Saudi Arabia Grand Prix report
Our snap report is now live. Plenty more to come at the link below.
The season now has a couple of weeks off. Next up: the Australian GP on 24 March. Many thanks for reading today, and have a pleasant rest of weekend!
Oliver Bearman speaks!
I’m a little tired. It was as fantastic race, pushing up all the way – I was shocked at how much we were pushing. When I had the two guys on softs bearing down on me … I think we managed it really well – I felt I had a bit extra in hand if I needed it.
There’s a bit more to overtake in F1 than F2 … it requires a bit of extra precision.
Today was the first time since the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix that four British drivers ended up in the points. Back then: David Coulthard in third, with Jenson Button, Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert lower down. Today: George Russell, Oliver Bearman, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton made up spots six to nine.
Updated
Verstappen is now on the podium, looking chuffed with his day’s work. He’s taken the first two races of the season, and Red Bull already have a 38pt cushion in the constructors’ standings.
One of the bigger F1 race trophies you’ll see is handed to the Dutchman, and somewhere in the paddock Christian Horner will be pleased that he’s out of the spotlight for a bit.
Cue fireworks, bubbles, ticker tape etc. Another year in Saudi Arabia is over for F1.
Constructors’ championship standings
1 Red Bull 87pts
2 Ferrari 49
3 McLaren 28
4 Mercedes 26
5 Aston Martin 13
6 Haas 1
Williams, Sauber, RB and Alpine are yet to score this season
Updated drivers' championship standings
1 Verstappen 51pts
2 Pérez 36
3 Leclerc 28
4 Russell 18
5 Piastri 16
6 Sainz 15
=7 Alonso 12
=7 Norris 12
9 Hamilton 8
10 Bearman 6
=11 Hülkenberg 1
=11 Stroll 1
Max Verstappen speaks! Speaking to Sky Sports, today’s winner said:
Overall a fantastic weekend. I felt really good with the car. The last stint was a bit longer than we would have liked, [at the end] it was a bit slippery but we had good pace all-round.
No question about this, really. Well done Red Bull etc, but yeah …
Who else could it be?! @OllieBearman is your #F1DriverOfTheDay 🤩#F1 #SaudiArabianGP @salesforce pic.twitter.com/6PTzrvblhP
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 9, 2024
Saudi Arabia Grand Prix: provisional standings
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 25pts
2 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) 18pts
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 15pts
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 12pts
5 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 10pts
6 George Russell (Mercedes) 8pts
7 Oliver Bearman (Ferrari) 6pts
8 Lando Norris (McLaren) 4pts
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2pts
10 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) 1pt
11 Alexander Albon (Williams)
12 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
13 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
14 Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
15 Logan Sargeant (Williams)
16 Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
17 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
18 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
– Lance Stroll DNF
– Pierre Gasly DNF
Updated
Oliver Bearman takes seventh spot for Ferrari on debut
That is a sensational debut. They are absolutely beaming in the Ferrari garage.
Max Verstappen wins the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
Easy. Pérez second. Leclerc third. But we’re not done …
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Lap 50/50: Hamilton is closer to Norris than Norris is to Bearman. It’s looking like Verstappen, Pérez, Leclerc up front. Let’s see about lower down …
Lap 49/50: Verstappen isn’t in trouble, to be clear. The gap to Pérez has grown to 7.4sec.
Lap 48/50: 12km to go. Bearman still has daylight. 2.3sec over Norris as he holds that seventh spot.
Lap 47/50: 18km to go. They will eat that distance up in no time. Red Bull will take the honours but they’re looking like having company for media attention if the standings remain as they are. Ferrari fans will be absolutely buzzing about this – Leclerc third, but Bearman seventh as things stand.
Lap 46/50: Pérez has suddenly taken a couple of seconds out of Verstappen – possibly a bit of engine-insurance driving from the world champion?
Bearman is looking like having company for the last few laps. The gap to Norris is coming down fast.
Lap 45/50: Five to go! Bearman ticks another lap off safely. 3sec ahead of Norris … but the gap is coming down. And Hamilton is right behind the McLaren.
Lap 44/50: Leclerc looks safe in third, and is making no impact on the Red Bull of Pérez ahead of him. Russell (sixth) is 1.2 sec behind Alonso, but the real interest looks from seventh to ninth. Bearman has a useful gap for now, with road running out for Norris and Hamilton behind him.
Lap 43/50: Bearman (hard compound) has two hungry Brits on the faster soft tyres chasing him. This could be a fascinating finish in the single-digit points bracket.
Lap 42/50: Bearman is 6sec behind Russell in sixth, and 4sec ahead of Norris. Can he cling on to that seventh spot?
A fuming Zhou has hit trouble, pitted, and has resumed in 18th. He resumed on softs.
Lap 41/50: Up at the front, it’s looking like another Red Bull one-two, as they look like putting the off-track dramas to one side for another race day.
Some Norris snaking is being looked at by the car-snaking feds.
10 laps to go standings
Lap 40/50 – how they’re faring
1 Verstappen
2 Pérez +8.8sec (5sec penalty pending post-race)
3 Leclerc +12sec
4 Piastri
5 Alonso
6 Russell
7 Bearman
8 Norris
9 Hamilton
10 Zhou
Updated
Lap 39/50: You read that right by the way – Ferrari debutant Bearman is seventh. He’d never touched the car he’s currently driving until yesterday.
Updated
Lap 38/50: Yup. positions six to nine are now Russell, Bearman, Norris and Hamilton! Hamilton is right behind Norris, with both now running on the fast, soft compound of tyres.
Updated
Lap 38/50: Hamilton has stopped – he resumes in ninth … behind Bearman. Norris is now in as well. Four Brits in a row coming up?
Lap 36/50: As things stand, Norris (fourth) coming into the pits would resume behind Bearman (ninth). The 18-year-old is currently 6sec behind Russell. Three young British drivers in a row would be a great image, should it come to pass.
Lap 35/50: Piastri thinks he’s taken Hamilton’s fifth spot, but after taking the Mercedes on the straight, he can’t hold on at the ensuing left-hander, and goes off. He retakes the track and yields the place once more.
Lap 34/50: All the racing is currently happening outside the points, sadly. The Magnussen, Ocon, Albon, Tsunoda, Sargeant, Ricciardo battle is brilliantly entertaining.
Hülkenberg is in the pits – and helped by teammate Magnussen helming that group, he resumes in 11th. Great work from the Haas team.
Updated
Lap 32/50: Verstappen is sauntering – now 8sec clear of his teammate. Leclerc isn’t currently putting enough pressure on second to make Pérez’s penalty work for him – he’s almost 10sec behind.
Lap 30/50: Norris needs to come in. He’s fourth, but realistically that’s possibly more like 10th once a pitstop is factored in.
Hamilton suddenly has almost a second on Piastri, but he also needs to pit, so McLaren have backed a little from the fight. There are, as always, impressively clear heads on show despite the absurd speeds involved.
Norris, Hamilton, Hülkenberg and Zhou are the four drivers still to have pitted.
Lap 28/50: Verstappen is having one of those days where he’s sufficiently clear that the TV cameras have more or less forgotten about him. He’s over 7.5sec (+five more in penalties) clear of Pérez.
A great battle is unfolding towards the back of the field involving Magnussen, Tsunoda, Ocon, Albon and Sargeant. It’s all an entertaining battle for 12th, essentially. Magnussen’s Haas briefly left the track in weaving through the left and right – “what dangerous driving”, Tsunoda complains.
Lap 27/50: Leclerc takes third. Sensibly, no resistance from Norris, who knows he has a spell in the pits in his imminent future.
Leclerc’s Ferrari is 8.2sec behind Pérez, but remember that five of those will be coming off post-race.
Magnussen (12th), meanwhile, might have 20sec of penalties coming to him.
Lap 26/50: Pérez is teetering around 7sec behind Verstappen, with a penalty still to be applied. Leclerc has indeed hauled Norris in, and is eyeing that podium place.
Norris is on borrowed tyre life now, so that looks a near-formality.
Half-race standings
How they look on lap 25/50
1 Verstappen
2 Pérez
3 Norris
4 Leclerc
5 Hamilton
6 Piastri
7 Alonso
8 Russell
9 Bearman
10 Hülkenberg
Lap 24/50: We’re approaching half-race distance. Piastri uses DRS to try and reel Hamilton in … no dice. Magnussen, having an interesting day, leaves the track in front of Tsunoda. He might be looked at again.
