Verstappen Seals Second Victory of the 2024 Championship

Max Verstappen was able to convert his second pole position of the season into his second win of the season at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Joining him on the podium was his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez (making it a double Red Bull 1-2 in the first two races) and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

Everyone on the grid lined up on the medium tyre compound, apart from Oliver Bearman (starting in P11) and Valtteri Bottas (starting in P16) who started on the red-walled soft compound tyre. On the formation lap, however, it was reported by Pierre Gasly that he had a suspected gearbox issue.

As the cars completed the formation lap, everyone got into their grid boxes. It wasn’t the best start for Lando Norris who jumped the start. The incident was noted and placed under investigation but no penalty was needed to be served.

Most of the cars got away smoothly, with Verstappen holding onto the lead whilst Perez and Leclerc battled it out for second place – Leclerc ultimately claiming the position by the end of Turn 4. Pierre Gasly became the first retiree from the race after being called into the pits due to the suspected gearbox issue.

Lance Stroll was the second driver to retire from the race. He made contact with a wall and was sent crashing into the barriers at Turn 23 on Lap 7. The yellow flag was thrown and soon after, the safety car was released.

It was chaos down in the pit-lane with every remaining driver coming in, expect Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg and Zhou Guanyu. Norris inherited first place, but of course still needed to box later in the race – and there was a very racy Verstappen behind him of fresh hard tyres.

Every driver that boxed went onto the hard compound tyres. During the madness in the pit-lane, Perez had an unsafe release which was noted and investigated. The result was a 5 second penalty.

At the end of Lap 9, the safety car came in and racing resumed in Saudi Arabia. Magnussen and Albon had some contact going into Turn 4 which resulted in the Danish driver getting a 10 second penalty. That wasn’t the first penalty Magnussen would receive during the race. Whilst battling out with Tsunoda, Magnussen left the track and gained an advantage which the stewards deemed enough to warrant another 10 second penalty.

Rookie driver Oliver Bearman was doing a superb job in his Ferrari – stepping in for Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard was diagnosed with appendicitis. On Lap 21, Bearman had managed to get up to P9. His Ferrari teammate, Charles Lecelerc, got up to the final podium position on Lap 27.

There was an ongoing battle between Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton until the Brit finally boxed for a new set of tyres. That wasn’t the only battle out on track. There was a DRS train which was headed by Magnussen in P12. He was followed but Ocon, Tsunoda, Albon, Sargeant, Ricciardo and Bottas. The drivers kept changing their positions, but no one could get past Magnussen. The Danish driver played an important in the success of his teammate. By keeping the cars behind him, Magnussen was able to bridge a gap big enough to allow his Haas teammate, Nico Hülkenberg, to pit and not come out in loads of traffic.

Hamilton made it pit-stop on Lap 37, letting Oscar Piastri finally get some clean air. Hamilton re-joined the track in P9, seven seconds behind Bearman in P8. One lap later, Norris headed into the pits to put his hard tyres on for the rest of the race. He came out in-between Bearman and Hamilton which meant there could be a battle of the Brits in the remaining few laps.

Norris had been noted for weaving on the straight whilst defending against Hamilton. The other Mercedes driver, George Russell, was closing the gap between himself and Fernando Alonso for fifth place.

Zhou faced some trouble during his pit-stop, which was a slow one, and dropped him to the back of the field behind his Sauber teammate, Bottas.

In the final few laps, Norris had closed the gap to Bearman to less than 3 seconds. Meanwhile, Hamilton had dropped out of DRS range behind Norris.

Daniel Ricciardo, after having been running in P16, suffered from a spin on the last lap. The two Saubers did not pass him, and Ricciardo remained in that position until the end of the race.

At the front of the pack, Max Verstappen crossed the line to take another victory. Perez followed, with Leclerc coming home in P3. The Monegasque also claimed the fastest lap of the race, picking up an extra point.

The final classification of the race in Jeddah is as follows:

Verstappen

Perez

Leclerc (Fastest Lap)

Piastri

Alonso

Russell

Bearman (Driver of the Day)

Norris

Hamilton

Hülkenberg

Albon

Magnussen

Ocon

Tsunoda

Sargeant

Ricciardo

Bottas

Zhou

Stroll (DNF)

Gasly (DNF)

Here is what Verstappen had to say after the race: “I think overall of course a fantastic weekend for the whole team, but also from my side, I felt really good with the car, and also basically was the same in the race. Of course the last stint was a bit longer than we would have liked, but with the Safety Car we had to go for it. So the last few laps, also with those backmarkers, with the cold tyres, it was a little bit slippery but we had good pace so we could manage it quite well. Overall, very, very pleased.”

The next round of the F1 2024 championship is down under in Australia. Will the home favourites Ricciardo and Piastri be able to have a good showing? And will Verstappen make it three for three. The Australian Grand Prix is taking place on the 24th March at 4am GMT.