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2024 F1 Saudi Arabian GP results: Max Verstappen wins

Verstappen beat his team-mate Sergio Perez, who incurred a penalty during the pitstops that didn’t impact the finishing order, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix results

Cla   Nº   Driver   Car / Engine   Laps   Gap 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 50 -
11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 50 -13.643
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 50 -18.639
81 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 50 -32.007
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 50 -35.759
63 George Russell Mercedes 50 -39.936
38 Ollie Bearman Ferrari 50 -42.679
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 50 -45.708
44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 50 -47.391
10  27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 50 -1'16.996
11  23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 50 -1'28.354
12  20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 50 -1'45.737
13  31 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 49 -
14  22 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 49 -
15  2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 49 -
16  3 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 49 -
17  77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 49 -
18  24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 49 -
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 5 -
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1 -

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix report

Polesitter Verstappen led the charge to Turn 1, while Perez briefly grabbed nosed ahead of Leclerc for second but had to concede the spot to the Ferrari driver.

Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) just held on to fourth, ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – whose car leapt forward on the start line just before the red lights went out – and the Mercedes pairing of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Piastri passed Alonso for fourth at Turn 1 at the start of lap two, as Ferrari’s substitute driver Oliver Bearman (who started on soft tyres) banged wheels with Yuki Tsunoda’s RB over tenth place.

Perez snatched second from Leclerc at the start of lap four to make it a Red Bull 1-2, with Verstappen already 2.4s up the road.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll plunged into the barriers at Turn 22 on lap seven, having clipped the apex wall of the previous corner at 140mph, causing a safety car and sent the majority of the field into the pits.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24, checks out his car after crashing out of the race (Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images)

Red Bull had to double stack Verstappen and Perez, but with 4.6s between them it just managed to achieve their pitstops without major delay, but Perez caused Alonso to brake to avoid the Mexican as he rejoined from his pit box.

Norris stayed out to lead from Verstappen and Hamilton, who also didn’t pit. Perez retained his track position over Leclerc, who ran ahead of Piastri and Alonso. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) also stayed out.

The race resumed on lap 10, with Norris leading Verstappen, Hamilton and Perez. Alex Albon (Williams) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) clashed just after the restart, with Magnussen later receiving a 10s penalty for the incident.

Norris retained his lead, but was under investigation for his potential start infringement, with Verstappen initially happy to sit behind him on his fresh hard tyres. But Verstappen passed Norris three laps later, to retake the lead, as Perez did likewise to Hamilton for third at Turn 1.

Leclerc passed his future team-mate Hamilton for fourth at Turn 1 on lap 15.

Piastri and Hamilton then clashed wheels at Turn 1 two laps later in the battle for fifth. Perez received a 5s time penalty for an unsafe release but eased past Norris for second on lap 18.

At half distance, Verstappen led the yet-to-be-penalised Perez by almost 7s. Norris, who was cleared of any penalty for his odd start, ran third from Leclerc and the battling Hamilton and Piastri.

Leclerc passed Norris for third on lap 27, while Piastri made harder work of getting past Hamilton – outbraking him at Turn 1 on lap 35 but overshooting and having to let him past again.

Hamilton pitted two laps later, switching to softs for the sprint to the finish, rejoining in ninth. Norris stopped a tour later, also for softs, and exited the pits just ahead of Hamilton.

Bearman made some nice moves on his debut as he drove into the points, running seventh but with Norris and Hamilton on fresher tyres behind him.

Verstappen won by 8s over Perez, whose 5s penalty was inconsequential as Leclerc (who set fastest lap on the final tour) was way behind him in third. Piastri finished fourth, ahead of Alonso and Russell.

Bearman held on to seventh with a fine drive on his F1 debut, ahead of Norris and Hamilton. Hulkenberg finished 10th for Haas, after his penalised team-mate Magnussen did a heroic job of keep those behind at bay to allow him to make his pitstop and rejoin ahead of them.

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla   Nº   Driver   Car / Engine   Time   Gap   Kph 
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'31.632   242.561
44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'31.746 0.114 242.260
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'31.773 0.141 242.188
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1'31.944 0.312 241.738
38 Ollie Bearman Ferrari 1'32.186 0.554 241.103
24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1'32.208 0.576 241.046
63 George Russell Mercedes 1'32.254 0.622 240.926
11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'32.273 0.641 240.876
23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1'32.307 0.675 240.787
10  81 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1'32.310 0.678 240.779
11  20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'32.338 0.706 240.706
12  27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1'32.366 0.734 240.633
13  14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'32.387 0.755 240.579
14  77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1'32.706 1.074 239.751
15  2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1'33.026 1.394 238.926
16  3 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1'33.323 1.691 238.166
17  31 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1'33.481 1.849 237.763
18  22 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1'33.523 1.891 237.657
19  18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'35.560 3.928 232.591
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