Lap 22/50: I’m now keeping a close eye on the gap between Russell in eighth and Bearman in ninth. It’s holding firm over 6sec for now.
Piastri really wants Hamilton’s fifth place. This is a great tit-for-tat. The Briton is clinging on, just.
Lap 21/50: It’s a really, really, really impressive debut from Bearman. DRS-assisted, he saunters through to take ninth from the Haas.
Pérez is now second, 6.2sec behind Verstappen. Norris has immediately dropped over 4sec and might soon have Leclerc for company.
Lap 20/50: Hülkenberg is among those needing to pit soon, which should give Bearman clear track to play with before long. This is a really impressive debut.
Lap 18/50: New fastest lap for Verstappen. It may take a serious mishap to keep him from another win here.
Piastri is all over Hamilton, wanting that fifth spot. The Mercedes is holding out, just about.
Think it’s safe to say Bearman is looking to twist for Hülkenberg’s ninth spot rather than sticking to 10th incidentally. A great battle unfolding there.
Lap 17/50: In the race for fifth, Piastri’s McLaren takes Hamilton but runs off, cutting the corner, so yields the place back.
Verstappen has quietly pulled out a 5.3sec lead at the front over Norris. Norris has a 6.5sec cushion over Pérez in third, before the penalty comes into the equation.
Lap 15/50: Hamilton is unable to keep Leclerc at bay – the first Ferrari is now in fourth.
Penalty for Pérez! His “unsafe release” has cost him five seconds, which will be added at the end of the race. That could be huge.
Magnussen (13th) has received a 10-second ticking off for ruining the day of Albon (15th).
Lap 14/50: Bearman into the top 10! His Ferrari steams past Zhou. A cracking debut from the youngster.
Norris has been exonerated from his alleged jump start. He gained nothing from it anyway. Albon’s front wing, meanwhile, is said to be in a bad way.
LAP 14/50
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 9, 2024
Get in there @OllieBearman 💪
He's get past Zhou and into the top 10! #F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/7UGwDD7iMO
Updated
Lap 13/50: Yup – Verstappen retakes the lead, and Pérez swipes third from Hamilton. The second Red Bull is now hurtling towards Norris.
Race control are investigating a collision between Magnussen and Albon – the Williams’ front wing has taken a biff.
Lap 12/50: Verstappen is closing on Norris. It looks just a matter of time now. Hamilton is falling away as Pérez chases him.
Lap 11/50: An “unsafe release” is noted by race control – that was the earlier near-collision in the pits. Pérez was the Red Bull in question, who looked like he cut up Alonso.
Lap 10/50: Piastri takes Leclerc immediately after the safety car departs. Norris (medium compound) has a 1sec lead over Verstappen at the front. Hamilton (also medium) has almost a second over Pérez. The hard compounds that most runners are now operating on will be warming up imminently, and then we’ll have a clearer picture of the unfolding race.
Lap 10/50 standings
1 Norris (not pitted)
2 Verstappen
3 Hamilton (not pitted)
4 Pérez
5 Leclerc
6 Piastri
7 Alonso
8 Hülkenberg
9 Russell
10 Zhou
Lap 9/50: A replay shows a near-thing in the pits Alonso nearly got hit by one of the Red Bulls. It was an incredibly busy pit-lane for a brief spell there, which slightly undermines the safety aspect of racing under the safety car.
Stroll’s Aston Martin is now airborne by crane. Safety car is coming in shortly.
Lap 8/50: Pit mayhem under the safety car. Most of the field are coming in. Technically Norris is leading but he, Hamilton (third) and Zhou (10th) are the only three who haven’t pitted.
Gasly is now confirmed as a retirement.
Lap 7/50: The safety car is out. Stroll is walking away from his impact. He touched the nearside wall on his way into a left-hander – repeating an error from first practice – and from there his chances of staying on were doomed.
Lap 6/50: Stroll overtook Tsunoda early on, and Bearman – while under pressure from behind – is now 0.3sec behind the RB. A top 10 finish for the youngster would be astonishing.
Stroll is in the barriers! He radios that he’s OK. We’re in yellow flag territory … for now.
Lap 5/50: Magnussen is right on Bearman’s backside. The youngster has held his starting spot of 11th but is under intense pressure from the Haas driver.
Verstappen now holds an ominous 2.5sec lead over Pérez.
