Sergio Perez has taken the fifth race victory of his Formula 1 career, dominating the race in Saudi Arabia to cross the line ahead of Max Verstappen.
Perez led almost all of the 50-lap grand prix, which was interrupted briefly midway through by a Safety Car following a retirement for Lance Stroll.
Verstappen recovered from 15th on the grid to take second place as Red Bull recorded a second consecutive 1-2 finish, while Fernando Alonso converted his front-row start into third place at the finish line.
However, he would later lose the result following a post-race penalty.
READ MORE: F1 2023 Saudi Arabian GP – Race Results
As the lights went out at the start of the grand prix, Perez chopped across the track to cover off Alonso, however the Aston Martin driver’s jump was too great and he emerged into the lead.
But only moments later, Alonso was flagged by the stewards for being in an incorrect starting position and already on the second lap, the Spaniard was issued a five-second time penalty, which he later served during his pit stop.
Further behind, Oscar Piastri was forced to pit after picking up front wing damage following contact with Pierre Gasly, undoing the strong performance he displayed during Saturday’s qualifying event.
On lap four, Perez closed in on Alonso and made his way to the front of the field once again by overtaking into the first corner.
However, the move was far from smooth as a lock up forced Perez deep into the corner.
Charles Leclerc was following the back of a group headed by Lewis Hamilton after the opening laps, and moved ahead of Gasly on lap seven before pursuing Hamilton ahead.
Behind that pack, Verstappen found himself inside the points after overtaking Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu on the following tour of the track.
As Hamilton was warned for weaving on the straights, he was passed by Leclerc who was the only driver in the field equipped with the Soft compound.
Verstappen was next in the queue behind Hamilton after making his way ahead of Gasly.
The two old rivals went wheel-to-wheel on lap 12, however Hamilton didn’t offer much of a fight to the reigning World Champion and was demoted to ninth place.
Up front, Perez began to stretch his legs ahead of Alonso and had a gap of three seconds, while Alonso, in turn, was comfortably in front of Russell in third place.
Leclerc’s recovery following his grid penalty continued as he moved ahead of Ocon, with Verstappen following suit not long later.
Stroll was the first of the major players to pit, swapping a set of Mediums for Hards at the end of lap 13.
A handful of laps later, Sainz pitted and successfully jumped ahead of Stroll, who was ahead prior to the stops.
Just as Verstappen was about to overtake Leclerc, the Ferrari driver pitted to get rid of the Soft compound on lap 17.
Moments later, Stroll was commanded to stop the car on lap 13, with a full Safety Car deployed despite his car being positioned inside the escape road and off the race track.
The front-runners all conducted their tyre swaps, including Verstappen who found himself sitting in fourth place having benefitted from a cheap stop.
At the restart, Perez wasted no time streaking away from Alonso, while Verstappen piled the pressure on Russell for a spot on the podium, and moved ahead on lap 23. From there Verstappen also wasted no time moving in front of Alonso for second.
Hamilton was rapid as he was the only driver inside the top 10 with Medium tyres equipped and successfully placed Sainz in his mirrors to move into fifth.
Albon became the second driver to retire from the race as he reported an issue with his brakes.
The Red Bulls were running comfortably out in front for some time, but complaints started to file through – Verstappen spoke of a noise coming from the drive shaft while Perez stated he was getting a long brake pedal.
However, they needn’t have worried as they both cruised to the finish, with Perez boasting a gap of over five seconds behind.
Alonso crossed the line in third but a post-race penalty for the Spaniard for failing to serve his original penalty correctly dropped him to fourth behind Russell. Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes.
Sunday marked another disappointing day for Ferrari who trundled home in sixth and seventh place in what was a lonely affair, with Sainz leading Leclerc across the finish line.
Alpine took double points with Ocon and Gasly, while a fierce late-race battle saw Kevin Magnussen best Yuki Tsunoda for the final point on offer.
McLaren, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri and Williams all failed to walk away from the race with points on the board.
F1 returns in two weeks’ time for the third round of the campaign around Albert Park, Melbourne.
