With no news at the front, Max Verstappen swept Saudi Arabia once again. Second race of the course, second victory passing the roller. The Dutchman has run out of rivals very soon, with the absence of Carlos Sainz due to appendicitis in Jidda, the harmless opposition of Charles Leclerc (he was only able to steal the extra point for the best lap) and the disappearance of the Fernando Alonso fighter of Saturday, or of last year.
So, with no more shadow than that of his teammate Checo Pérez (he doesn’t count to face him), Verstappen, 56th victory and 100th podium, is already starting to get boring. And the championship has only just started with 22 races to go.
Nothing changed the start, one of the few times when Verstappen could suffer an ambush from Leclerc. But the Monegasque did not surprise him at the start, rather he was on the verge of losing his position to Checo Pérez, who came to be second during two corners. At the back the positions were maintained, with Alonso fourth and Piastri fifth. But for a short time.
The ambitious Australian McLaren driver attacked the Spaniard’s Aston Martin and took fourth position in the second lap. Alonso lost one place (5th), while Verstappen opened an already substantial gap of 1.2 s in a single lap over Leclerc. Run away and goodbye.
The race seems to have already been decided on the fourth lap with the lightning advance of Pérez on Leclerc at the end of the straight. The Mexican’s Red Bull shredded the Ferrari to send it into third place. Verstappen was left without a direct rival.
However, a violent crash by Lance Stroll into the wall at turn 23 forced the safety car out and the race was regrouped. Almost all the cars took advantage of the neutralization to change tires ( v. 8 ), except Norris and Hamilton, who did not stop and became provisional first and third, respectively, looking for a different strategy ( spoiler: strategy that did not would work, as they would lose two positions at the finish compared to those they occupied before the safety car).
At the entrances and exits of the pits, Alonso complained about Pérez’s unsafe release. The stewards penalized the Mexican with 5 seconds, which meant helping Leclerc to regain second position. But not even in this way could the Monegasque get closer.
At the front, Verstappen was not worried about losing the lead momentarily to Norris because five laps after the pit stop the McLaren was already ahead to regain first place. An insulting superiority that Alonso made clear on the radio: “Is there any possibility of plan B? Because they are in another league…”, the Asturian asked his team.
There was no plan B, no C, or anything to alter the race, as insignificant as few, with no more battles than those between Magnussen and Tsunoda… for 12th place.
Neither Verstappen had a deflated head, nor Leclerc was able to trouble Pérez, nor Piastri went further to try to storm the podium, nor Alonso approached the Australian, nor Russell threatened the fifth place of the Asturian … until there were eight turns left. Then the Englishman’s Mercedes matched the Aston Martin (it got to 1.2s) and Alonso saw the wolf’s ears, but only for four laps. Spanish, “in classification mode”, distanced itself from the threat of English advancing.
Special mention for rookie Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz’s replacement at Ferrari, who finished a creditable seventh place after starting 11th on the grid. His solid performance allowed him to be named driver of the day by F-1 fans around the world, and flattered by his team.
