Max Verstappen has a very personal definition of the “glorious uncertainty of sport”: every time he starts a race, the probability of him winning the race is close to one. Saturday March 9, the Dutch driver of the Red Bull team was no exception to the rule by winning without trembling the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the second round of twenty-four of the 2024 Formula 1 season, Saturday on the Jeddah urban circuit.
The three-time reigning world champion, who started from pole position, scored the 56th victory of his career, the ninth in a row, and beat his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez, as he did last weekend in Bahrain.
Despite the turmoil that has shaken the team behind the scenes for a month and the start of the Christian Horner affair, the team director cleared of accusations of “inappropriate behavior” made by an employee – who was suspended –, Red Bull confirmed its overwhelming superiority on the fast Saudi track by achieving a second double in two races.
Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who shared the front row with Verstappen, took third place, almost 20 seconds behind Verstappen. He also snatched the point for the fastest lap in the race at the last minute during his last loop. His young teammate Oliver Bearman, who had to replace at short notice the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who was operated on for appendicitis on Friday, took a superb seventh place for his first Formula 1 Grand Prix. The Briton, who started in 11th position , became at 18 years and 10 months and one day the third youngest driver in history to take part in an F1 Grand Prix.
On the French side, there was no miracle for Alpine: the race started very badly since Pierre Gasly had to retire on the first lap due to gearbox problems, while Esteban Ocon, who started in 17th position , finished 13th.
