Saudi Arabia - Race

The second race of the season and the second win for the unstoppable Max Verstappen. While even Charles Leclerc in his post-race interview admitted that the front of the race was quite boring, the fights further down the field more than made up for the predictable winner. From Haas' strange but effective strategy that got them their first point of the season, to Bearman's stellar debut, there is much to be said about the Grand Prix in Jeddah. 

The race started quite unfortunately for Alpine. During the formation lap, Gasly reported problems with the gearbox and consequently had to retire the car right after the start of the race. While he drove back into the pit, his friend Charles Leclerc was busy defending P2 from the aggressively attacking Perez. Thanks to some great defensive moves he managed to hold onto the spot for four laps. The second Ferrari driver, 18-year-old Oliver Bearman, also held his own from the very beginning, proving straight away that choosing him for the race was a good decision. 

Things got shaken up at lap 7 when Aston Martin's Lance Stroll drove into a wall, finishing his race prematurely and bringing out a yellow flag. Under the safety car that quickly followed, we saw a wave of pit stops. With Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, Piastri, and Alonso all pitting, Norris became the race leader, leading his first laps in the 2024 season. Interestingly enough, right around that time, it was revealed that he was being investigated for starting the race from an incorrect location. Despite many people believing that he was at fault and was surely going to be punished, no further action was taken. By lap 9 the drivers were back to standard racing. 

Even though Norris managed to evade punishment, quite a few other penalties were given out during the race. At lap 11 Magnussen had an off-track moment during his fight for P13 and at lap 12, the stewards announced that Perez was under investigation for an unsafe release in the pitlane. By lap 16 the decisions came back: both drivers were given time penalties with 5 seconds for Perez and 10 for Magnussen. Amidst the chaos further down the grid, Verstappen took back the coveted first place from Norris. Piastri began trying to overtake Hamilton, a fight that would take up a good part of the race. Bearman drove in and out of points, battling for P10 with Hulkenberg. In a surprising turn of events, soon after the decision about his first penalty was given, Magnussen got an additional 10 seconds for driving off track and gaining an unfair advantage. 

By lap 27 the two Red Bulls sat comfortably in P1 and P2. Perez was seven seconds in front of Leclerc, but he still had to keep the penalty in the back of his mind. While things had calmed down among the contestants for the race lead, tensions rose further down the field. Hulkenberg battled for points and, to make it easier for him and let him pit without losing track position, his teammate held up quite a few drivers who got stuck behind him in a DRS train. While they did all they could to overtake Magnussen, they couldn't get past him. 

After an impressively long run on medium tires, Hamilton and Norris pitted at lap 37 and 38 respectively. They both opted for the softs for the rest of the race. McLaren faced some issues with Noriss' back tire, resulting in a pit stop that was slightly longer than expected. It was still nothing compared to the one delivered by Kick Sauber. Zhou pitted at lap 43 and after a good race, his hopes for a decent position were shattered since he spent almost 46 seconds in the pit lane. The Chinese driver dropped to the back of the grid where he remained for the last 7 laps. 

With less than 10 laps to go, the Red Bulls and Leclerc continued driving for a podium, with the Ferrari being almost 12 seconds behind Perez. Piastri, Alonso, Russel, and Bearman followed the top three. After their respective pit stops, Norris and Hamilton battled for P8. During their fight, the McLaren was noted for weaving on a straight but no further action was taken. Hamilton didn't manage to overtake him before the race ended. Toward the back of the grid, Ricciardo faced a stressful moment when he spun on one of the last laps. He managed to recover the car and finish the race without further issues. 

Verstappen, Perez, and Leclerc added another podium to the collection accumulated over their careers. The Monegasque also managed to score an additional point for the fastest lap which he completed as his last lap of the race. The title of 'driver of the day' was, deservedly so, given to Oliver Bearman. The 18-year-old achieved a truly impressive debut, finishing at P7 and scoring 6 points for Ferrari. Funnily enough, this means that despite being an F2 driver, in the 2024 season, he has more points in F1 than he does in F2. I think it's safe to say that it is only a matter of time before he gets a full-time seat in Formula One. 

Order of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Sergio Perez

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Oscar Piastri

5. Fernando Alonso

6. George Russel

7. Olivier Bearman

8. Lando Norris

9. Lewis Hamilton

10. Nico Hulkenberg

11. Alex Albon

12. Kevin Magnussen

13. Esteban Ocon

14. Logan Sargeant

15. Yuki Tsunoda

16. Daniel Ricciardo

17. Valtteri Bottas

18. Zhou Guanyu

DNF Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll