Without incident on the front, Max Verstappen once again swept Saudi Arabia. Second race of the course, second victory passing the roller. The Dutchman was left without rivals very soon, with the loss of Carlos Sainz due to appendicitis, the harmless opposition of Charles Leclerc (he was only able to steal the extra point from the best lap), and the disappearance of the combative Fernando Alonso from Saturday, or from last year.
Thus, with no more shadow than that of his teammate Checo Pérez (he does not count against him), Verstappen, 56th victory and 100th podium, is already starting to get boring. And only 2 of the 24 races have been consumed.
The start did not change anything, one of the few moments in which 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 was in second place for two corners. Behind them 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 on the second lap. Alonso lost one place (5th), while Verstappen opened an already substantial gap of 1.2s in a single lap over Leclerc.
The race seemed to be doomed on the fourth lap with Pérez’s lightning overtake on Leclerc at the end of the straight. The Mexican’s Red Bull pulverized the Ferrari to send it to third place. Verstappen was left without a rival.
However, a violent accident by Lance Stroll against the wall at turn 23 forced the safety car to come 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 would not work for them, since they would lose two positions at the finish line compared to those they occupied before the safety-car).
While entering and exiting the pits, Alonso complained about Pérez’s dangerous entry onto the track (unsafe release). The stewards sanctioned the Mexican with 5 seconds, which helped Leclerc to recover second position.
Up front, Verstappen was not worried about losing the lead, because five laps after the pit-stop he overtook the McLaren to regain first place. An insulting superiority that Alonso made evident 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, nor anything that would alter the race, which was as dull as any other, with no more battles than those between Magnussen and Tsunoda… for 12th place.
Neither Verstappen had any problems, nor Leclerc was able to worry Pérez, nor did Piastri go further to try to assault the podium, nor did Alonso approach the Australian, nor did Russell threaten the Asturian’s fifth… until there were 8 laps left.
Then the Englishman’s Mercedes pounced on the Aston Martin (at 1.2s) and Alonso saw the wolf’s ears, but only for four laps. The Spaniard moved away from the danger of overtaking.
Special mention for rookie Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz’s replacement, who achieved a creditable seventh place after starting 11th on the grid. His solid performance deserved to be named Driver of the Day by F1 fans around the world.