Verstappen won again. Rula Rouhana / REUTERS
As in Bahrain, Max Verstappen ultra-dominated the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah. And like last weekend, Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and a Ferrari, that of Charles Leclerc this time, completed the podium.
A demolition company. We were waiting for this Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, very different from that of Bahrain, to really get an idea of the gap between Red Bull and the others and the answer is clear: it is immense. In Jeddah, Max Verstappen and the Austrian team once again taught the competition a real lesson. The Dutch glutton scored his 56th career success on Saturday and the second of the season. To put it simply, it never shook. His takeoff was perfect, not even attacked by Charles Leclerc. Lance Stroll’s crash on lap 7, causing a safety car, didn’t even bother him.
The Batavian returned to the pits to put on hard tires, came out second behind Lando Norris and passed him a few laps after the restart to fly towards another success. Simple and efficient. Behind, Sergio Perez this time kept the pace, signing a new double for Red Bull, less than eight seconds behind his leader. But for the rest of the paddock, things are squeaking.
Leclerc lacking rhythm, Norris and Hamilton made a bet
Third on Saturday, Charles Leclerc had a fairly solitary race. The Monegasque was quickly overtaken by Sergio Perez and was never able to keep up with the pace of the Red Bulls. He even had difficulty getting rid of Lando Norris, who had been on worn tires for a long time. The Briton from McLaren attempted a move, just like Lewis Hamilton. The two Englishmen did not return at the time of the safety car, at the start of the race, and pushed the medium tires until laps 36 and 37. They had long hoped for a red flag which never came and put the soft ones at the end of the race to come back without real success (Norris 8th, Hamilton 9th).
Note the very good performance of Oliver Bearman, 7th with his Ferrari. The young Briton joined the Scuderia, only on Saturday morning, to replace Carlos Sainz, victim of appendicitis, and scored his first points. At the back of the class, Pierre Gasly had a black Saturday. He encountered a gearbox problem on the formation lap. This forced him to retire at the end of the first lap. Seventeenth on the grid, Esteban Ocon went to the end for Alpine. The Norman took a modest 13th place but battled with Williams and the Racing Bulls. Not enough, we will have to do better in two weeks in Melbourne, Australia.