Lap 4/50: Lovely DRS-assisted manoeuvre on the inside by Pérez to get by Leclerc. The Ferrari was helpless and we already have a Red Bull one-two.
Lap 2/50: Gasly’s Alpine is in trouble and he is in the pits. Verstappen has pulled a second out of Leclerc at the front. Pérez is on the Ferrari’s tailpipe and the front three have pulled away from Piastri in fourth.
Replays show that Russell might be right about Norris’s start.
Lap 1/50: Early fireworks, but all at the front are off unscathed. Norris looked like he struggled to get away, but Russell has radioed to say he might have actually gone early. Piastri is up to fourth after squeaking by Alonso.
The start
It’s 8.04pm local time. Mirror, signal, STAMP. Go, go, go!
Pierre Gasly is reporting an issue.
Formation lap time. Just as his mechanics toddle off, Oliver Bearman’s eyes under his visor look absolutely enormous. He is having an interesting couple of days. All bar Bearman and Bottas are starting on the medium compound tyres. Everyone else is on the faster softs.
We’re now 10 minutes from the start … here’s how they line up.
Alonso on the second row, Bearman starting from P11 in his first F1 race 💪
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2024
Expect the unexpected on the charge down to Turn 1 in Jeddah 🍿#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/kZTOdH8PID
Updated
It’s anthem time. And a reminder, amid the Red Bull controversy, that this is race two of F1’s sportswashing swing, before the calendar moves on to Australia later this month.
Grid-walking is a strange phenomenon. It’s basically a load of celebrities, social media influencers and misc moneybags folk walking around a car park.
Anyway, Sky Sports have been chatting with Anthony Joshua, who is there after bopping Francis Ngannou on the snoot quite a few times last night. There’s a queue of TV cameras waiting to talk to José Mourinho.
People have being part of this on their bucket list. I feel like I got a flavour of it all when I once saw Stephen Fry in the car park of the Waitrose in Swaffham. Just the racing bit is fine, ta.
Grid-lock#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/PmmAR0ws34
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 9, 2024
Updated
A bit of background on the circuit. Jeddah Corniche is renowned as an almost daftly fast street race. There’ll be 50 laps of seriously searing pace.
Verstappen said of the track: “It’s pretty crazy how fast you go around here. Normally people say: ‘It’s a one-stop, it’s easy to the line,’ but it’s not like that around here.”
Lewis Hamilton, who won in Jeddah in the circuit’s 2021 debut race, has endured a sticky start to the season as Mercedes fight to try and bridge the gap to the front of the grid. “In these high-speed areas you need to have full faith in the rear of the car and I don’t have that yet,” he said on Thursday’s practice day.
His teammate George Russell said: “It was fun to be back in Jeddah, such a high-speed circuit – that’s enjoyable.”
F1’s own circuit guide describes it thusly: “Average speeds around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit are around 250km/h – quicker than those at Silverstone, and second on the 2021 calendar only to Monza. It is, quite simply, the fastest street circuit ever seen in Formula 1 – while the track also features the most corners on the calendar with 27, many of them quick, sinuous bends as the drivers wend their way along the Jeddah waterfront.”
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A quick F1 Academy update. In today’s race two, France’s Doriane Pin made it two straight wins this season, winning from pole and fending off the challenge of Britain’s Abbi Pulling. Maya Weug was third.
Red Bull's Marko confident he 'will not be suspended'
Asked if he could be suspended following the race in Jeddah, Red Bull’s motorsport adviser Helmut Mark told Austrian broadcaster ORF on Friday: “Ultimately, I’ll decide for myself what I do. The theoretical possibility always exists.”
But in a fresh twist, Marko said prior to Saturday’s race that he is confident he will be in Australia for the next round of the season on 24 March. The conversation with Oliver Mintzalff was a very good one, said Marko. “I think everything is cleared. I will not be suspended. Our goal is to win the world championship. For that we will have to work hard.” PA Media
Updated
Verstappen 'going nowhere', says Red Bull group CEO
Max Verstappen will not leave Red Bull, according to the crisis-hit team’s group CEO Oliver Mintzlaff. Verstappen cast doubt over his future when he claimed he will quit the world champions if motorsport adviser Helmut Marko is forced out.
Marko, the 80-year-old who was instrumental in the development of Verstappen’s career, faces a Red Bull investigation following the probe into claims of “inappropriate behaviour” against Christian Horner.
