Dutch world champion Max Verstappen gained the second race of the 2024 F1 season in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, stretching his lead within the championship standings.
Verstappen completed 13 seconds away from his Crimson Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who was in a position to maintain second place regardless of a five-second time penalty for an unsafe launch from the pit lane.
“It is one of many extra bodily races, a troublesome one,” Verstappen mentioned after his second win of the season.
Crimson Bull tense off observe however nonetheless dominant on it
Excluding the shorter so-called dash races, Verstappen has gained each essential F1 race since final September’s Japanese Grand Prix and 21 of the final 24 races.
The sleek 1-2 end defied the harder current weeks behind the scenes for the Crimson Bull workforce.
Verstappen celebrated with workforce principal Christian Horner and Horner’s spouse Geri Halliwell after weeks of controversy surrounding allegations of improper conduct towards Horner and an investigation that culminated in Crimson Bull clearing Horner and suspending his accuser this week.
Crimson Bull sought to calm waters forward of the race by confirming that Austrian Helmut Marko can be staying with the workforce, after Marko had implied he too might face suspension and Verstappen had voiced his disapproval on the prospect.
Ferrari stand-in Bearman luggage debut factors
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the rostrum in third, on a weekend marked by a specific concentrate on the Italian workforce.
“It was a bit boring as a result of the Crimson Bulls have been too fast,” he mentioned after the race.
Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz couldn’t compete in Saudi Arabia as a result of he was affected by appendicitis, that means that 18-year-old British reserve driver Oliver “Ollie” Bearman took his place for the weekend.
Bearman completed seventh, turning into the third-youngest factors scorer in F1 historical past and the youngest driver and factors scorer in Ferrari’s historical past.
“Ollie did an unimaginable job,” Leclerc mentioned of his alternative teammate after the race. “Right this moment, seventh in his first race — it is vastly spectacular. He’s vastly gifted.”
Strong factors for Piastri, Alonso, Russell
Oscar Piastri of New Zealand completed a robust fourth for McLaren on Saturday in Jeddah.
Fernando Alonso claimed fifth for Aston Martin, and George Russell was the top-placed Mercedes driver in sixth.
Bearman adopted for Ferrari, then his compatriots Lando Norris of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton within the different Mercedes.
It was the primary time since 1968 that 4 completely different British drivers scored factors on the identical F1 race.
German driver Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the highest 10 and scored a uncommon and welcome level for the Haas F1 Crew.
Saturday race to keep away from Ramadan conflict
Although F1 weekends are likely to culminate in a Sunday function race, this weekend’s race in Saudi Arabia was introduced ahead by at some point to keep away from a conflict with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The brand new moon that marks the beginning of Ramadan can be seen in locations as quickly as Sunday, and the beginning of the fasting month is likely to be declared from Saudi Arabia that night.
msh/mm (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
