A great battle between Verstappen and Leclerc in the second round of F1! Will this be the case all season?
Victory at the Saudi Arabian GP was decided by a crazy last lap drama by an overtaking from Max Verstappen on Charles Leclerc just before the finish. What a pity for Sergio Perez’s race. who was spoilt by Nicholas Latifi.
This weekend had much to offer with a first pole-position in his career Sergio Perez, Ferrari and Red Bull in full force on the first two lines of the starting grid, Lewis Hamilton only 16th… this promised us a very interesting Grand Prix on the streets of the Jeddah Corniche circuit.
Two losses before the start
This Grand Prix race lost drivers even before it began! Due to Mick Schumacher’s crash in Qualifying, Haas revealed they would only be racing with the one car of Kevin Magnussen due to the damage. The German himself physically recovered and was okay, but to restoring the car after the crash was difficult, if at all possible. Leaving Haas to make the tough decision not to risk repairing the car in such a rush, saving Schumacher and his car to race in Melbourne, Australia for the next GP.
We had a second loss occur during the formation lap with Yuki Tsunoda where he experienced power engine issues. The Japanese also suffered mechanical problems the day before, failing to properly take part in Qualifying.
Another to note was the early failure in the Ferrari’s, they found an electrical problem in the fuel system of Carlos Sainz’s car, but managed to fix it before the race. The Spaniard started well, but he ran into Leclerc's car and let Verstappen overtake him on the outside line - that was the only change inside the top eight.
Very tough day for Esteban Ocon
The early stage of the race was a tense one, but consistent. Leclerc kept within a couple of seconds of Perez, similar gaps were between them and Verstappen, as well as Verstappen and Sainz. It was a waiting game to see which team would trigger the pit stops first to change their tyres.
What happened next was more interesting. Unlike in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso seemed to be faster than Esteban Ocon, battling hard for sixth place. What was on our minds was, why would the Frenchman desperately resist? However, Ocon almost crashed both Alpines out, an accident akin to the one that Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo had in Baku in 2018. Alonso, however, managed to brake in time and in this third attempt to pass, succeeded. This gave Valtteri Bottas an opportunity to catch up with the drivers on the aftermath of their battle.
Nicolas Latifi hurts Sergio Perez's chances to maintain the lead
Next came the first wave of pit stops. From listening in on the radios, Leclerc and Ferrari decided they would go to pit if Perez did not. This forced Red Bull to making a mistake of calling the race leader to pit for fresh tyres. As soon as Perez rejoined the track, he suffered a collision with Nicholas Latifi. We were graced with first a virtual safe car, then a real physical car, allowing the drivers a free pit stop, spending less time than the ex-leader.
In the end, Perez missed both Leclerc and Verstappen, and even Sainz. After some deliberation, the Red Bull decided not to risk a penalty and asked Checo to pass Carlos after the restart. This is how the pole position holder and former leader of the Saudi Arabian GP suddenly found himself only fourth.
George Russell was fifth, then Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton who hadn't changed from their hard tyres. Alongside, we had Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg (also without a pit stop) and Bottas were at the back of the top ten. However, Nico's happiness didn't last long as with worn tyres, he fell into 14th place after the restart.
Verstappen vs Leclerc: brilliant chess and a win for Max!
Leclerc managed to create a gap of more than a second, not allowing Max to pass in the DRS zone. Everything was going pretty well until... another incident! Daniel Ricciardo’s car suddenly stopped, causing the appearance of another virtual safe car. Such an unfortunate incident even after such a great tyre management strategy for Ricciardo. Unfortunately, Fernando and Bottas also didn’t finish the race with Bottas being called into the pits to retire due to a cooling issue. Max took advantage of the situation, warming up his tyres, which thanks to this finally managed to sit on the tail of Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Many battles took place from then, Verstappen attacked Leclerc before the final corner but Charles immediately took advantage of DRS and regained the lead. From here on, both drivers began to play a game of chess, trying to pass each other before the finish line. Max managed to get the wing activation he wanted on the start straight and took the lead over the Ferrari. The first win of the season for Max! Charles conceded defeat and finished second, with Sainz in 3rd, blocking Perez from a podium finish.
Russell finished lonely in fifth place, whilst Hamilton, who failed to pit during a virtual safety car, make it to tenth place. Ocon and Norris had an interesting fight for sixth place: Esteban was ahead of the McLaren driver at the start of the final lap as the Norris tried a counterattack on the finish line, but lost the race to the flag. Gasly and Magnussen finished the race in eighth and ninth places.
Sadly, a little earlier before the chequered flag, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon in their hard battle against each other ended up sustaining damaged after a collision, leaving both to retire their cars.
Now take a breath, the third Grand Prix is starts next weekend in Melbourne!
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