JEDDAH: Team by team review of Saturday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, round two of the 24-race season (listed in their current championship order):
RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 2)
Verstappen's second win of the season, ninth in a row dating back to last September and 56th of his career. It was also the triple champion's 100th podium. He started from pole, pitted along with Perez during the safety car period on lap 7 and regained the lead on lap 13. Perez started third, took second from Leclerc on lap four but collected an ultimately meaningless five second penalty for an unsafe release during the pitstop. Red Bull have won the first two races one-two and go fourth in the all-time lists, ahead of Williams, with their 115th victory.
FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 3, Oliver Bearman 7)
Bearman stood-in for Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard required appendix surgery on Friday. He started 11th and did not make any mistakes as he became Ferrari's youngest ever rookie, aged 18, and Britain's youngest F1 driver. Bearman passed Tsunoda, Zhou and Hulkenberg on track and was voted Driver of the Day. Leclerc started on the front row with Verstappen for the fifth race in a row and secured his first podium of 2024.
MCLAREN (Oscar Piastri 4, Lando Norris 8)
Piastri started fifth and was stuck behind Hamilton for a while. Norris started sixth and led the race when others pitted during the safety car period and he stayed out. The safety car came in on lap nine and Verstappen was ahead four laps later. Another safety car would have helped but did not come.
MERCEDES (George Russell 6, Lewis Hamilton 9)
A disappointing day for Mercedes, which slipped down the order from third to fourth. Russell pitted on lap seven during the safety car while Hamilton stayed out and eventually pitted for softs on lap 36 of 50. The seven times champion put pressure on Norris and Bearman but ran out of time. Russell also tried to catch Alonso but could not get past the Spaniard.
ASTON MARTIN (Fernando Alonso 5, Lance Stroll retired)
Stroll triggered the safety car by clipping the wall and crashing into the barrier at turn 22. Alonso said finishing in front of a McLaren, a Ferrari and both Mercedes was the most he could have hoped for.
HAAS (Nico Hulkenberg 10, Kevin Magnussen 12)
Hulkenberg took Haas's first point of the campaign with Magnussen collecting two 10 second penalties before then riding shotgun, holding off drivers behind him to create a big enough gap for Hulkenberg in front to pit and retain position. The German had stayed out during the safety car period. Magnussen's penalties were for causing a collision with Albon and then leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He finished 11th on track but dropped to 12th with the penalties.
WILLIAMS (Alex Albon 11, Logan Sargeant 14)
Albon was impeded by Magnussen after the safety car came in, costing him several places and damaging his car's front wing endplate. He fought back but could not get into the points as Haas played their strategic move. Sargeant suffered higher tyre degradation than his team mate towards the end.
SAUBER (Valtteri Bottas 17, Guanyu Zhou 18)
The last two cars running on the track. Zhou ran as high as 10th after starting 20th and staying out during the safety car period. A pitstop problem with a cross-threaded wheel but, the second such incident for Sauber in two races, then sent him to back of the field. Bottas struggled on the hard tyre compound.
RB (Yuki Tsunoda 15, Daniel Ricciardo 16)
Ricciardo had a slow pitstop during the safety car period and then spun at turn one late in the race. Tsunoda pitted during the safety car period but was then stuck behind Magnussen, with racing director Alan Permane accusing the Dane of unsportsmanlike behaviour in leaving the track to get ahead and then slowing to help Hulkenberg open up a gap. The Japanese also collected a five second penalty for an unsafe release.
ALPINE (Esteban Ocon 13, Pierre Gasly retired)
Gasly was the first retirement of the season, getting the call to pit on lap one due to a gearbox issue that emerged on the formation lap and in which he lost sixth gear and then synchronisation of all the other gears. --REUTERS