2022 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlights

Crimson Bull’s Max Verstappen gained an epic battle over Charles Leclerc on the 2022 System 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz finishing the rostrum behind his Ferrari teammate – as pole-sitter, Sergio Perez needed to accept fourth after pitting simply earlier than a pivotal Security Automobile.

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Perez led till Lap 16 when a flash of Ferrari mechanics maybe triggered Crimson Bull into an early pit cease. That proved to be unlucky; Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed on the closing nook on the subsequent lap and triggered a VSC then Security Automobile, with Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz capitalising.

The Mexican was set to restart third on Lap 21 when the Security Automobile retreated however was discovered to have handed Sainz because the Spaniard exited the pits alongside the Crimson Bull through the warning interval, leaving the pole-sitter fourth.

One other VSC emerged on Lap 38 when McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo crawled to a halt on the pit exit, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso slowing with an issue a lap earlier – after which stopping across the identical place as Ricciardo. When the VSC completed on Lap 41, Verstappen was inside a second of chief Leclerc – and now got here spherical two of their good 2022 rivalry.

With DRS, the Dutchman took the lead on the again straight on Lap 42, however Leclerc got here again with DRS and held onto the lead. Once more on Lap 43, Verstappen tried a transfer however locked up in unison with the Ferrari into the ultimate nook, the Ferrari conserving P1.

A quick lull adopted and initially of Lap 47 earlier than Verstappen made certain he had DRS and prised the leadoff Leclerc, the championship chief unable to shut him off this time.

Leclerc put within the quickest lap with a second wind within the closing staged – however Verstappen narrowly stored him at bay, shrugging off the scare of a late Sector 1 yellow flag (for a Lance Stroll-Alex Albon coming collectively) to win by simply 0.549s.

George Russell took P5 at Esteban Ocon’s expense, the Alpine driver having misplaced out to the Mercedes on Lap 3 after which battled along with his teammate Alonso (DNF) in an thrilling early-race battle. Ocon, out-dragged right here for P3 in 2021, stored McLaren’s Lando Norris at bay by a tenth of a second on the road in a drag race for P6.

Pierre Gasly made up one place to P8 for AlphaTauri, with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen ninth from tenth on the grid, and Lewis Hamilton – who was unlucky not to have the ability to pit through the second VSC – taking the ultimate level from his P15 begin for Mercedes.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu missed out on a second consecutive level end, receiving two penalties, the primary for reducing a nook in an early scrap with Albon and the second for failing to serve that penalty appropriately when he pitted.

Stroll, Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Alonso and Ricciardo, had been the 5 drivers to not make the flag.

Neither Mick Schumacher, who crashed out of qualifying, nor Yuki Tsunoda, whose AlphaTauri stopped with a technical challenge on his lap to the grid, began the race.

Mario Isola – Head of F1 and automobile racing at Pirelli commented:

One other good night time, one other good race! As soon as extra, the situations on the 2022 System 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix had been fully completely different from Bahrain when it comes to monitor format and traits, we noticed the newest automobiles in a position to comply with and go one another with some nice on-track battles: which is all the way down to the brand new tyres as properly.

The laborious was the important thing compound to tonight’s race, with sturdy efficiency and virtually zero degradation, as proved by Charles Leclerc’s quickest lap simply two from the tip on a well-used set. The medium additionally had fairly a low degradation, contributing to the one-stop technique that we thought can be quickest and serving to to ship an thrilling race from begin to end.

The quickest race lap was additionally lower than a second slower than the equal lap on the identical compound final yr. So placing all this collectively, it’s clear to see how the brand new automobile and tyre package deal is to date delivering on all of the hopes and expectations that we had for this yr. Congratulations to Max Verstappen for the heartbreaking victory!

2022 System 1 Saudi Arabian GP Race Outcomes

2022 Constructor Standings

Listed here are the team-by-team highlights: