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The Saudi Arabian GP produced a thrilling see-saw battle between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. The battle that intensified after an untimely virtual safety car saw the two drivers exchange leads before Max Verstappen nailed the overtake on the Ferrari into Turn 1.
The race had question marks all over it. This was initially due to safety concerns in Saudi Arabia and then due to the accident-prone nature of the Jeddah circuit. Surprisingly, however, it produced a thrilling race which was the perfect endorsement for the new regulations.
The race had Max Verstappen on the top step of the podium, Charles Leclerc second with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz picking up third. The race that was expected to feature multiple stoppages and maybe even a red flag or two ('chaos' as predicted by us), in reality, was more or less straightforward with one safety car and one virtual safety car period. Let's now take a look at the key highlights of the race.
#1 Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc put on a display for the lead
Max Verstappen did not have a great qualifying and in the first part of the race, it did appear that he was holding himself behind Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. While the safety car timing ruled Perez out of contention, it turned the attention towards Verstappen and Leclerc as the two drivers started pulling away from their teammates.
It became evident in the battle that Leclerc had a much superior car in the first sector, while Verstappen held the advantage in the fast-speed corners. So when Leclerc would put out a gap to keep himself out of the DRS zone, Verstappen would pull back the gap in the second and third sectors.
The stalemate was broken after the VSC period as the Dutchman broke the 1-second barrier for DRS. In a battle that was more or less a game of chess more than anything, Verstappen prevailed in the end by the smallest of margins.
#2 Mercedes mess it up for Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian GP
Mercedes had the third-fastest car on the grid during the Saudi Arabian GP as it became clear that the poor qualifying for Lewis Hamilton was down to setup issues. The seven-time world champion was able to climb his way through the field somewhat comfortably and was in line to finish P6 in the race.
During the VSC period, however, the team had the opportunity to pit him for Medium tires, but because of a delay in decision making, it missed the bus as the pitlane was closed. Once the incident was cleared and the pitlane was opened, Hamilton dropped down the order with not many laps left and could only muster a 10th place finish. Sure, Mercedes has made a poor start in terms of the car it has at its disposal, but it left significant championship points on the table today that could come back to haunt them later in the season.
#3 Bad luck strikes Perez, Alonso, Ricciardo, and others
Remember Sergio Perez? The Mexican scored the first pole position of his career on Saturday. He made the perfect start to the Saudi Arabian GP and was leading the race with authority. Disaster struck, however, when Latifi ended in the wall a lap after Perez had made his first pitstop. He found himself fourth in the order as the other three cars were able to make their stops under safety car conditions. Perez attacked Sainz with all his might throughout the race. While his teammate Verstappen was able to overtake the Ferrari he was chasing, Perez could not, as he finished fourth in the Saudi Arabian GP.
It wasn't just the Red Bull driver that was struck by bad luck in the race as Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo had to retire from the race from strong points-scoring positions due to reliability issues.
#4 McLaren makes a return to the midfield
Lando Norris was beaten to the line by Esteban Ocon for 6th position at the end of the race. For McLaren, however, the Saudi Arabian GP should be a welcome boost as the team showed promising speed during the race. The track was more favorable to the car than Bahrain and that appeared to help the drivers express themselves in the race.
In the end, the two drivers narrowly missed out in Q2 and one of them scored points. In terms of a comeback, this certainly was one for the Woking-based team.
#5 The Jeddah Corniche Circuit redeems itself (somewhat)
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit was under tremendous scrutiny throughout the Saudi Arabian GP weekend. The track is, in all honesty, just too fast and too narrow and the image of Mick Schumacher's crash was hard to forget. To add to that, what was happening off the track was something that decreased any affinity whatsoever that anyone might have had for the track.
The track for the Saudi Arabian GP, however, was on its best behavior on Sunday. First, it was the feature race for Formula 2 that went ahead incident-free, and then finally it was the F1 race. The Saudi Arabian GP had everything one could look for in a race. There were battles in the midfield between the two Alpine drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas, and at the end of the race, there was the gripping battle between Leclerc and Verstappen.
While it still features some questionable characteristics, the track was able to show how it could be the best endorsement for the new regulations.
