire, came out behind Bearman but ahead of Hamilton despite a 4.1-second pit stop. Norris received a warning flag for weaving as he tried to prevent Hamilton from launching an attack, but he was able to maintain his position after that. Sauber had kept Zhou on the track in the hope of causing a late disruption, but he was eventually brought in with eight laps to go and a slow pit stop dropped him to the back of the field. Bearman was informed that holding on to seventh place was achievable as Norris’ focus shifted more towards keeping Hamilton behind rather than catching up to the Ferrari ahead. Daniel Ricciardo had a challenging weekend and a strange spin resulted in a disappointing 16th place finish for him, only ahead of the two Sauber drivers. Verstappen comfortably secured his 56th career win and his second in Saudi Arabia, becoming the first driver to win multiple times at the high-speed Jeddah track. Perez settled for second place, 8 seconds behind Verstappen on the road before his penalty was applied, while Leclerc avoided a repeat of his brake issues from Bahrain to claim third place. Piastri finished fourth in the leading McLaren, with Alonso dispelling his doubts about Aston Martin’s long-run pace to secure fifth place, ahead of Russell. Bearman held on to seventh place, leading his fellow countrymen Norris and Hamilton across the finish line, while Hulkenberg completed the top 10 to earn a valuable point for the Haas team.