F1 GP S.Arabia: Red Bull 1-2 again!

As expected, the two RB20s went 1-2 quite easily, for the second time in a row this year. Leclerc is in third place.

There were no surprises in Jeddah. Despite the safety car on lap seven Verstappen– Perez equalized 1-2 again on behalf of Red Bull.

Leclerc easily finished the race in third place, with Ferrari clearly faster than McLaren and Mercedes. However, the SF-24 again had no answer to the pace of the RB20. Piastri and Alonso completed the top five. Biermann's first race was a positive one as he finished seventh and was awarded the unofficial title of racing driver.

The teams prepared as usual for the stop race. Everyone except them Berman Bottas chose the middle rubber. These two drivers preferred the soft car, perhaps hoping for a safety car.

Begins

Most drivers kept their seats as the red lights went out. the Leclerc– Perez had a short battle in the first three corners, with Monaco initially prevailing. Upon completion of the first lap Piastri would overtake Alonso for fourth place.

At the same time, Gasly entered the pits to retire. Alpine has already had a gearbox problem since the shaping session. Biermann on the soft tire was pressuring Tsunoda for tenth place, with the Japanese having already lost one start to Stroll.

However, in the fourth round, the spotlight will fall on the other SF-24. Leclerc was losing second place to him PerezIt is clear that the Mexican has superior pace. With 7 laps to go, it was Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, Piastri and Alonso.

Safety car

In the same round, Hike wander He put his front left wheel on the wall at turn 21. The AMR24 spun out of control towards barrier 22 and the race was over for the Canadian. The safety car was mobilized immediately.

This development caused a frenzy in the pits as almost everyone prompted them to switch to hard rubber. As for the pioneers, they remained outside Norris Hamilton advances in the world rankings. The order before the start of the second half was: Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Leclerc, Piastri and Alonso.

This was brought forward on lap 10 with Norris retaining the lead from Verstappen. Biermann took a place from Tsunoda and Albon's Magnussen with the latter two also in contact.

under investigation

A short time later, the race management announced that Norris and Perez were under investigation. The first was because his car moved before the lights on the grid went out and the second was because it made an unsafe launch at pit stops.

But on lap 13, Lando lost first place to Verstappen. The other Red Bull, Perez, would overtake Hamilton to take third place around the same time. However, positive news for Norris will come from race management allowing him to start as a Briton He had time to stop MCL38 before lights out.

On the contrary, the stewards will penalize Perez (i.e. Red Bull) with five seconds for a dangerous start at the pit stop. But the strictest will be the judges with him Magnussen He was given a 10-second penalty for calling Albon earlier. The Dane would gain another 10 seconds shortly after when he passed Tsunoda off the track.

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Meanwhile, Leclerc passed Hamilton to take fourth place. Soon the Briton will feel the pressure too shark. The fellow Australian would lose second place to Perez on the eighteenth lap. Despite this, he and Hamilton stayed on track with the original sets of medium tires they carried from the start.

Midway through the race (lap 25), Verstappen opened up a 7-second gap to second-placed Perez. Norris was 6 more behind with Leclerc fourth approaching the DRS. Fifth Hamilton He was still battling with Piastri who had already gone through several laps of DRS.

Red Bull II 1-2

Two laps later Leclerc would take third place from Norris. Conversely, the other McLaren Piastri found things dark against Hamilton. The Briton managed to neutralize the advantage of fresh Australian rubber.

On lap 37, Lewis finally made his pit stop to take the soft tire all the way. A lap later Norris would also enter for the soft Pirellis. The McLaren driver will be able to get ahead of Hamilton, despite his team's late stop.

Verstappen comfortably took the checkered flag first while Perez completed the Red Bull victory. Leclerc was third (who also set the fastest lap) behind Piastri and Alonso.