The Charge of the Bulls: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Review
By Mukarram Hamid
Sergio Perez converted pole position into victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as teammate Max Verstappen fought his way through the field to finish P2 from his P15 starting position after a problem in qualifying. Fernando Alonso clinched the last podium position before having it stripped away, however, he later had it reinstated after a stewards’ review.
Perez managed to beat Alonso at the start, pushing away from the field after a Safety Car period and maintained the gap to Verstappen to cross the chequered flag first and kick-start his 2023 championship hopes.
Verstappen charged through the grid with ease although he ultimately had to accept P2 as he could not close the gap to Perez, with the reigning two-time world champion managing driveshaft concerns late in the race after suffering the same component during qualifying.
Alonso impressively took the lead from Perez into Turn 1, but a time penalty for lining up outside his grid box, mixed with the unstoppable pace of the Red Bulls, resulted in him having to settle for third place.
While Alonso was serving his penalty, his rear jack mechanic was seen touching the car, the Spaniard received a further 10-second penalty after the race which dropped him down to P4 and allowed Geroge Russell his and Mercedes’ first podium. However, a later review of the situation saw the FIA reversing their decision and reinstating Alonso’s P3. Alonso’s podium made him only the sixth driver in history to earn 100 F1 podiums.
Ferrari and Mercedes were not prepared to fight against Red Bull as they were behind by more than 20 seconds. Russell finished P4, Lewis Hamilton fifth and the Ferraris followed with P6 and P7 with Carlos Sainz leading his teammate Charles Leclerc home.
Leclerc had a busy day in the office as he was recovering from a pre-race grid penalty, starting P12 instead of the second he achieved during qualifying. He managed to finish P7, but this was not good enough for the Monegasque driver as he displayed his frustration over the radio.
Alpine performed much better than they did in the Bahrain Grand Prix, with both drivers qualifying and finishing in the points, Esteban Ocon claimed P8 while teammate Pierre Gasly finished P9, the same result he achieved in Bahrain.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen finished off the point-paying positions by achieving P10 and claiming Haas’ first points of the season. His teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished P12. Magnussen crushed Alpha Tauri’s hopes for points as he overtook Yuki Tsuonda, who unfortunately had to accept P11 as a result of not having the pace to stay close to Magnussen after the Dame went past.
Tsuonda’s teammate, Nyck De Vries, claimed P14 in his second race for the team behind Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu. Fellow rookies, Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant crossed the line P15 and P16 respectively, with Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas finishing off the gird.
McLaren’s hopes for points, after Piastri’s extraordinary qualifying performance, which saw him start the race in P8, went quickly down the drain as Piastri tragically made contact with the Alpine of Gasly in lap one, causing a piece of Piastri’s front wing to fly off which ended up hitting the other McLaren of Norris. The damage resulted in both drivers having to make an early pitstop to change their front wings and go onto the hard tyres.
Alex Albon and Lance Stroll were the only two retirements during the race, Albon’s as a result of experiencing terminal brake issues and Stroll’s for encountering an issue with his car.