In epic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen beats Leclerc by just 0.5s

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix comes after a dramatic season-opener in Bahrain, where Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 from team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr as Red Bull suffered a double retirement when both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez suffered a vacuum issue within its fuel system. 

It was a strange F1 race weekend, with the 48 hours before the race dominated by a missile attack on an oil depot just 10km from the circuit. 

F1’s drivers met for over four hours to discuss the safety of the event. At one stage they were unified in wanting to boycott the event but were talked around by Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali, team bosses and Saudi governmental officials after assurances about safety were made.

An ultimate entertainment by Ferrari and Red Bull

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won an epic battle over Charles Leclerc in Saudi Arabia with Carlos Sainz completing the podium behind his Ferrari team mate – as pole-sitter Sergio Perez had to settle for fourth after pitting just before a pivotal Safety Car. 

The battle for the lead continued after a very brief lull, tyres and drivers at their limit. On the start of Lap 47, Verstappen closed in once again and this time made sure he had DRS and a good run into Turn 1. Leclerc couldn’t close him off this time and now the hunted had become the hunter.

Leclerc put in the fastest lap with a second wind in the closing staged – but Verstappen narrowly kept him at bay, shrugging off the scare of a late Sector 1 yellow flag to win by just 0.549s. 

Grand Prix scoreboard?

Sergio Perez led until Lap 16, when a flash of Ferrari mechanics perhaps triggered Red Bull into an early pit stop. That proved to be unfortunate; Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed at the final corner on the next lap and triggered a VSC then Safety Car, with Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz capitalizing. 

The Mexican was set to restart third on Lap 21 when the Safety Car retreated but was found to have passed Sainz as the Spaniard exited the pits alongside the Red Bull during the caution period, leaving the pole-sitter fourth. 

Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Alonso and Ricciardo, were the five drivers not to make the flag – with Stroll classified 13th, one lap down. Neither Mick Schumacher, who crashed out of qualifying, nor Yuki Tsunoda, whose AlphaTauri stopped with a technical issue on his lap to the grid, started the race. 

Further back, Kevin Magnussen took P9 off Pierre Gasly, who then lost another place to Lando Norris, and Zhou Guanyu fell to 17th ahead of only Nicholas Latifi.

Hamilton tried to take P6 off Magnussen at the final corner at the start of Lap 24 but the Haas driver retook the place with DRS, and with ease. The Briton didn’t make the same mistake next time around, retaining DRS to pass Magnussen into Turn 1.

Published by : Aditya Andharia 

Edited By : Khushi Thakur