By William Hewitt

Formula One returned for the third time to Saudi Arabia and the streets of Jeddah for the second race of the season, and with all the practice sessions topped by the two Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso, it was clear that Red Bull was the team to watch. Though a drivetrain issue in qualifying for Verstappen saw the reigning World Champion start down in fifteenth pace. This gave Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, the opportunity to take pole for the second year at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified second on Saturday but took a ten-place grid penalty for new engine components, leading to the top two positions being held by Perez and Fernando Alonso whose surprising move to Aston Martin last year has started to pay off.

As the lights went out Alonso got a better launch and found himself in the lead at turn 1 after diving down the inside of the Red Bull. Just a few turns later, contact was made further down the field between McLaren’s rookie driver Oscar Piastri and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, with sparks flying and Piastri’s front-wing endplate flying off into the background and unfortunately hitting Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris. Both McLarens were forced to pit and change their front wings because of this, something the team really did not need, as they found themselves in the last two positions. The excitement for Alonso’s lead was also quickly taken away as he was awarded a five second time penalty for an incorrect starting location on the grid, his Aston Martin being slightly to far out of his grid slot, though his lead wouldn’t las long on track anyway as on lap four Perez overtook him down the inside of turn 1 to take the lead. Moves were also being made further back, with Carlos Sainz overtaking Esteban Ocon and then Lewis Hamilton two laps afterwards. Verstappen was also making up places quickly, passing Hamilton on lap 12 and taking eighth place. Six laps later disaster struck for Aston Martin, as Lance Stroll was told to stop the car on track due to a technical failure at turn 13. A controversial call for a safety car led to multiple drivers pitting and closed them up for a close restart. Perez got away well from Alonso but behind them battles were brewing, Hamilton was gaining on Carlos Sainz and 1 lap later he overtook him with a switchback manoeuvre out of the first chicane and moving the 7-time world champion into fifth place. Verstappen also managed to pass George Russell for the final podium position, David Croft describing the overtake as looking like “F1 against F2”, the Red Bull is in another league when compared to the Mercedes. Verstappen then went on to overtake Fernando Alonso for second place on lap 25, making it a 1-2 position for Red Bull, the same as it had been in Bahrain.

On Lap 27 there was another DNF as Williams’ Alex Albon limped back to the pits to retire. Not much changed for a long time after that, but on lap 38 Max Verstappen, complained of a strange noise that occurred at high speeds, though as far as Red Bull were concerned, it was not a problem. A problem that Verstappen did have was his championship position, although he was leading after Bahrain, if Perez were to win in Saudi Arabia and have fastest lap, he would take the lead by one point. Thus, Verstappen asked his engineer for the time to beat, and after a minor confliction he started to pick up the pace, and on the final lap he took the extra point. Whilst all this was happening, more controversy arrived for Fernando Alonso, as he was possibly facing another penalty for failing to serve the first one correctly as the Aston Martin rear jack was touching his car before the 5 second penalty had finished. George Russell therefore, was told to push, in order to get within 5 seconds of Alonso so that if he was awarded another penalty he would gain Alonso’s position and be on the podium. Unfortunately for Russell, Alonso was told to push and try to pull away, and he was successful in doing so.

Sergio Perez crossed the line to win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, winning at yet another street circuit and thus earning him the title of “king of the streets”, a truly dominant drive. Verstappen took second place as well as the fastest lap causing him to lead the championship by 1 point and making it Red Bull’s first back-to-back 1-2 finish since 2009. Fernando Alonso celebrated on the podium, but the controversy was not over. He was later awarded a 10 second penalty, which pushed him behind Russell and gave Mercedes their first podium of the year, but even this was not the end, as late that night Aston Martin appealed and were successful, so Alonso was re-given his position of third place.