Verstappen’s deal with Red Bull runs until 2028 and, when asked if the Dutch driver will remain with the team, Mintzlaff replied: “Of course. He has a contract. Max is a great driver and hopefully we will win tonight. I am here just for racing. That’s it.” PA Media
More Red Bull news … as reported last night by Giles Richards.
The controversy and intrigue involving Red Bull Racing developed further when world champion Max Verstappen suggested he could quit the F1 team if adviser Helmut Marko is removed from his role.
Marko, who was instrumental in bringing world champion Verstappen into the Red Bull programme, reportedly said on Friday that he could be suspended from his role with Red Bull after this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Speaking after he took pole for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen responded to this news by saying: “I have a lot of respect for Helmut, and what we have achieved together. It goes very far. My loyalty to him is very big, and I have always expressed this to everyone within the team, everyone high up, that he is an important part in my decision making for the future.
“It is very important that he stays. I feel like if such an important pillar falls away, and I have told the team this, that it is not good for my situation as well.”
Read more here …
Youngster Bearman will be driving a Ferrari bearing No 38 today.
Pleasing news from the paddock however … Carlos Sainz, who drives No 55 this season and finished fourth in Bahrain last Saturday, has clearly fared well under the surgeon’s knife and is at the track regardless.
The fella’s making me look a proper lightweight. I was off work for seven weeks when I had appendicitis.
Wow 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 9, 2024
Carlos Sainz, just hours after surgery for appendicitis, is back at the track. Take it easy, Carlos 😍#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/LdirmWU3lx
Updated
Today's grid
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
4 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6 Lando Norris (McLaren)
7 George Russell (Mercedes)
8 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
9 Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
10 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
11 Oliver Bearman (Ferrari) – debut race
12 Alexander Albon (Williams)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
15 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas)
16 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
17 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
19 Logan Sargeant (Williams)
20 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
Driver standings after race one
1 Verstappen 26
2 Pérez 18
3 Sainz (absent today) 15
4 Leclerc 12
5 Russell 10
6 Norris 8
7 Hamilton 6
8 Piastri 4
9 Alonso 2
10 Stroll 1
Last weekend saw a fairly serene outing for Red Bull. Sorry, let me rephrase – the race bit of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend went pretty straightforwardly for Red Bull’s drivers.
Off the track? Eesh.
It’s a Saturday and our legal dept have enough work to do, so let’s just say that team principal Christian Horner is having a noisy 2024. Though Red Bull are hiding behind a veneer of what they describe as solid in-house employment grievance processes, the messiness, tawdriness and unpleasantness has leaked out into the ether. Despite Horner’s determination to press on, plough on, move on, march forward etc, we obviously haven’t heard the last of it.
Snappers will inevitably be honing in on any sightings of Geri Horner-Halliwell and scribes will inevitably be assessing how forced any smiles might be.
Sean Ingle, addressing concerns over power imbalances behind the scenes in F1, encapsulated where things are pretty neatly in his piece last night:
“The other teams are enjoying the soap opera and schadenfreude because Christian is not one of the most popular of team principals,” says one insider. “But they are also annoyed and worried that all this is taking the gleam off the actual sport.”
Read more here …
Preamble
Greetings. “There’s nothing to talk about in F1,” so the old yarn goes. And yet with only one race gone so far this season, there’s almost too much going on to adequately cover.
Let’s start with the on-track action ahead of us. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – the winner last week in Bahrain – has earned his third straight pole, having taken 12 of 22 last season. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pipped Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez to second … but it’s actually Leclerc’s stablemate for the weekend who has sent eyebrows shooting to the cosmos.
Chelmsford-born Oliver Bearman is 18 and his first taste of the Ferrari SF-24 he’s driving today? That came yesterday, as he qualified in 11th spot. He’s in the seat due to Carlos Sainz’s appendicitis (been there, and it was no picnic – get well soon Carlos) and belied his minimal experience at this level. Before Friday he had only completed two hours of practice in F1, and had woken up expecting to take part in F2 this weekend.
Jeddah’s street circuit is renowned as a severe, super-fast test. So, good luck young man.
Last season played host to one of the three races that Verstappen didn’t win, with Pérez taking victory. What will happen this time round? Let’s find out.
