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	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	50	-
2	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	50	-13.643
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	50	-18.639
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	50	-32.007
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	50	-35.759
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	50	-39.936
7	38	Ollie Bearman	Ferrari	50	-42.679
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	50	-45.708
9	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 10^th 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
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'31.632		242.561
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'31.746	0.114	242.260
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'31.773	0.141	242.188
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'31.944	0.312	241.738
5	38	Ollie Bearman	Ferrari	1'32.186	0.554	241.103
6	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber/Ferrari	1'32.208	0.576	241.046
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'32.254	0.622	240.926
8	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'32.273	0.641	240.876
9	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