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Written by Nina Rogerson
Sergio Perez converts pole position into victory at the second round of the season in Saudi Arabia.
Image via Formula1.com
The Red Bull driver kick-started his championship challenge with a race win after fending off an early attack from Fernando Alonso and breezing ahead despite a safety car bunch up early in the race.
Max Verstappen had a tough start from P15 but managed to propel his Red Bull into P2, despite driveshaft concerns which had already put an abrupt stop to his qualifying on Saturday. Verstappen did take an extra point for getting the fastest lap which makes him the championship leader ahead of his teammate.
Fernando Alonso took the lead into turn 1 but after a time penalty for lining up incorrectly on the grid, paired with the incredible pace of the Red Bull, the Spaniard had to settle for P3.
Image via @f1 on Instagram
It was judged after the race that Alonso’s rear jack mechanic had touched the car before the 5-second penalty had been completed which resulted in a further 10-second penalty after the race, which would drop him to P4 and put George Russell on the podium. However, hours after the chequered flag the FIA announced that Alonso’s P3 had been reinstated making it 100 podiums for the Spaniard.
Russell’s almost podium and eventual P4 gave Mercedes something to smile about after a less than impressive start to the season in Bahrain. They’ll also be happy to have both drivers finishing ahead of the Ferrari’s with Lewis Hamilton bringing it home in 5th.
Ferrari, however, will be disappointed with their end to the weekend as they were hoping Carlos Sainz would bring home a podium and Charles Leclerc would be able to get into the top 5 after a 10-place grid penalty put him 12th on the grid for the start of the race. Sainz lead the Ferrari duo in 6th place with Leclerc following him in 7th.
Alpine had a much more successful race this weekend compared to Bahrain with both of their drivers finishing in the points, Esteban Ocon crossing the line in 8th with Pierre Gasly behind him in 9th.
The final point went to Kevin Magnussen in the Haas after a wheel-to-wheel fight to the line with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Magnussen’s teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, brought his Haas home in 12th.
Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu lead the trio of rookie drivers in P12 with AlphaTauri’s Nyck De Vries following in P14, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in P15 and Williams’ Logan Sargeant in P16.
McLaren had another tough weekend with both of their drivers experiencing early damage with a collision between Piastri and Gasly, and Lando Norris hitting the debris from his teammate’s clash.
Piastri came out as top McLaren in 15th after passing Sargeant on the last lap, with Norris crossing the line in 17th ahead of Valterri Bottas who was the last of the finishers after experiencing some technical problems in his Alfa Romeo.
There were two retirements during the race, Alex Albon suffering from terminal brake problems with his Williams and Lance Stroll being instructed to stop his Aston Martin on track early in the race after a strong start put him amongst the front-runners.
As the domination from Red Bull and the Fernando Alonso hype continues, we now put our focus onto the third round of the season in Australia in two weeks’ time. Will anyone be able to take it to Verstappen and Perez at Albert Park?
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