F1 race results: Sergio Perez wins 2023 Saudi Arabian GP

After Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin outdragged him off the startline, Perez hit the front by Lap 4 and pulled clear, as team-mate Verstappen battled back from starting 15^th after a driveshaft failure in qualifying.

Verstappen charged up to fourth before benefitting from a safety car when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin ground to a halt. He quickly picked off those in front to sit behind Perez by half distance.

The Red Bulls were a second a lap faster than the opposition in the closing stages, but Verstappen reported a problem with his driveshaft at high speed and wasn’t able to do anything about his team-mate over the second half of the race.

2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix results

Cla	Driver		Laps	Gap	Interval	Points
1	Sergio Perez		50			25
2	Max Verstappen		50	5.355	5.355	19
3	Fernando Alonso		50	20.728	15.373	15
4	George Russell		50	25.866	5.138	12
5	Lewis Hamilton		50	31.065	5.199	10
6	Carlos Sainz		50	35.876	4.811	8
7	Charles Leclerc		50	43.162	7.286	6
8	Esteban Ocon		50	52.832	9.670	4
9	Pierre Gasly		50	54.747	1.915	2
10	Kevin Magnussen		50	1'04.826	10.079	1
11	Yuki Tsunoda		50	1'07.494	2.668
12	Nico Hulkenberg		50	1'10.588	3.094
13	Zhou Guanyu		50	1'16.060	5.472
14	Nyck de Vries		50	1'17.478	1.418
15	Oscar Piastri		50	1'25.021	7.543
16	Logan Sargeant		50	1'26.293	1.272
17	Lando Norris		50	1'26.445	0.152
18	Valtteri Bottas		49	1 Lap	1 Lap
	Alex Albon		27	23 Laps	22 Laps
	Lance Stroll		16	34 Laps	11 Laps
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How the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix unfolded

Perez was unable to hold his pole position advantage off the startline, as Alonso – who was given a 5s penalty for lining up too far left in his grid slot – streaked past him into the first corner. George Russell ran third for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Stroll, with the latter pulling a great move around the outside of the Ferrari at Turn 13.

Lewis Hamilton, the only driver in the top 10 to start on hard tyres, dropped to seventh in his Mercedes. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started 12^th after taking a 10-place grid penalty for changing his engine control electronics, and used soft tyres to gain three places on the first tour. Verstappen gained two spots on the opening lap, aided by Oscar Piastri needing a new front wing on his McLaren after a first corner clash with an Alpine.

Alonso led until Perez passed him at Turn 1 at the start of lap four, and the Mexican pulled clear by over 3s. Leclerc and Verstappen were up to seventh and ninth respectively by Lap 10.

Verstappen DRS-ed past Hamilton on Lap 12 to take eighth, two seconds behind Leclerc, who then put Esteban Ocon’s Alpine between them a tour later. Verstappen jumped to sixth as he DRS-ed past Ocon and Stroll pitted on Lap 14. Sainz pitted two laps later, also taking hards but overcutting Stroll.

Leclerc pitted on Lap 17, allowing Verstappen free passage to fourth, and rejoined ahead of Stroll too, who’d struggled to get back up to speed. Stroll was then told to stop out on track, causing a safety car on Lap 18 – even though his car had pulled into a gap in the barrier that the FIA managed not to spot.

Perez led those who hadn’t yet stopped into the pits, with Alonso taking his 5s penalty but rejoining ahead of Russell.

At the rolling restart on Lap 21, Perez led Alonso, Russell, Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton (who switched to mediums with almost everyone else on hards) and Leclerc, who was the big loser in the shuffle. Hamilton used his fresh mediums to outdrag Sainz from the exit of Turn 1 to pick up fifth.

Verstappen breezed past Russell into the final corner, so had just Alonso between him and Perez, who was 5s up the road. Verstappen DRS-ed past Alonso as the race ticked into its second half, with Perez 5.6s clear – and they began to trade fastest laps. But having closed the gap to 4.5s, Verstappen began to complain about a driveshaft problem, while Perez reported a long brake pedal.

Despite those complaints, the Red Bulls kept up their pace with Perez holding Verstappen at bay. Alonso finished 15s behind, ahead of the Mercedes duo.

Russell wasn’t in the mood to give up fourth to Hamilton, despite their tyre difference, and the Ferraris didn’t have much pace on the hards and proved to be no threat from behind.

Ocon finished eighth ahead of team-mate Pierre Gasly, as Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) fought out a brilliant duel over the final point, with the Dane prevailing with a couple of laps to go.

Verstappen set fastest lap on the final tour of the race.

UPDATE: After the race, Alonso was given a further 10-seconds on his race time for not serving his time penalty correctly during his only pitstop, which drops him to fourth behind Russell.

UPDATE 2: Aston appealed the decision and successfully argued that the stewards were wrong, so the FIA issued a final race classification with the penalty dropped and Alonso restored to third.

2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen		50	1'31.906			241.838
2	Sergio Perez		38	1'32.188	0.282	0.282	241.098
3	Fernando Alonso		50	1'32.240	0.334	0.052	240.962
4	George Russell		50	1'32.433	0.527	0.193	240.459
5	Carlos Sainz		50	1'32.822	0.916	0.389	239.451
6	Lewis Hamilton		47	1'32.941	1.035	0.119	239.145
7	Charles Leclerc		47	1'33.056	1.150	0.115	238.849
8	Esteban Ocon		49	1'33.222	1.316	0.166	238.424
9	Kevin Magnussen		44	1'33.374	1.468	0.152	238.036
10	Pierre Gasly		50	1'33.392	1.486	0.018	237.990
11	Nyck de Vries		49	1'33.609	1.703	0.217	237.438
12	Nico Hulkenberg		50	1'33.780	1.874	0.171	237.005
13	Zhou Guanyu		49	1'33.894	1.988	0.114	236.718
14	Yuki Tsunoda		50	1'33.931	2.025	0.037	236.624
15	Lando Norris		49	1'34.122	2.216	0.191	236.144
16	Oscar Piastri		48	1'34.287	2.381	0.165	235.731
17	Valtteri Bottas		37	1'34.384	2.478	0.097	235.489
18	Logan Sargeant		49	1'34.469	2.563	0.085	235.277
19	Lance Stroll		7	1'35.140	3.234	0.671	233.617
20	Alex Albon		24	1'35.567	3.661	0.427	232.574
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2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix pitstops

Cla	Driver	1		2		3		4
1	Sergio Perez	M	18	H	32
2	Max Verstappen	M	18	H	32
3	Fernando Alonso	M	18	H	33
4	George Russell	M	18	H	32
5	Lewis Hamilton	H	18	M	32
6	Carlos Sainz	M	15	H	35
7	Charles Leclerc	S	16	H	34
8	Esteban Ocon	M	16	H	34
9	Pierre Gasly	M	14	H	36
10	Kevin Magnussen	M	8	H	42
11	Yuki Tsunoda	M	17	H	33
12	Nico Hulkenberg	M	11	H	39
13	Zhou Guanyu	M	11	H	7	M	32
14	Nyck de Vries	M	17	H	33
15	Oscar Piastri	M	1	H	49
16	Logan Sargeant	H	18	M	32
17	Lando Norris	S	2	H	17	M	31
18	Valtteri Bottas	M	9	H	8	M	18	S	14
	Alex Albon	M	17	H	10
	Lance Stroll	M	13	H	4
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