2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Highlights

Max Verstappen continued his flying start to the World Championship at the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with a second consecutive race victory as teammate Sergio Pérez was again runner-up to secure Oracle Red Bull Racing back-to-back 1–2 finishes in the perfect start to their campaign.

Starting from the pole for the first time at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Verstappen was in complete control of the race despite an early Safety Car deployment on Lap 7 that caused a flurry of unscheduled pit stops. The Dutchman dominated and cruised home to his second victory of 2024 by a sizeable 13.643s over Pérez.

The Mexican driver started the race from third and passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Lap 4 to comfortably hold the position to the finish, even after receiving a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit release.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

It was great to get my 100th podium today; it was another great race for us this weekend. I’m thrilled to win here in Jeddah: it’s been a great start to the year, and we don’t know the car’s full potential yet, so we want to keep the momentum going. Because of the early pit stop with the Safety Car, I knew we had to work on managing the pace. Every time I pushed, I tried to extend the gap, as you don’t want to drive on the limit constantly and take too many risks on this circuit. It was a long stint on the hard tyre during the race, but the car’s pace was perfect, and I managed my tyres well. In the last stint, the tyres were getting cold, and it was easy to lose grip at the end, but we pushed through, and I think we did everything well today. The ultimate goal is to fight for the championship, so we are off to a great start.

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

Unfortunately, I think the early Safety Car significantly compromised our race. I lost quite a lot going into traffic with Lando and Lewis, around seven to eight seconds. We needed to get through that quicker than we did to challenge for the win, but other than that, it was a strong drive and performance. I feel like we have done the two steps forward I was looking for this weekend, so we’re getting closer to where we need to be. The Ferrari has the pace, and I think there are tracks where they will be much closer to us. They probably didn’t maximise their full potential today, but we did. Max is driving at a high level, and I think he’s the only driver who has maximised qualifying and the race this season. It’s great, though, because I have the best possible challenge for him. I must keep evolving weekend after weekend. Now, my focus is on Melbourne and getting on top of what we have done here in Jeddah.

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