How Verstappen won Saudi Arabian GP in nail-biting finale

Sunday’s second-ever Saudi Arabian GP looked set for cancellation when a rebel group known as the Houthis attacked the Aramco power plant a few kilometres from the Jeddah Corniche circuit.

However, following a meeting with stakeholders and drivers, the race continued. The race started with an 18-car grid due to Mick Schumacher’s crash in qualifying.

Haas opted to bench the car to avoid further damage. Yuko Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri suffered a reported drive-train issue and he had to climb out of his car before the race could even start.

After missing qualifying, it was a weekend to forget for the Japanese driver. It was Sergio Perez’s 11th anniversary in F1 and after 215 race starts, he had finally scored a pole.

When the race began, Perez looked untouchable, maintaining the lead off Leclerc smoothly. His teammate, Verstappen, pipped Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to third place.

Further back, Haas’ Magnussen took P9 off Pierre Gasly, who was also passed by McLaren’s Norris. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to pass Williams’ Albon for P14.

The Alpines of Alonso and Ocon put on quite the show reminiscent of the two by two battles in Bahrain.

Eventually, Ocon’s engineer radioed him to hold the position, which gave Alfa Romeo’s Bottas a chance at an overtake.

The race seemed to settle for a procession lap 16 when Perz blinked first and pitted, which prompted Leclerc to stay out.

Perez was not so lucky as Williams’ Latifi, who was running in P18, shunted into the wall, triggering a virtual safety car.

This was great news for the front-runners, apart from Perez, who all got free pit stops. Magnussen and Hamilton, who started on hard tyres, opted not to pit and were then running in P6 and P7.

The safety car soon emerged. Leclerc led with Verstappen in his wake. Perez was third but it seemed he had passed Sainz under the safety car.

And he had to give back the position at the restart or risk a penalty. The safety car came in on Lap 21 and we were off to the races again.

Hamilton tried to take P6 from Magnussen but the Haas driver retook the position with DRS. Hamilton learnt from his error and retook P6 and managed to maintain the position.

At the front, Leclerc was staying out of Verstappen’s DRS range. By lap 35, Magnussen was beginning to lose grip in his tyres and was passed by Alonso.

However, Alonso soon slowed down after a loss of power. He tried to bring the car home but ended up stalling at the pit entry.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t to remain unscathed as he too suffered a mechanical failure. Bottas was called in for a third pit stop, where his car was retired.

Ricciardo’s car had to be pushed into the pit lane, which spelt disaster for Hamilton, who hadn’t pitted.

With the virtual safety car, he had a gap ahead of Ocon, who was running behind him and if he had pitted, if the pit lane was still open, he’d have emerged P6.

When the VSC ended, he pitted for a new set of mediums with only 14 laps to go and dropped to P12.

Verstappen closed the gap to Leclerc, after sliding up close to him like a suitor at a dance club and took the lead.

But Leclerc kept his head down and retook the lead. Two laps later, Verstappen tried to overtake Leclerc with DRS but Leclerc baited him into locking up his tyres.

Leclerc smoothly continued to lead until the next DRS opportunity. Verstappen then got on his radio to yell about how Leclerc had crossed the white line at the pit entry but was swiftly scolded to remain calm.

On lap 47, Verstappen used DRS and had a great exit into Turn 1. Leclerc still managed to close the gap but a collision between Williams' Albon and Aston Martin's Stroll caused yellow flags in Sector 1.

This scaled back the drama as Leclerc had to concede the battle while only 0.5 seconds behind.

Verstappen claimed one victory of the season. Sainz then completed the podium with Perez behind. Russell completed the top 5.

Meanwhile, Hamilton managed to climb to P10. A last-minute battle between Ocon and Norris ended at the finish line with Ocon maintaining P6. Gasly finished P8 and Magnussen P9.

However, Magnussen, Sainz and Perez remain under investigation for a possible yellow flag infringement.

The race had six retirements, four being mechanical. There are a lot of teams that will need fixing on reliability alone.

The season is off to a promising start. The next round begins in Australia on April 8-10 at the newly remodelled Albert Park.

F1 hasn't been to Australia since 2019.

Gloria is a member of the Paddock Club

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