Max Verstappen continued his commanding start to the 2024 Formula 1 season as he dominated the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to lead another Red Bull 1-2 finish.
The Dutchman recorded another comfortable win at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, with Charles Leclerc taking third for Ferrari.
With degradation limited and a one-stop expected, the entire grid opted for the Medium compound except for Oliver Bearman and Valtteri Bottas on Soft rubber.
As the cars lined up on the grid, Leclerc was primed to attack Verstappen but to no avail, as the Dutchman started strong and sauntered into Turn 1 in the lead.
Verstappen’s placement to the inside compromised Leclerc and enabled Perez to swing around the outside but the Ferrari managed to get the inside into Turn 4.
Further back, the order had remained the same other than Lance Stroll displacing Yuki Tsunoda, who was then coming under pressure from Bearman behind.
The Briton made a dive on the RB car into the winding left-hander at Turn 13 and then tried another attempt into Turn 1 on the next lap but the RB kept the place.
In between that sequence, Oscar Piastri in the lead McLaren took advantage of the slipstream to dive down the inside of Fernando Alonso to take fourth at Turn 1.
However, Alpine’s miserable beginning to the latest campaign continued as Pierre Gasly was instructed over the team radio that he had to box and retire his car.
Verstappen had broken one-second clear of Leclerc, leaving the Ferrari driver vulnerable to Perez behind and the Mexican utilised DRS to take second on Lap 4.
The race had settled into an ordered fashion, but Stroll changed that on Lap 6 when he touched the inside wall at Turn 22 and slammed into the opposite wall.
That prompted the introduction of the Safety Car, allowing for multiple teams to make a pit stop for the Hard compound that could last the duration of the race.
Both Red Bull drivers discarded their starting rubber, along with Leclerc, Piastri, Alonso and Russell. But Norris and Hamilton remained on track and split Verstappen.
Hamilton was less than impressed with the decision to not pit, telling his race engineer Peter Bonnington that he was now at “a big disadvantage” against his rivals.
The race resumed at the end of Lap 9 and Norris aced the restart to maintain the lead over Verstappen, as his team-mate Piastri almost caught Leclerc unaware.
Along with Norris and Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg for Haas and Guanyu Zhou for Sauber had not pitted and elevated themselves into positions within the top 10.
Behind Zhou came Bearman, who had dispatched Tsunoda into Turn 1 on the restart. The Ferrari stand-in then might light work of the Sauber to progress into 10th.
Elsewhere, Alex Albon was incensed that Kevin Magnussen had not left him enough room on the approach to Turn 4, forcing the Williams driver to take avoiding action.
Verstappen had edged closer to Norris as his Hard rubber came up to temperature and took the lead back on Lap 13, while Perez made a replica move on Hamilton.
As he had mentioned, Hamilton was beginning to struggle and hold up the cars behind, but Russell was on the charge on fresher tyres to pass Hulkenberg for ninth.
Leclerc was beginning to lose touch with Perez in the effective battle for second place and made a vital move on his future team-mate in the Mercedes into Turn 1.
The stewards had been investigating an unsafe release when Perez was released into the path of Alonso and the outcome that arrived was a five-second time penalty.
There was to be even more news from the stewards as the new guidelines for 2024 saw Magnussen be penalised 10 seconds for causing that collision with Albon.
Hamilton had dropped out of the critical one-second region to Leclerc, but Piastri was unable to complete a move at Turn 1 on the track and had to return the place.
As Perez sought to create a five-second advantage over Leclerc, he breezed past Norris to establish Red Bull in the familiar position of running in first and second.
Bearman had complained that Hulkenberg was slow but he kept it clean through the final hairpin to set up a comfortable pass down the start-finish straight with DRS.
Magnussen, who was running in 12th at half distance, was handed a further 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he passed Tsunoda.
Piastri had been frustrated behind Hamilton and McLaren’s expected straight-line speed deficit was hampering its prospects as the Mercedes continued to be ahead.
McLaren informed Piastri that it had reported Hamilton moving under braking to the stewards, despite the Australian having not voiced disapproval of his rival’s moves.
Norris was beginning to come under pressure from Leclerc behind, but he was told over the radio that McLaren planned to extend his first stint further into the race.
The Briton admitted that it was starting to become tougher to maintain his pace and Leclerc overhauled the McLaren with ease to ease back into the podium positions.
Magnussen had been aiding Hulkenberg’s prospects with a long queue of cars behind him and slammed the door shut on Tsunoda on the exit of Turn 3 to retain 12th.
The Japanese driver’s compromised run towards Turn 4 cost him a position to Esteban Ocon in the sole remaining Alpine as Magnussen continued to head that quintet.
Magnussen’s defensive exploits had facilitated team-mate Hulkenberg the chance to build up the margin needed to pit and emerge ahead of that pack in a net 10th.
Piastri had been staring at the rear of Hamilton’s Mercedes and again scuffed the chance to overhaul the seven-time champion when he went wide at the first turn.
Mercedes stopped Hamilton at the end of Lap 36 for the Soft compound and he exited the pit lane down in ninth place, 7s behind Bearman in the Ferrari car ahead.
McLaren elected to cover the threat provided by the undercut and Norris, also on the Soft, emerged behind Bearman but ahead of Hamilton despite a 4.1s pit stop.
Norris was issued with the black and white warning flag for weaving as he bid to stop Hamilton from mounting an attack, but he was able to break DRS thereafter.
Sauber had kept Zhou on track with the hope of a late disruption but he was hauled in with eight laps to go, and a slow stop then dropped him right to the back.
Bearman was informed that retaining seventh was looking feasible as Norris’ attention swivelled more towards keeping Hamilton behind than the Ferrari up the road.
Daniel Ricciardo had endured a tumultuous weekend and a bizarre spin resigned him to coming home in a disappointing 16th, only ahead of the two Sauber drivers.
Verstappen cruised to the 56th win of his career and his second in Saudi Arabia, becoming the first repeat winner on F1’s fourth visit to the high-speed Jeddah track.
Perez settled for second, 8.ss further back on the road prior to the application of his pen, with Leclerc avoiding a repeat of his Bahrain brake issue to claim third place.
Piastri was fourth in the lead McLaren, with Alonso arresting his own doubts over Aston Martin’s long-run pace to complete the top five runners, ahead of Russell.
Bearman clung on to seventh to lead compatriots Norris and Hamilton home, as Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 to clinch a treasured point for the Haas team.
