Only one week after the 2024 season opener in Bahrain, Formula One was back in action for another Grand Prix Saturday. This time it was the FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2024 around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Drama started for the Alpine team before the race even began when Pierre Gasly reported gearbox issues during the formation lap. He managed to crawl around to the starting grid, causing the leaders to sit idle on the grid for longer than expected. He was able to take the race start, but was forced to retire at the end of the opening lap.
At the front of the grid, Max Verstappen got away well from pole position for the first time at this circuit, managing to cover off Charles Leclerc into the first corner. Leclerc was under pressure from Sergio Perez behind, but was able to maintain P2 on the opening lap.
Lando Norris caught the attention of the stewards in what appeared to be a jump start. But, after further review, the stewards decided that no further action was required. This was the first of what would be many questionable ruling to come out of the stewards’ office during the race.
Oliver Bearman had a punchy opening few laps in his Formula One debut, fighting with Yuki Tsunoda for P10. Bearman gave up his pole position in the Formula 2 race at this circuit to fill in for Carlos Sainz, who was forced to withdraw to undergo surgery for appendicitis. This makes him the first driver to make his F1 debut with Ferrari since Arturo Merzario in 1972.
Before long, the race turned into a Red Bull 1-2 with a half-hearted defence from Leclerc not enough to prevent Perez from climbing to P2 in the first corner.
But chaos ensued only six laps into the race when Lance Stroll crashed heavily into the barriers at the fast turn 22. The Canadian driver had clipped the inside barrier and broke the suspension of his Aston Martin, sending him into the outside corner. This brought out the safety car and triggered a plethora of pit stops. Virtually of the drivers pitted for hard compound tyres that would bring them to the end of the race. Only Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, and Guanyu Zhou stayed out.
Perez lost out during the pit stops, being handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release that forced Fernando Alonso to slow to avoid a collision. Leclerc also lost out big during the pit stops after having to wait for traffic to pass before being allowed to exit his pit box. He made quick work to recover positions when the race restarted, overtaking Oscar Piastri in the first corner.
Having stayed out during the safety car period, Norris found himself at the lead of the race when it resumed. Norris was able to fend off the faster Verstappen by managed to keep the reigning world champion outside of DRS range when it was enabled the following lap. But it would not last forever and he was eventually overtaken by Verstappen with DRS down the main straight.
Hamilton, who also stayed out during the safety car, quickly dropped out of his P4 restart position, first being overtaken by Perez in the first corner and then by Leclerc in the same corner a few laps later. When Piastri tried to take Hamilton around the outside of the first corner a few laps later, the Mercedes driver was able to keep his position when he forced the McLaren wide.
The race at the front of the field cooled down, but the mid-field battle provided plenty of action for fans, with the entire bottom half of the field fighting over what would become a net P10 finish. Leading that battle was Kevin Magnussen.
Unknown to him, Magnussen was actually not fighting for position, as two severe penalties had already dropped him well down the field. The first happened during the restart when he clipped the front wing of Alex Albon. The second was when he overtook Yuki Tsunoda. In doing so, he dove on the inside but failed to make the corner, running all four tyres over the white line at the exit. Both of these were enough for the stewards to hand him two 10 second time penalties, which was a bit severe compared to similar incidents in the past.
This didn’t stop Magnussen from fighting hard, essentially acting a cork in a bottle in the mid-field. Tsunoda did manage to overtake the Haas with DRS down the main straight, but Magnussen hung around the outside and forced the RB over the kerb on the exit of turn 2, allowing the Alpine of Esteban Ocon to gain a position. All of this fighting benefited Haas greatly, allowing Nico Hulkenberg, who had not made a pit stop under the safety car, to make a free stop late in the race and pick up the final points scoring position of the race.
On lap 35, Piastri had his best chance to overtake the seven-time world champion Hamilton, but he locked up in the first corner and was forced to cut the corner. He finally earned the position a couple of laps later when Hamilton finally pitted for new soft tyres.
McLaren had to cover off the undercut from Hamilton, pitting Norris for soft tyres. Issues on the right-rear tyre caused a slow stop for the team. Norris still managed to rejoin the race ahead of Hamilton, but with a gap much smaller than they would have wanted. Despite some pressure from Mercedes in the closing stages of the race, Norris was able to hold off the car behind for a P8 finish.
But it was Red Bull that finished on top with another 1-2 finish led by Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc finished in third place behind Sergio Perez, despite the Mexican’s five-second time penalty.
Everyone will get a bit of a breather before we head to Australia in two week’s time. The race, which will be back to Sunday, will be held on March 24.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 1:20:43.273 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 50 | +13.643 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 50 | +18.639 | 16 |  | |
| 4 | 50 | +32.007 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 50 | +35.759 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 50 | +39.936 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 50 | +42.679 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 50 | +45.708 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 50 | +47.391 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 50 | +76.996 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 50 | +88.354 | |||
| 12 | 50 | +105.737 | |||
| 13 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 14 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 17 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| DNF | 5 | ||||
| DNF | 1 |
