Perez beats Verstappen to win Saudi Arabian GP for Red Bull

Sergio Perez managed to fend off the pressure of his teammate Max Verstappen and achieve the fifth victory in his career in Saudi Arabian GP.

Verstappen managed to work his way into second place behind Perez at the halfway mark after starting 15th, aided by the safety car, but was unable to significantly reduce Perez’s five-second lead as Red Bull claimed their second double win in two races this season.

Almost all drivers at the start chose medium tires except for Hamilton and Sargeant who chose hard, and Leclerc opted for the softest compound, as did Norris.

Alonso overtook Perez in the sprint towards the first corner, but already in the second lap he receives a penalty of five seconds for positioning himself wrongly on the starting grid.

Leclerc worked his way up from 12th to ninth after two laps while Verstappen gained two positions after starting 15th.

Piastri damaged his front wing in the second corner due to contact with Gasly, so he had to pit after the first lap.

Perez passes Alonso on braking for the first corner in the fourth lap and regains the leading position, and in the 13th lap Leclerc overtook Ocon and came in sixth place, four seconds behind teammate Sainz.

Verstappen overtook Ocon a lap later to take seventh, and after Stroll pulled over at turn 13, the safety car came out.

At that moment, the Ferrari drivers had already changed the tires, and the other leaders did it behind the safety car.

Perez led Alonso on the restart and Verstappen was fourth behind Russell. But the Dutchman didn’t wait long and as soon as DRS was enabled he overtook the Briton for third place while Alonso overtook a lap later to take second place behind Perez on lap 25.

Not much changed until the end of the race as Perez held Verstappen to a distance of around five seconds, with the Dutchman setting the fastest lap on the final lap to claim the extra point that keeps him alone at the top of the standings.

Alonso was set to win second consecutive podium for Aston Martin and the jubilee 100th podium in Formula 1, making him the sixth driver in history with 100 or more podiums, joining Hamilton (191), Schumacher (155), Vettel (122), Prost (106) and Raikkonen (103).

But he was handed 10 second penalty for serving his penalty incorrectly so he lost his podium to Russell before FIA overturning the results after Aston Martin used their right to review the penalty as the regulations do not explicitly state that mechanics cannot touch the car before the penalty was served.

Russell and Hamilton finished fourth and fifth for Mercedes – Hamilton was the only driver at the top who finished the race on medium, but he failed to threaten his teammate.

The Ferrari drivers had a disappointing race in sixth and seventh after changing tires before the safety car, but they did not have the speed to threaten the Mercedes drivers.

Ocon and Gasly had a solid race for Alpine in eighth and ninth respectively, with Magnussen taking the final point for Haas after overtaking Tsunoda in the closing stages of the race to leave AlphaTauri and McLaren as the only teams without points after the first two races.

The next race is in two weeks in Australia.

RESULTS

Fastest lap: Max Verstappen – 1:31.906 (lap 50)

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 2/23 RACES

CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP