key events
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Provisional Rankings
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 25 points
2 Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 18 points
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 15 points
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 12 points
5 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 10 points
6 George Russell (Mercedes) 8 points
7 Oliver Behrmann (Ferrari) 6 points
8 Lando Norris (McLaren) 4 points
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2 points
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) 1 point
11 Alexander Albon (Williams)
12 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
13 Esteban Ocon (Alps)
14 Yuki Tsunoda(RB)
15 Logan Sargent (Williams)
16 Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
17 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
18 Zhou Guanyu
– Lance Stroll DNF
– Pierre Gasly DNF
Oliver Bearman makes his Ferrari debut, finishing seventh
It was a sensational debut. They were absolutely beaming in the Ferrari garage.
Max Verstappen wins Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
simple. Perez was second. Leclerc third. But we’re not done yet…
Lap 50/50: Hamilton was closer to Norris than Norris was to Bellman. The front looks like Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc. Let’s see what happens below…
Lap 49/50: To be clear, Verstappen was not in trouble. The gap with Perez widened to 7.4 seconds.
Lap 48/50: 12 kilometers left. It’s still daylight in Bellman. He occupied seventh place, 2.3 seconds faster than Norris.
Lap 47/50: There are still 18 kilometers to go. They eat up the distance quickly. Red Bull will take the honours, but if the rankings remain the same they look to be in the media spotlight. Ferrari fans will definitely be excited about this – as things stand, Leclerc is third, but Behrmann is seventh.
Lap 46/50: Perez was suddenly a few seconds slower than Verstappen – maybe a bit of engine insurance as the world champion drove?
Behrmann looked to have a companion in the closing laps.The gap with Norris is closing quickly.
Lap 45/50: Five left! Bellman made another safe lap. 3 seconds ahead of Norris… but the gap is closing. Hamilton follows McLaren.
Lap 44/50: Leclerc looked safe in third and made no impact on the Perez Red Bull ahead of him. Russell (sixth) was 1.2 seconds behind Alonso, but the real interest was from seventh to ninth. Bellman now had a useful gap, with Norris and Hamilton running out of road behind him.
Lap 43/50: Bellmann (hard tire) had two hungry Brits chasing him on faster soft tires. That could lead to a fascinating finish in the single-digit standings.
Lap 42/50: Bellman was six seconds behind Russell in sixth place and four seconds ahead of Norris. Can he hold on to seventh place?
An angry Zhou ran into trouble and after pitting he was back in 18th place. He regained his softness.
Lap 41/50: Up front, it looked like another Red Bull one-two as they looked like they were putting their off-track drama aside and waiting for another race.
Some of Norris’s snaking exploits are getting the attention of the car-snaking FBI.
10 laps to go in the standings
Lap 40/50 – How did they do?
1 Verstappen
2 Pérez +8.8 seconds (5 seconds penalty to be determined after the game)
3 Leclerc +12 seconds
4 discs
5 Alonso
6 Russell
7 Ursine
8 Norris
9 hamilton
10 weeks
Lap 39/50: By the way, you read that right – Ferrari’s debut Behrman was seventh.He had never touched the car he drove until yesterday.
Lap 38/50: Yes. The sixth to ninth positions are now Russell, Bellman, Norris and Hamilton! Hamilton followed Norris, both now running on fast, soft compound tyres.
Lap 38/50: Hamilton had stopped – he restarted in ninth place… behind Bellman. Norris is now on board. Four Englishmen in a row?
Lap 36/50: As things stand, Norris (4th) will continue to pit behind Bellman (ninth). The 18-year-old is currently six seconds behind Russell. If this comes to pass, it would be a great image to have three young British riders in a row.
Lap 35/50: Piastri thought he had secured fifth place from Hamilton, but after overtaking the Mercedes on the straight, he was unable to hold on to the ensuing left-hand drive and pulled away. He regained the track and gave up the position again.
Lap 34/50: Unfortunately, all games are currently being played outside the points zone. The battle between Magnussen, Ocon, Albon, Tsunoda, Sargent, Ricciardo was very interesting.
Hulkenberg had entered the pits and, with the help of teammate Magnussen, who led the group, he was back on track in 11th place. Great job from the Haas team.
Lap 32/50: Verstappen is strolling – now eight seconds ahead of his team-mate. Leclerc wasn’t putting enough pressure on second place at the moment to allow Perez’s penalty to count against him – he was nearly 10 seconds behind.
Lap 30/50: Norris needs to play. He finished fourth, but realistically, once pit stops were factored in, it was probably more like 10th.
Hamilton was suddenly almost a second ahead of Piastri, but he still had to pit, so McLaren backed off a bit in the battle. Despite the ridiculous speed involved, as always, people still displayed impressive sanity.
Norris, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Zhou are the four drivers who have yet to pit.
Lap 28/50: Verstappen is going through one of those days when he’s very aware that the TV cameras have more or less forgotten about him. He was 7.5 seconds ahead of Perez (5 seconds more with penalty time).
A great battle was taking place at the back of the pitch involving Magnussen, Tsunoda, Ocon, Albon and Sargent. At its heart, this is all an interesting battle for No. 12. Magnussen’s Haas briefly left the track in a left-right weaving – “What a dangerous drive,” Tsunoda complained.
Lap 27/50: Leclerc finished third. Clearly, Norris offered no resistance, knowing he would be spending some time in the pits in the near future.
Leclerc’s Ferrari was 8.2 seconds behind Perez, but remember 5 of those seconds would be over after the race.
Meanwhile, Magnussen (12th) could receive a 20-second penalty.
Lap 26/50: Perez was about 7 seconds behind Verstappen and still had to accept a penalty. Leclerc has really caught on with Norris and is eyeing a podium spot.
Norris is now living on borrowed tires, so this seems almost official.
Half-way standings
What they looked like on lap 25/50
1 Verstappen
2 Perez
3 Norris
4 Leclerc
5 hamilton
6 disks
7 Alonso
8 Russell
9 Bellman
10 Hulkenberg
Lap 24/50: We are approaching half way. Piastri tries to reel Hamilton in with DRS…no dice. Magnussen had an interesting day, coming off the track in front of Tsunoda. He may be looked at again.
Lap 22/50: I’m now paying close attention to the gap between Russell in eighth and Behrman in ninth. Currently it remains stable for over 6 seconds.
Piastri really wanted Hamilton to finish fifth. This is a great tit for tat. The British are holding on, just.
Lap 21/50: This is Bearman’s debut, and it’s very, very impressive. With the help of DRS, he easily passed Haas and finished ninth.
Perez is now second, 6.2 seconds behind Verstappen. Norris was immediately 4 seconds behind and may soon be accompanied by Leclerc.
Lap 20/50: Hulkenberg is one of those who needs to pit as soon as possible, which should give Bellmann a clear track shortly afterwards. It was a truly impressive debut.
Lap 18/50: Verstappen sets new fastest lap. It might take a serious accident to prevent him from winning again here.
Piastri was interested in Hamilton and wanted to finish fifth. Mercedes is holding on.
It’s safe to say that Behrmann was looking to reverse Hulkenberg’s ninth-place finish rather than hang on to tenth by the way. A great battle broke out there.
