MOTORSPORT: Red Bull dominates in Saudi Arabia

Perez leads home Verstappen as post-race penalty denies Alonso his 100th Formula 1 podium finish

Red Bull’s early-season Formula 1 dominance continued at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Sergio Perez leading home Max Verstappen in a one-two result after the reigning world champion charged through from 15th on the grid following mechanical dramas in qualifying.

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, provisionally finished third in his Aston Martin, however he was adjudged to have incorrectly served an early penalty which saw the two-times champion docked 10sec post-race, elevating the Mercedes-AMG of George Russell to the podium.

For Perez, the result means that four of his five F1 wins have been on street circuits.

“It turned out to be tougher than expected,” said Perez.

“That safety car … we really did a job in the first stint, but that safety car again tried to take the victory from us in Jeddah – but not this time!

“I was owed a victory last year, so finally I got it,” he added, referring to when the Mexican started from pole position in 2022 – a feat he repeated last weekend.

From left: Max Verstappen, Ben Waterhouse (Red Bull Racing Head of Performance Engineering), Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso

From second on the grid, Alonso jumped into the lead at the commencement of the 50-lap race but was adjudged to have started outside of his grid box, attracting a five-second penalty which he attempted to serve at his pit stop.

Aussie Oscar Piastri launched into the race from a fine eighth position but finished the first lap in the McLaren pits for a replacement front wing after damage incurred in the first corner shuffle.

It proved to be good practice for the team, who also had to replace the wing on the sister car of Lando Norris on the next lap.

Perez moved into the lead on the fourth circuit, while Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) received a bad sportsmanship flag for weaving on the straight.

With the bulk of the field running a single service strategy, early stoppers came at lap 16, with Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) bringing out a questionable safety car after retiring to a seemingly safe place on lap 18.

Verstappen took in the lap 21 restart from fourth, but quickly moved into second behind Perez, while another promising run for the Williams of Alex Albon finished in the pits with brake issues.

A spirited battle broke out at the tail of the field between the McLaren teammates, Norris and Piastri, and Logan Sargeant (Williams), with Piastri ultimately gaining the upper hand.

Kevin Magnussen also moved his Haas into the points ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri).

Behind Alonso in fifth at the chequered flag was Hamilton, then Ferrari stablemates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who recovered from a 10-grid place penalty, ahead of the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, with Magnussen rounding out the top 10.

In the title standings, Verstappen maintains a one-point advantage over Perez by virtue of claiming the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race on the final circuit.

Next up on the Formula 1 schedule is the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, which is scheduled for March 31 to April 2.