2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Highlights

Max Verstappen has continued his title defence in refined style, taking a dominant victory in the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. An action-packed event unfolded behind him.

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Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

It’s been a very straightforward race, both in terms of the final result, which was almost a carbon copy of Sakhir and when it comes to how the tyres performed. We knew this would be a race where the quickest strategy was a one-stop. After seven laps, the Safety Car brought the pit stop window forward. The C2 proved to be very consistent, both in terms of performance and degradation, as can be seen from the fact that the race’s fastest lap came right at the end, courtesy of Leclerc on a set that had done 43 laps. The C3 was also up to the task because the four drivers who chose to stay out when the Safety Car appeared could take it to its wear limit while still running pretty competitively. Compared to Friday’s long runs, graining on this compound was minimal, down to the track, gradually rubbering in more and more with use. Hamilton’s and Norris’ stints on the C4 also demonstrated that the softest compound could be competitive even in the first part of the race, although only two drivers tried to exploit that.

The day on the track:

On the starting grid, 18 20 drivers opted to run the first stint on Medium tyres, the only exceptions being Oliver Bearman and Valtteri Bottas, who preferred the Soft. The Safety Car came out on lap seven after Lance Stroll hit the barriers, triggering a run of pit stops. Only four drivers – Norris, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Zhou – stayed out on the Medium, delaying their stop as much as possible. As from lap 30, this quartet began to pit: Hulkenberg on lap 33, Hamilton on 36, Norris on 37, while Zhou went to lap 41. The Haas driver was the only one to fit Hard tyres, with the other three going for Soft to try and make up some places, although they did not manage it. Of the drivers who saw the chequered flag, only Bottas made two stops (Soft-Hard-Soft).

What’s next?

Formula 1 will be back on track in a fortnight in Melbourne, where the Australian Grand Prix will run to the conventional Thursday to Sunday programme. Pirelli is bringing the C3-C4-C5 compounds, a trio one step softer than last year, for the Albert Park street circuit. The two junior series, of which Pirelli is the tyre supplier, Formula 2 and Formula 3, are also racing there.

2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Race Results

2024 Constructor Standings

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Max Verstappen continued his flying start to the World Championship at the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with a second consecutive race victory as teammate Sergio Pérez was again runner-up to secure Oracle Red Bull Racing back-to-back 1–2 finishes in the perfect start to their campaign.

Starting from the pole for the first time at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Verstappen was in complete control of the race despite an early Safety Car deployment on Lap 7 that caused a flurry of unscheduled pit stops. The Dutchman dominated and cruised home to his second victory of 2024 by a sizeable 13.643s over Pérez.

The Mexican driver started the race from third and passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Lap 4 to comfortably hold the position to the finish, even after receiving a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit release.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

It was great to get my 100th podium today; it was another great race for us this weekend. I’m thrilled to win here in Jeddah: it’s been a great start to the year, and we don’t know the car’s full potential yet, so we want to keep the momentum going. Because of the early pit stop with the Safety Car, I knew we had to work on managing the pace. Every time I pushed, I tried to extend the gap, as you don’t want to drive on the limit constantly and take too many risks on this circuit. It was a long stint on the hard tyre during the race, but the car’s pace was perfect, and I managed my tyres well. In the last stint, the tyres were getting cold, and it was easy to lose grip at the end, but we pushed through, and I think we did everything well today. The ultimate goal is to fight for the championship, so we are off to a great start.

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

Unfortunately, I think the early Safety Car significantly compromised our race. I lost quite a lot going into traffic with Lando and Lewis, around seven to eight seconds. We needed to get through that quicker than we did to challenge for the win, but other than that, it was a strong drive and performance. I feel like we have done the two steps forward I was looking for this weekend, so we’re getting closer to where we need to be. The Ferrari has the pace, and I think there are tracks where they will be much closer to us. They probably didn’t maximise their full potential today, but we did. Max is driving at a high level, and I think he’s the only driver who has maximised qualifying and the race this season. It’s great, though, because I have the best possible challenge for him. I must keep evolving weekend after weekend. Now, my focus is on Melbourne and getting on top of what we have done here in Jeddah.

Scuderia Ferrari leaves the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix celebrating a first podium finish of the season for Charles Leclerc at the end of a pretty solitary race for third place, while Oliver Bearman had a dream debut. The team’s reserve driver, a product of the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy, began his weekend as a Formula 2 driver and ended it as the 97th driver to race for Ferrari in a Formula 1 Grand Prix. He is now also the 61st to score points at the wheel of a Prancing Horse car, thanks to a brilliant drive to seventh place.

