2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Recap
Credit: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
UPDATE: Fernando Alonso’s 10 second penalty has been rescinded by the FIA so he will keep his 3rd place podium finish.
1. Sergio Perez
2. Max Verstappen +5.355
3. Fernando Alonso +20.728 (10 second penalty will drop to 4th)
4. George Russell +25.866
5. Lewis Hamilton +31.065
6. Carlos Sainz +35.876
7. Charles Leclerc +43.162
8. Esteban Ocon +52.832
9. Pierre Gasly +54.747
10. Kevin Magnussen +64.826
11. Yuki Tsunoda +67.494
12. Nico Hulkenberg +70.588
13. Zhou Guanyu +76.060
14. Nyck De Vries +77.478
15. Oscar Piastri +85.021
16. Logan Sargeant +86.293
17. Lando Norris +86.445
18. Valterri Bottas +1 Lap
19. Alex Albon DNF
20. Lance Stroll DNF
Credit: Getty Images/Bryn Lennon
Sergio Perez is your 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix winner, picking up his first win of the year and his first win since Singapore 2022. It wasn’t necessarily the most exciting race but I’d also say it was far from being a bad race. Sergio Perez started on pole after Max Verstappen had gear box issues in the 2nd qualifying session yesterday. Fernando Alonso started 2nd on the grid after Charles Leclerc had to make some repairs to his engine after qualifying which dropped him 10 places on the grid to 12th. Fernando Alonso beat Sergio Perez on the start but the excitement for the Aston Martin team was short lived as Alonso immediately went under investigation for an incorrect grid position, which is now back to back races in which this penalty has been applied after Ocon’s mistake at Bahrain. Alonso was awarded a 5 second time penalty for lining up too far left on his grid spot. Regardless of the penalty, Perez passed Alonso on about lap 3 and led the rest of the race.
Sergio Perez was comfortably out front and in charge of the race when on lap 17, Lance Stroll had a mechanical issue and was forced to retire from the race. Here’s where things got really interesting because for some bizarre reason, a full safety car was signaled. Even though Lance Stroll’s car appeared to be completely behind the barriers and there was a crane right beside the car to move it, they went with a full safety car. It never should’ve been more than a virtual safety car. This benefitted Verstappen and Hamilton the most as they were right in line to get cheap pit stops and the field bunched back up. Verstappen and Hamilton leaped both of the Ferraris with their pit stops under yellow. After the restart, Verstappen quickly got around Russell and Alonso for 2nd place. Verstappen was around 5-6 seconds back of Perez and slightly cutting into his teammate’s lead but not as much as I expected. Around 10 laps to go, Verstappen came over the radio to his team and reported hearing a grinding noise from the drive shaft. It seemed from this point, the team no longer wanted Verstappen to push the car to try and overtake Perez but rather just get the car over the finish line. Verstappen did just that and actually ended up taking the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, with his 2nd place finish and Sergio Perez winning the race for a Red Bull 1-2.
3 Star Drivers
3rd Star - George Russell
3rd star this race was incredibly difficult to give out. Maybe I’m missing an obvious driver but it seems like there was a lot of disappointment up and down the grid. The reason I’m giving this George Russell is because at the time of this writing it looks like Fernando Alonso is going to get another penalty for his team working on his car too quickly while serving the 5 second time penalty for an incorrect grid position, again the exact same thing that happened to Ocon. So if Alonso gets another penalty, it will likely end up being a 10 second penalty which will drop him to 4th and move Russell to 3rd. Main reason I’m giving it to Russell though is he drove a clean race and he did a very good job of holding off Lewis after the safety car restart. After the restart Lewis was on the medium tire and Russell was on the hard tire so I fully expected Lewis to pass him but George somehow held him off.
2nd Star - Max Verstappen
A lot of people had Verstappen as their driver of the day and it honestly was a toss up between him and Perez. Verstappen started 15th after yesterday’s mechanical issues in qualify and had fought his way back to about 7th when the safety car came out. Now had Max fought and finished 2nd without the safety car, he would’ve 100% been my driver of the day, but the safety car happened and he was a huge beneficiary of it. Max did very well and could’ve got back up to 2nd without the safety car but well never know. Also Max got the fastest lap of the day on the final lap and leads the championship as a result of that fastest lap by 1 point.
1st Star - Sergio Perez
You got to give it up to Sergio Perez any time he wins. He was so close to losing his spot in Formula 1 after years of being on average teams and then ended up landing with the best team on the grid at the moment in Red Bull. Perez didn’t have the greatest start but got back around Alonso after just a few laps. I believe Perez end up leading the remaining 48 laps after the start. I really didn’t like Perez’s chances after the safety car came out, but credit where credit is due, he managed the margin between him and Verstappen and held on for his 5th career victory.
Other Notes:
Mercedes seem to be continuing the same trend as last year, not a great car but they somehow managed to eke out results. After qualifying 4th and 8th yesterday, it looks like they will end up with a 3rd and 5th place finish after the Alonso penalty. Also both Mercedes cars finish above the Ferraris despite arguably being slower than both Ferraris.
And that takes us to Ferrari. I’m not even sure the Ferrari team is to blame. They were sitting in 4th and 5th prior to the safety car and their pit strategy worked out perfectly and got both Ferrari’s ahead of Lance Stroll. Only issue is that lasted about a lap and half until Lance Stroll ended up retiring from the race and bringing out the safety car. No team was hurt by the safety car more than Ferrari as both cars fell behind Verstappen and Hamilton. I definitely expected more from the Ferraris after the restart but they couldn’t even catch Hamilton in front of them and ended up with a 6th and 7th finish.
Shout out to Haas and Kevin Magnussen for getting a point with their 10th place finish. Haas can qualify decent but man is their race pace always slow. Today it wasn’t half bad and they scored a point.
McLaren stink out loud. They are honestly the worst team on the grid through the first two races of the season. It’s still early but it’s astonishing how much they’ve dropped off in the last two seasons. Lando Norris has to be regretting everyday that contract he signed that keeps him with McLaren through 2025.
Standings Top 10
Max Verstappen 44 pts
Sergio Perez 43 pts
Fernando Alonso 30 pts
Carlos Sainz 20 pts
Lewis Hamilton 20 pts
George Russell 18 pts
Lance Stroll 8 pts
Charles Leclerc 6 pts
Valterri Bottas 4 pts
Esteban Ocon 4 pts
Next weekend is an off week and then Formula 1 will be back the weekend of April the 2nd with the Australian Grand Prix. It will be a fun 1 AM race for those in the US.