Sergio Perez led another Red Bull one-two in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after team mate Max Verstappen recovered from 15th on the grid to take second.
Perez lost the lead off the start to Fernando Alonso but passed the Aston Martin driver early in the race. The Red Bull driver never relinquished his advantage from that point onwards, and Alonso secured the final podium position with third place for the second successive race.At the start of the race, George Russell fell into third place behind Alonso and Perez. As the field navigated through the opening corners, Oscar Piastri suffered front wing damage, while debris from the McLaren was struck by team mate Lando Norris on the second lap, meaning both McLaren drivers had to enter the pits for front wing changes.
While Alonso led, the stewards quickly announced that he had been handed a five-second time penalty for an incorrect starting location – the same offence that Esteban Ocon committed in the opening race in Bahrain. However, Perez did not need the penalty to retake the lead from the Aston Martin, as he dived to the inside of the first turn at the start of lap four to move into the lead.
On lap 17, Lance Stroll was suddenly told to stop his car, pulling off track at the end of turn 13. Despite Stroll’s car being well behind the barrier, the Safety Car was deployed. Perez, Alonso, Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc all pitted, with all but Hamilton switching to hard tyres. Perez held onto his lead, Alonso served his penalty but retained second place ahead of Russell while Verstappen was promoted to fourth.
When the race resumed on lap 20, Perez led away from Alonso, who came under pressure from Russell behind. Perez pulled out a gap of two seconds at the end of the first green flag lap, while Hamilton used his medium tyre advantage to overtake Sainz on the exit of turn two and move up to fifth.
Verstappen used DRS on the approach to the final corner to slide passed Russell and move up to third. The next lap, Verstappen was already tucked up behind Alonso and easily overtook him into turn one to make it a Red Bull one-two out front just before half race distance.
Perez and Verstappen began to trade fastest laps out front as the pair steadily pulled away from the chasing pack behind. On lap 37, Verstappen complained of a problem with his driveshaft, leading to nervous faces on the Red Bull pit wall as a problem with that part had put him out of qualifying. However, after checking the data, the team reported back that they were happy with what they saw of their car and encouraged him to continue on his way.
With the hard tyres able to reach to the end of the race, there were no further pit stops to make for the leaders. Perez maintained his lead out front and checked off the laps, crossing the line at the end of lap 50 to take the chequered flag. Verstappen finished five seconds behind in second, but set the fastest lap on the final tour to hold onto the championship lead by a single point.
Alonso secured a second consecutive podium in third, with the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton following behind. The Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc came home in sixth and seventh, ahead of the Alpine pair of Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Kevin Magnussen scored the final point for Haas in 10th, passing Yuki Tsunoda in the closing laps.
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2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix reaction
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Jere (@jerejj)
19th March 2023, 18:46
Alonso just lost P3. What an error by the mechanic(s).
Yaru (@yaru)
19th March 2023, 18:56
Yes the mechanic was at fault but also Alonso for making such a basic error at the start.
David
19th March 2023, 23:32
Alonso just got 3rd place back. What great timing by the mechanic!!
Nick T.
20th March 2023, 1:57
No one made a mistake except the stewards or race director and then the remote buffoons centers.
Edvaldo
19th March 2023, 19:17
This season will stall any progress Liberty has been making promoting F1.
What was this race….
Nick T.
20th March 2023, 1:44
I wasn’t joking when I said F1 has gotten to the point they throw some sort of SC if they see a bird’s shadow on the track. Even a VSC would’ve been an overreaction with a car BEHIND a fence on the slowest corner of the track. Whiting would be rolling over in his grave about that + all the other Mickey Mouse penalties. Have these directors ever heard of the word discretion?
thegamer23
19th March 2023, 19:20
Bwoah
WEC, Indy, FE had much better starts of the season.
MichaelN
19th March 2023, 20:33
The weekend with the WEC and IMSA at Sebring was solid, and showed that F1 is really doing a number on itself with its strange and stubborn unwillingness to actually fix some longstanding problems.
If you look at how easy it was for the LMH and LMDh cars to actually race each other, as in real racing with different lines and clever moves, and daring passes, even at the notoriously dirty and bumpy Sebring track, and then contrast that to the almost comically bad rule change in F1 that has done nothing to reduce its addiction to DRS it’s really disappointing.
Nell (@imabouttogoham)
19th March 2023, 23:53
If the FIA regulation changes were designed to remove Mercedes’ dominance, they’ve done a great job.
If the FIA regulation changes were designed to remove one team dominant, they’ve done a poor job.
Nick T.
20th March 2023, 1:46
And, to add the ridiculous SC and penalties, now F1 doesn’t even want you breaking a tow. Maybe it should be illegal to pass. That’s dangerous after all. Just have 62 time trial laps and add up all the times to judge the winner.
S
20th March 2023, 5:12
Weaving on track has never been encouraged.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
20th March 2023, 6:38
The warnings to Hamilton and Sainz for weaving were lenient when you consider that Stroll got a 5s penalty for the same thing in Australia last year, the last time I can recall weaving being an issue.
Nick T.
20th March 2023, 2:18
to add to*
1.5/10 race despite being an Alonso fan.
Shimks (@shimks)
20th March 2023, 6:54
This race was almost ruined by constant meddling from the stewards. It’s as if they feel they have to justify their presence and paycheck. It was extremely annoying. Just let them race, for God’s sake.