At 18 years and 305 days, the Englishman was the youngest driver to make his debut at the wheel of a Ferrari, and along with Charles, this was the first event in which the Scuderia had fielded two alums from its Academy. They are also the youngest pairing, with an average age of 22 years and 224 days – Charles is 26 and 144 days old. That beats the record set by Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix. Today’s result, even in terms of points scored, shows that the Scuderia is currently second in the pecking order, which is very positive and confirms the progress made compared to the start of last season. However, there is work to do to catch Red Bull, which still has a clear advantage. When discussing Ferrari stars tonight in Jeddah, one must also mention Carlos Sainz. Following an appendectomy on Friday afternoon, the Spaniard felt well enough to come to the track and watch proceedings from the garage. He looked at the screens that would usually have shown his progress—a great example of Scuderia team spirit.

Oliver Bearman #38

What a great experience and opportunity to have my first Formula 1 race with Scuderia Ferrari. It was physically demanding, especially when Lando (Norris) and Lewis (Hamilton) were behind me on Softs. I had to push flat out to maintain the gap and stay focused, constantly checking my mirrors. It was a shame that the Safety Car came out so early, as I was comfortable on the Softs, but of course, it was the right call to pit then, and I’m thrilled with the result.

I’m confident I maximised everything today and had great fun out there. I’ll never forget this weekend. Thank you to the whole team for their support and for giving me the chance to race.

Charles Leclerc #16

We maximised our potential today and couldn’t have done better than this. We struggled a bit on the Mediums. The Hards were tricky at first but improved throughout the stint, and I could set the fastest lap on them with some help from DRS. All in all, I felt good in the car.

Ollie did an exceptional job this weekend. It is impressive to see someone get up to speed so quickly when you get into a Formula 1 car starting from FP3 when you don’t know the car, and the track is one of the most challenging of the season. Seeing him so happy and excited all weekend was super nice, and he’s done a great job.

Frédéric Vasseur – Team Principal

With Charles today, I think we paid the price a little bit in the first part of the race of not being in clean air. Unfortunately, after the pit stop, he lost time with Lando Norris, so he could not get close enough to Sergio Perez to try and make the most of the five-second penalty handed out to the Mexican. Overall, Charles produced a solid race, and when he had a clear track ahead of him, he matched the pace of the Red Bulls to the extent that he set the fastest lap at the very end. We have to put our rivals under pressure if we want to beat them, and today, we didn’t manage it. The good news is that we have made progress regarding the tyres and had minimal degradation.

As for Ollie, I didn’t have any specific expectations, given the circumstances that led to him being in the car. And yet, he managed these two days amazingly well, almost like a veteran. There were no problems with his start or at the pit stop, which were all new to him. He was always calm and precise with his feedback over the radio, and gradually, his confidence in the car grew so that, towards the end, he managed to keep two great drivers, Lando (Norris) and Lewis (Hamilton), behind him.

It was nice that Carlos could join us at the track today, just over 24 hours after his operation, and we hope he will be able to race in Australia. If nothing else, this weekend has taught us that if the need arises again, we have a reserve driver who is very much up to the task.

George Russell finished sixth, and Lewis Hamilton ninth in the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

George and Lewis held their initial starting positions of seventh and eighth on the opening laps. The Safety Car was deployed on lap seven after Lance Stroll hit the barrier, and the team opted to split strategies. George pitted for the Hard tyre whilst Lewis stayed out, cycling through to run P3. As the race progressed, those on fresher tyres could move ahead, and without any other interruptions, Lewis pitted for the Soft tyre on lap 36. He emerged in P9 and pressured the McLaren of Lando Norris as they chased down the Ferrari of Ollie Bearman. Unfortunately, despite closing quickly, he ran out of time to make up more positions. It was a similar story for George, who closed on the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in the closing stages but couldn’t attempt an overtake and had to settle for P6.

The team will now be hard at work in the gap ahead of the Australian Grand Prix to try and make improvements with the W15.

George Russell

It was a long evening out there. I spent nearly 40 laps within 1.5 seconds of Fernando Alonso but couldn’t get past. I had a slippery car on the straights, but I couldn’t get close enough at high speed to give him any real pressure. P6 was likely a fair result in the end, and it’s clear that we haven’t found the sweet spot with this car yet.

Overall, though, we need to find a bit more performance. We’ve seen potential and pace in the car but haven’t shown it when it matters. We need to understand why that is and improve ahead of Melbourne. As we’ve seen, the pecking order behind the Red Bulls is very close, so we need to get on top of it. There’s much work to do, but I believe in the team.

