Sergio Perez clinched a fascinating Saudi Arbian GP as he finished ahead of his team mate Max Verstappen. On the opening lap it was the veteran Fernando Alonso who got the better start between himself and Perez and lead the race on lap 1.
La misión in full effect! Or was it? Fernando Alonso was given a five-second penalty for incorrect starting position on the grid. What a shame. On lap 4 Perez steamed down the inside at Turn 1 and took the lead from Alonso.
Elsewhere Leclerc was on the move after starting P12 due to his grid penalty. He passed Gasly to move up into P8. Meanwhile, Verstappen powered past Zhou to move up into the top 10, after his P15 start. He then nabbed eighth from Hamilton at Turn 1 on lap 12.
On lap 18 we had the turning point of the race. Lance Stroll was told to stop on-track, and retire the car. This allowed Verstappen who was running in 4th at the time to pit for a fresh sets of the hards while maintain track position thanks to the safety car.
Alonso also served his penalty, and re-emerged still in P2. At the restart Hamilton relieved Sainz of P5. The Briton was the only driver in the top 10 on the medium tyres, with everyone else on hards.
Verstappen blitz past Russell going into the final corner to take third on the following lap and he would soon be on Alonso’s gearbox. Verstappen then passed Alonso for second. Only race-leader Perez was ahead of him now.
A few laps later we had our second retirement of the race when Albon reported brake issues and trundled back to the pits to retire his Williams.
In the closing stages of the race Verstappen was closing on Perez despite having a driveshaft issue but it wasn’t enough Perez took the race victory with a well deserved victory. Verstappen 2nd with Alonso with another stella drive for 3rd and his 100th F1 podium of his career.
After the race though Fernando Alonso was given a 10s penalty for an incorrectly-served penalty, and lost his podium in Jeddah He dropped to fourth, with George Russell moving up to third. He was then reinstated and handed his podium back.
Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc, Ocon, Gasly & Magnussen completed the top 10.
The full championship standings can be viewed here.
