2024 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Race Recap،
Max Verstappen dominated the second race of the Formula 1 season in Saudi Arabia as his Red Bull team secured a second one-two finish in as many races in 2024.
Despite ongoing turmoil behind the scenes at Red Bull, Verstappen looked untouchable as he won his ninth consecutive race and the 56th of his career.
– Unlapped: How to listen or watch the ESPN F1 broadcast
An early safety car when Lance Stroll crashed into the barriers at Turn 23 forced Verstappen to sacrifice the lead for six laps when he pitted and McLaren's Lando Norris stayed out, but it was of no use. only a slight inconvenience on his way to a comfortable victory.
“I think overall it was a fantastic weekend, for the whole team but also for me,” Verstappen said after the race. “I felt really good with the car in qualifying and it was basically the same in the race.”
Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez was in second place on lap four, briefly dropped to fourth place under the safety car, but moved back up to second place by lap 18.
Stroll hit the inside of Turn 22 on lap six while traveling at 160 mph, which broke his left front suspension and sent him deep into the barriers on the inside of Turn 23.
The Aston Martin driver emerged from the crash unscathed, but lost a potential final point with the mistake.
Charles Leclerc secured third place for Ferrari and set the fastest lap, but never seemed to pose a real threat to the Red Bulls.
Perez was handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe exit from his pit stop, but held an 18.6-second margin over the Ferrari at the finish, allowing him to easily retain second place.
“We had a pretty good pace because we had the fastest lap at the end and I was helped a little by the DRS,” Leclerc said. “But overall the feeling was pretty good, it was a bit of a boring race because Red Bull was a bit too fast and behind us we had a small gap, but we took as many points as we could today. 'today and that's our goal.' “
Much of the focus has been on Leclerc's replacement teammate Oliver Bearman, who made his F1 debut after Ferrari regular Carlos Sainz was sidelined with appendicitis after Thursday's tests.
Bearman, 18, finished seventh from 11th on the grid after holding off fellow Brits Norris and Hamilton in the final ten laps of the race.
Norris and Hamilton found themselves engaged in a battle towards the end after both their teams opted not to put them under the first safety car.
The fight, which saw Norris booked for rolling under braking in front of Hamilton, gave Bearman extra breathing room and helped him retain six points on his F1 debut.
Oscar Piastri secured fourth place for McLaren after overtaking Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso on the second lap of the race. Alonso then finished fifth ahead of Russell, who had a quiet run up to sixth.
Nico Hulkenberg secured the final point on offer for Haas, underlining the American team's surprising start to the season.
Like Norris and Hamilton, Hülkenberg chose not to stop under the first safety car and was later helped by teammate Kevin Magnussen, who managed to hold off a group of Hülkenberg's potential rivals for tenth place by holding them on track.
Magnussen finished 11th on the road, but suffered 20-second penalties for on-track infractions earlier in the race.