Lewis Hamilton

We tried our best to go long today and hoped we might benefit from a safety car or a VSC. Unfortunately, it never came to us, and we ended up finishing slightly further back than we started. It was worth trying something different, though. Given how the race played out, we gave it everything, which was likely the best result we could get today.

There is potential within this car, but we still need to add a good amount of performance. Today’s car was pretty good in the medium and low-speed corners, but we were losing out in the high-speed. These next few races will be tricky, but we will put as much effort into improving as possible. I know everyone at the factory will get their heads down and work as hard as possible.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

Today was not a good day for us. We are struggling with the car in the high-speed corners. We are competitive elsewhere but lost about half a second in three corners here. It was, therefore, challenging for the drivers to attack. We tried something different with the strategy, but unfortunately, with the low levels of degradation we saw across the field, it didn’t work out for us. Congratulations must go to Ollie Bearman; he jumped in the car quickly and drove a great race, particularly in that final stint. It shows just how high the level is in Formula 2.

There is so much we can learn from these first two race weekends. We must get our heads down to analyse, understand, and improve. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but these tough days make you better. Everyone is committed to enhancing the car, and we look forward to returning stronger in Australia.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We’ve not performed well this weekend. Our high-speed performance has been weak, and the car bounces in those corners. That contributed to our poor qualifying but meant we couldn’t challenge Aston Martin and the McLarens in the race. We lost so much time in sector one that we spent the rest of the lap clawing it back.

Overall, it has been a very frustrating weekend but ultimately one of our own making. We’ve seen glimpses of solid performance, but it’s not been easy to land the set-up in the right place, and we’ve identified some weaknesses that still need ironing out. We will have to work hard between now and Melbourne to improve. The tracks are similar, and we don’t want another weekend like this one.

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Both drivers hold their positions at the start. In the opening laps, Oscar makes a move on Alonso for P4. Stroll goes into the wall, which causes a safety car to be deployed. Oscar boxes for hards, while Lando stays out on the mediums. The order shuffles out with Lando in P1 and Oscar in P6. Lando holds off Verstappen at the re-start but gets passed with DRS a few laps later. On Lap 18, Perez moves on Lando, dropping him down to P3.  Leclerc then also overtakes Lando, dropping him to P4. Oscar gets stuck behind Hamilton and can’t get past until Hamilton pits. Lando pits on Lap 37 for Softs and is under pressure from Hamilton right up to the final lap but manages to hold him off. The chequered flag falls with Oscar in P4 and Lando in P8.

Lando Norris

It’s a reasonable race. We tried something with strategy, but, in the end, it didn’t entirely pay off. It was a reasonable effort, and I think it was the right decision as we covered all options for the team. There was a reasonable pace in the car today, so we may have missed a couple of points, but I think we did what we could. We took a little bit of a gamble; sometimes it works, occasionally it doesn’t, and today it didn’t, but it could have done! So, I’m still happy. I think today’s pace was pretty intense, so there are some promising signs. On to the next one!

Oscar Piastri

P4! I think that’s the most we could have got out of that race, and we executed it well. It was frustrating being stuck behind Lewis Hamilton for so long, but I think that was the most points we could have got this weekend, so I’m thrilled. I can’t wait to go to Melbourne next for my home race.

I look forward to racing in front of the Aussie fans at my local circuit.

Andrea Stella

Another strong result here in Saudi Arabia. Oscar drove very solidly throughout the weekend, and today, he capitalised on the solid qualifying yesterday, finishing fourth and driving a faultless race with some close but clean fights.

With Lando, we decided to split the strategy as a team at the Safety Car, which could have put us in an advantageous situation in the event of another Safety Car or a Red Flag, which is not infrequent here in Saudi Arabia. It is worthwhile taking this opportunity. Unfortunately, there was no further Safety Car or a Red Flag, which meant Lando potentially lost a couple of positions compared to where we could have finished. Nonetheless, it was still a strong result, and Lando drove very well.

We take the positives from the first two races, knowing it will be a development battle throughout the season. We are pleased to be so close to a podium finish and learn where to keep working and improving the car.

The team had mixed fortunes on Saturday at the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Fernando scored more points to build on our double top-ten finish in Bahrain, while Lance unfortunately had to retire following an accident.

Fernando showed a solid pace to earn fifth place, finishing ahead of Mercedes cars and Lando Norris’s McLaren. He had George Russell close behind him for much of the race, but he managed the gap to the Briton well to secure more good points at the start of this season.

Fernando Alonso

I’m thrilled with my fifth-place finish in today’s race. Finishing in front of one McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes is an excellent result for the team and probably around the maximum we can achieve.

