Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Driver performance summary
| Driver | Q stage | Q pos. | Q gap to team mate | GP grid pos. | GP pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | Q3 | 1 | -0.335s | 1 | 1 |
| Sergio Perez | Q3 | 3 | +0.335s | 3 | 2 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Q3 | 8 | +0.144s | 8 | 9 |
| George Russell | Q3 | 7 | -0.144s | 7 | 6 |
| Charles Leclerc | Q3 | 2 | -0.530s | 2 | 3 |
| Lando Norris | Q3 | 6 | +0.043s | 6 | 8 |
| Oscar Piastri | Q3 | 5 | -0.043s | 5 | 4 |
| Lance Stroll | Q3 | 10 | +0.726s | 10 | 19 |
| Fernando Alonso | Q3 | 4 | -0.726s | 4 | 5 |
| Esteban Ocon | Q1 | 17 | -0.004s | 17 | 13 |
| Pierre Gasly | Q1 | 18 | +0.004s | 18 | 20 |
| Alexander Albon | Q2 | 12 | -0.419s | 12 | 11 |
| Logan Sargeant | Q1 | 19 | +0.419s | 19 | 15 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Q2 | 14 | +0.461s | 14 | 16 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Q3 | 9 | -0.461s | 9 | 14 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Q1 | 16 | 16 | 17 | |
| Zhou Guanyu | Q1 | 20 | 20 | 18 | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Q2 | 13 | +0.014s | 13 | 12 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Q2 | 15 | -0.014s | 15 | 10 |
| Oliver Bearman | Q2 | 11 | +0.530s | 11 | 7 |
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?
- No opinion (0%)
- Kevin Magnussen (8%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
- Zhou Guanyu (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
- Logan Sargeant (0%)
- Alexander Albon (1%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (4%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Oscar Piastri (0%)
- Lando Norris (0%)
- Oliver Bearman (73%)
- Charles Leclerc (0%)
- George Russell (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (0%)
- Sergio Perez (1%)
- Max Verstappen (11%)
Total Voters: 107
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When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Vowles being patient with Sargeant but expects to see “progress”
- “So I’ve got nothing to worry about?” – The best unheard team radio from Jeddah
- “Shock” of poor start to season showed need for change at Alpine – Famin
- “My tyres are dying”: Stroll’s short-lived struggle until he hit the wall
- Bearman calls Ferrari debut a “dream” but admits “I made a lot of mistakes”
Debates and polls
- Is F1’s record reliability rate making the sport better?
- Should F1 ensure ‘sustainable’ fuels are no pipe dream before ditching hybrids?
- Who should Mercedes replace Hamilton with… and should Verstappen switch from Red Bull?
- Have F1’s Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions had a positive impact on the sport?
- Was Norris right to hand victory in Hungary over to Piastri?
BasCB (@bascb)
9th March 2024, 20:53
Max did great again, almost not worth remarking upon by now. Perez did a really solid race, good to see he went with solid attacks. Albon and Tsunoda did look good enough, although I do think that first penalty for Magnussen was deserved, they SHOULD penelize for completely unnecissary and dangerous moves like that on Albon, but then Magnussen did a really good job helping to team claim that one point with Hulkenberg, and yeah, he certainly one of the outstanding drivers today.
But in the end, I voted for the rooke Bearman. He was on the pace right from the start, he had some good goes at fighting on track, overtaking probably more cars than most others, setting his best lap time right at the end, showing he has the tyre management worked out as well. Good job, looking forward to seeing him on the grid full time.
ludewig
10th March 2024, 11:11
The irony of being so consistently good that nothing stands out anymore.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th March 2024, 15:06
What can he possibly do to not be consistently good? The car can overtake a Ferrari without DRS on a straight, heading into a corner, coming out of a corner. If Max wanted to have fun he could dropped to run a few circles around Leclerc, then caught up with Checo, done a few circles on the sister car and then blown into the distance and lapped the last car.
Max said as much last year at Spa. He has 10 extra seconds over the other Red Bull in reserve and no one knows how many over the Ferrari.
If Red Bull showed their true pace, we’d have new regulations tomorrow.
As Brundle, Leclerc, Hamilton have said, “the Red Bull is a different classification car” and will win everything forever… The irony of being so consistently good that nothing stands out anymore.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th March 2024, 15:07
What can he possibly do to not be consistently good? The car can overtake a Ferrari without DRS on a straight, heading into a corner, coming out of a corner. If Max wanted to have fun he could dropped to run a few circles around Leclerc, then caught up with Checo, done a few circles on the sister car and then blown into the distance and lapped the last car.
