Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen won the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after starting from the first spot on the grid.
The second race of the season didn't go well for Pierre Gasly. The Alpine driver suffered an issue with a gearbox during the warm-up lap and was called into the pits right after the first lap of the race to retire the car.
Another driver who will want to forget the race at Jeddah Corniche Circuit quickly is Lance Stroll. The Canadian driver crashed his car in turn 22 on lap 7.
The majority of the drivers started the race on medium tires with a plan of making the race a one-stop, and they got their opportunity for the stop already on the lap mentioned above.
It was during this stop that Sergio Perez was noted for an unsafe release by stewards. He later received a five-second penalty.
Kevin Magnussen made two mistakes right after the race restarted, which resulted in a 20-second penalty in total for him.
First, he squeezed Alex Albon to the wall and almost caused a collision, and then gained an advantage during an overtake on Yuki Tsunoda by going off track.
While he made two crucial mistakes that destroyed his own race, the Danish driver showed a defending masterclass as he held up all the cars behind him and earned his teammate Nico Hulkenberg a free pit stop without going into traffic. That allowed the German driver to take P10 at the chequered flag.
The 18-year-old rookie Oliver Bearman started the race from P11 and brought home an amazing result of P7 after what was his first-ever race on F1.
Finally, Verstappen, who crossed the finish line in first place, managed the race from the front and only had to overtake Lando Norris, who didn't put up too much of a fight as he knew it wasn't his battle.
Name | Team | Gap | |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.000 |
2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +13.643 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +18.639 |
4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +32.007 |
5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +35.759 |
6 | George Russell | Mercedes | +39.936 |
7 | Oliver Bearman | Ferrari | +42.679 |
8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +45.708 |
9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +47.391 |
10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | +1:16.996 |
11 | Alex Albon | Williams | +1:28.354 |
12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +1:45.737 |
13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +1 Lap |
14 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | +1 Lap |
15 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | +1 Lap |
16 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | +1 Lap |
17 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber | +1 Lap |
18 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber | +1 Lap |
19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | DNF |
20 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | RET |