It was intense from start to finish, and I had George [Russell] close behind for most of the race. With over 40 laps on the complex set of tyres, we went into the unknown a little, but we managed it all well and could make the one-stop strategy work. We will keep chasing more performance and focus on the long term, as it’s a very long season ahead.

Lance Stroll

It was a disappointing way to conclude a good weekend. I’d been pushing hard in those opening laps—the cars around us were faster, and the tyres were already struggling. I was trying to build a gap and just clipped the wall.

There are positives to take away. The team has scored points in both races, and we feel there’s more pace to unlock in the car. I’m already looking ahead to Australia—it’s a race and a country I enjoy, and I’m sure we can regain momentum.

Mike Krack, Team Principal:

Fernando’s strong drive earned the team 10 points. Both drivers were under much pressure initially and had to push very hard for position. Unfortunately, Lance’s small mistake came with a high price. This is an unforgiving street circuit; all that matters in such situations is Lance’s OK.

Thank you to everyone on the team for their strenuous efforts—it has been a busy three weeks in the Middle East. Overall, we have made a positive start, have lots of data to return to Silverstone, and are already focusing on the next race.

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber endured a difficult race in the Jeddah night as the Corniche Circuit hosted the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Coming on the back of a challenging qualifying, the team showed spirit and resilience. Zhou Guanyu ran most of the evening race in tenth and eleventh position – from P20 on the grid. Eventually, a pit-stop issue prevented him from finishing just outside the points, but the pace shown by the Chinese driver was solid with both medium and soft compounds. Valtteri Bottas, starting in P16 on soft, took advantage of an early Safety Car to pit for hard tyres. Still, the compound’s potential failed to materialise and, with no other major incidents to shake up the order, finished in 17th place, one position ahead of his teammate.

After three weeks of testing and racing, the team returns home to prepare for the next championship rounds, starting in Australia on March 24th.

Valtteri Bottas

Overall, it has undoubtedly been a tough race and weekend, where we didn’t have the pace we aimed to unlock from our car. We went for an aggressive strategy with Soft-Hard, but we figured pretty quickly we were struggling quite a lot on the complex compound, never properly getting it to work. We switched to Softs again towards the end, hoping it would make a difference – it did – but unfortunately, we had lost too much time compared to our competitors and couldn’t make much of an improvement. With a week’s break before Australia, we’ll have the time to regroup as a team and analyse what hasn’t worked out. This is just the second race out of twenty-four, but addressing and working hard to solve our issues promptly will be essential. As a positive, we have some updates in the pipeline, hopefully allowing us to step forward and get back into the fight for points.

Zhou Guanyu

This was not my weekend. The race was difficult initially, but we managed to go quite long on the medium compound tyres before pitting for new softs. We would have comfortably finished in P11, but unfortunately, the pit stop compromised my race. We encountered another issue with a cross-threaded nut, which we are investigating as a team. We must understand how this happened and improve to ensure it doesn’t occur again. The positive takeaway from this weekend is that my pace looked quite good, and we’re up there fighting in the midfield, close to the points.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

Today, we had a disappointing outcome for our race despite the reasonable pace shown by both drivers. Valtteri had a good start, but yellow lights signalling a potential stalling car forced him to brake, losing a few positions. Taking advantage of an early Safety Car and considering his soft compound tyre start, we opted for an early pit stop. Unfortunately, we struggled to find the optimal operating window for the hard compound tyres to perform at their best. A consistent and good performance characterised Zhou’s race. Choosing to keep him out during the Safety Car phase allowed him to fight with Kevin [Magnussen] and Nico [Hülkenberg] for points. Regrettably, we faced an issue during the pit stop: it was similar to last week’s in Bahrain, not the fault of any of our mechanics but something that requires thorough investigation. This setback placed Zhou at the back of the field, yet he persisted, showcasing good pace on the soft compound tyres. We can’t afford minor issues in a highly competitive midfield and must extract 100% of our performance. We’re looking with confidence towards the next race in Melbourne to be fighting for points once again.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen classified 10th and 12th at the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Round 2 of the Championship, held Saturday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Kevin Magnussen

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

Further down the field, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team’s Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo battled hard in the middle of the pack but finished outside the points in 14th and 16th places, respectively, at the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo

It was a tough race and a tough weekend, which was very frustrating. When almost everyone pitted during the Safety Car time, we had a slow pit stop and a few laps from the end, I made a mistake and hit too much kerb in Turn 1, which caused a spin. I’m staying optimistic, though, as I know we have some positive signs, and we need to polish our package up. We have a week off now, and there will be a big push from everyone to get it right and ensure we have a good package for the next race. I know the team wants it as badly as I do. I’m excited to go back racing in Melbourne, so let’s prepare for it.