Max said as much last year at Spa. He has 10 extra seconds over the other Red Bull in reserve and no one knows how many over the Ferrari.
If Red Bull showed their true pace, we’d have new regulations tomorrow. It’s worse than LMP vs LMP2.
MichaelN
9th March 2024, 20:56
Bearman finishing just 20 seconds behind Leclerc has to make him the obvious pick. What a debut!
There’s an entire generation of young guys being forced out of single seater racing because the silly F1 teams would rather give us the 15th or whatever season of some has-been that was never really that great in the first place.
What are guys like Magnussen, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, Bottas etc. still doing here?
Asd
9th March 2024, 21:29
Put Bearman in an Alpine, while put Bottas in a Ferrari, and we will see who is who.
Bearman just showed what the Ferrari is worth, not what he is worth.
PacificPR (@streydt)
9th March 2024, 21:54
Bearman is making his debut – unprepared. Bottas is a veteran. Your comment makes little sense. The boy did well and if he had been driving in one of the lesser cars – it would have been less obvious. If that is what you mean. Mind you being in a Ferrari adds a lot more pressure than a Haas – so I think he gets extra bonus points for that.
MichaelN
9th March 2024, 23:56
Never mind the other cars. He finished just 20 seconds behind the lead driver of the 2nd best team in the sport, who has driven over 100 races, has won numerous races, is being paid many millions and is so valued he has one of longest contracts in the sport. And Bearman didn’t even know he’d be racing yesterday morning, and on what is arguably one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar to boot. That’s a huge achievement!
Nick T.
10th March 2024, 0:26
Hulkenberg deserves his place. Ricciardo deserved a second shot, especially since there were few exciting talents in F2 recently, but he should be gone if he keeps driving like he is (though IMO, Tsunoda is highly underrated) and Bottas, Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll, Sargeant and Checo should be gone. That’s 30% of the grid and 35% if DR continues on like that and a ton of seats/rookies that should be given. But you’re misplacing some of the reason why. Half those drivers are there simply because of the money or market exposure they bring rather than talent.
Osnola
9th March 2024, 21:43
Well the best driver was max of course.
But Bearman really delivered!
boyracerfred (@boyracerfred)
9th March 2024, 22:24
No, the car was easily the best and the driver ought to get the best out of it after all these races and designing it for him.
Nick T.
9th March 2024, 23:54
Indeed. Drivers who out performed their car include the Hulk and Alonso.
Unpopular opinion coming: Bearman is very good, but all he did was put the car where I’d expect any experienced, top F2 talent with FPs and sim-work experience to put the second best car on the grid on short notice. Similarly over hailed recent sub drives include Lawson (would have finished P13 without the incredibly unlikely scenario of five cars ahead of him being taken out by other drivers ((two by Checo alone) and/or having mechanical unreliability and DeVries at Monza.
Personally, I thought it was a no brainer to put Bearman in the Haas for this season. He immediately demonstrated he’d be a much faster option than Magnussen. I know they wanted experience and safe hands, but K-Mag tends to get into a lot of incidents on top of being slow.
ludewig
10th March 2024, 11:12
Bearman still did quite good to drive a solid pace and not crash into the wall.
Des Mo
10th March 2024, 2:32
George drove above the cars limits. Piastri is a reliable equal in his team now. Bearman was a star in his first F1 drive. Sure the Ferrari is good but he surpassed expectations. Alonso stepped up. Albon nearly in the points. Charles consistent and managing challenging issues. My vote went to Oliver.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th March 2024, 7:07
DOTW: VER, DOTD: BEA
Retired (@jeff1s)
10th March 2024, 14:20
Votes Ricciardo sarcastically. I think this is the race that ends his career. Absolutely awful racepace.
The picture showing Verstappen lapping Ricciardo is the cement over the grave.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th March 2024, 12:23
Yeah, he even made a goodbye pirouette!
melanos
10th March 2024, 16:50
Was Ollie Bearman the best? probably not. I’d say Max and Fernando were better. But given the circumstances my vote goes to Ollie. No doubt who was the absolute worst. But maybe Ollie will stay in Ferrari next year.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
11th March 2024, 11:27
KMag, for pure entertainment value.