Formula 1: Sergio Perez Reigns In Saudi Arabia, Full Race Results

In Saudi Arabia, Red Bull proved their superiority with Sergio Perez claiming a victory from pole position, followed closely by teammate Max Verstappen.

Red Bull Dominate Again

Perez established an impressive lead of five seconds over Fernando Alonso after a restart, while Verstappen had his work cut out for him. Starting from 15th place due to a driveshaft problem during qualifying on Saturday, Verstappen made swift progress through the ranks early on. Still, his fortunes changed when Lance Stroll’s car stalled on lap 18, prompting a safety car intervention.

Luckily for Verstappen, he had not yet made his pit stop and could take advantage of the safety car period to pit for free, catching up to Perez, Alonso, and George Russell, who were ahead of him. He quickly passed Russell and Alonso, but Perez had already built up too much of a lead to be caught.

McLaren, Ferrari Struggle Late

Alonso’s performance was lackluster, finishing a considerable distance behind Perez and Verstappen in third place, a gap that only widened as the race progressed. At one point, both Perez and Verstappen were lapping over a second faster than Alonso, who eventually finished more than 15 seconds behind Verstappen.

George Russell took an impressive fourth place, finishing ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in fifth. Hamilton was the only driver in the top 10 who started on hard compound tires, switching to mediums during the safety car period. He emerged from the pits behind Carlos Sainz of Ferrari but swiftly overtook him after the restart.

A Controversial Ruling

After the race, the F1 stewards b promoted Russell to third place ahead of Alonso. They ruled that Alonso did not properly serve his five-second penalty during his pit stop. Alonso had been penalized for not lining up correctly in his starting position before the race, with the team touching the car with the jack during the penalty. However, Alonso was later reinstated to third place.

Sainz performed well, finishing in seventh place ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc. Like most of the top 10 finishers, the Ferrari cars used hard compound tires for the duration of the race, but they lacked the pace of the Mercedes cars ahead of them. Esteban Ocon of Alpine finished in eighth place, while his teammate Pierre Gasly came in ninth. Finally, Kevin Magnussen of Haas secured the final points-paying position.

Saudi Arabia Grand Prix Race Results

1. Sergio Perez
2. Max Verstappen
3. Fernando Alonso
4. George Russell
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Carlos Sainz
7. Charles Leclerc
8. Esteban Ocon
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Kevin Magnussen
11. Yuki Tsunoda
12. Nico Hulkenberg
13. Guanyu Zhou
14. Nyck DeVries
15. Oscar Piastri
16. Logan Sargeant
17. Lando Norris
18. Valtteri Bottas
19. Alex Albon
20. Lance Stroll