Verstappen seals assured victory in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Bearman scores points on debut
Max Verstappen has continued his title defense in fine style by taking a dominant victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while an action-packed event unfolded behind him.
The Dutchman enjoyed a strong start from the pole as the 50-lap race got underway and, from there, held an assured lead, despite an early Safety Car sparking a flurry of action in the pit lane where Red Bull were amongst the teams to risk a double-stack strategy.
Sergio Perez came home in P2 to mark a second consecutive one-two result for the squad. The Mexican was handed a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release into the path of Fernando Alonso during that busy visit to the pits but held enough of a gap to third-placed Charles Leclerc to keep his position.
Leclerc completed the podium ahead of Oscar Piastri in fourth, with the Australian having spent a significant portion of the race trying to find a way past Lewis Hamilton who was one of the few drivers in the field to stay out during the early run of pit stops.
Fernando Alonso held onto fifth as the sole Aston Martin to remain in the race, with team mate Lance Stroll having been the cause of the Safety Car call-out following a crash into the barriers on Lap 7. Alonso had withheld pressure from the Mercedes of George Russell in the latter stages, but the Briton ultimately had to settle for sixth.
It was a memorable Formula 1 debut for Oliver Bearman, standing in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari after the Spaniard was diagnosed with appendicitis earlier on Friday. The youngster scored his first points by securing P7, during an impressive drive in which he carried out several overtakes.
Bearman led a pack of British drivers, with Lando Norris ending the day in P8 ahead of Hamilton in P9. Both Norris and Hamilton had stretched out their opening stints on the medium tyre before making pit stops in the second half of the race.