Yuki Tsunoda

It was a difficult race today. I made some mistakes and let some cars behind me pass when I tried to overtake the car in front, and that’s my fault. We struggled with our pace and grip today, so driving was difficult. On the positive side, we had a strong qualifying, and we’ll look into our race pace and figure out why we struggled as much as we did. I can improve on some things today, so we’ll look through them and apply the learnings in the future.

Laurent Mekies – Team Principal

It was a disappointing result for the team today after much good work during the weekend. Yuki was fighting for what could have been a P10 finish. He was passed by Magnussen, who cut the track to do so and then slowed down the whole pack to let his teammate open a gap to pit in front of us. It made the penalty imposed on Magnussen meaningless, destroying Yuki’s race. It was a disappointing finish after a perfect qualifying yesterday. A very long pit stop compromised Daniel’s race during the double stack under the Safety Car. He then drove a large part of the race in heavy traffic. In an ultra-tight midfield, you fall off very quickly as soon as you don’t get everything perfect, and the race was certainly not ideal for us. We’ll continue working hard in Faenza and Bicester, and the team is looking forward to resuming the fight in Melbourne.

Alan Permane – Racing Director

With Yuki, we did a conventional race like most others. We started him on the medium tyre, and when the Safety Car came out, we pitted him for the hard compound. What then happened was a little tricky to take. Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn’t stopped yet, to create a gap and, of course, pit in front of all the cars behind. That, to me, doesn’t seem correct and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. We and other teams will discuss it with the FIA for future races. Regarding Daniel’s race, we had a problem with the tyres during his pitstop, and it put him at the back of the field; from here, it wasn’t easy to move forward.

Overall, we made a step with our understanding of the car and qualified well, which is positive. We now look forward to a break for our team after a long three weeks away, and I have no doubt we’ll come back stronger in Melbourne.

Williams Racing leave the Jeddah Corniche Circuit without any points but can take heart from two spirited drives by Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, who finished P11 and P14 in the final classification.

Alex Albon

Williams Racing leave the Jeddah Corniche Circuit without any points but can take heart from two spirited drives by Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, who finished P11 and P14 in the final classification.

Logan Sargeant

It was a decent race with a good 35 laps; however, we didn’t quite have the pace needed for the last 15 laps. I was starting to explore the potential towards the end of the race, but it was a bit too late. If I’d have realised the potential earlier, we could have picked more off, but I’ll look through it and see what I can do better. With the pace improving throughout the race, we can unlock more potential for Australia.

Dave Robson – Head of Vehicle Performance

Today was one of those incredibly frustrating races. Alex had a superb start and was ahead of the Ferrari but got caught in traffic at T1 and, crucially, lost a place to Magnussen. Most of the field pitted when the safety car came out, and when Alex made a pass on Magnussen shortly after the race start, he was unfairly impeded, which Magnussen was penalised for, but it cost us several places and caused damage to the front wing end plate. Despite the damage, Alex could attack and overtake several cars but could not take the final points-scoring position due to the sensible team play made by Haas.

Logan raced well today and was part of the same pack of cars as Alex for the majority of the race. His pace was strong, but he suffered slightly higher tyre degradation than Alex in the final stint.

Although we are frustrated to have finished just outside the points, today’s positives include the FW46’s essential race pace.

We have learned a lot over the last couple of weeks in the Middle East, and the team can regroup in Europe before heading to Australia for the third round of the Championship. Melbourne is always one of the season’s highlights, and we look forward to building on the work done in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Esteban started from P17 on New Mediums and finished P13: Pit-Stops on Lap 7 for New Hards. His fastest Lap was 1 min 33.481 secs. Pierre started from P18 on New Mediums and DNF.

Esteban Ocon

Realistically, that’s all we could achieve in the race today. We took it as another opportunity to learn more about the car. There was some chaos at the start, so we did well staying clean and capitalising on some positions. There were some moments of close wheel-to-wheel racing, which was sometimes good. We are just not quick enough to score points and that’s where we are at this moment in time. We will keep our heads high and keep working to find performance. I am in Enstone this week and look forward to seeing everybody there and collectively working hard to improve our current situation. Australia is our next opportunity, and I look forward to it.

Pierre Gasly

Obviously, it’s a disappointing day for us in Jeddah. We had a gearbox issue on the formation lap where we lost sixth gear and then lost synchronisation of all the other gears, so we had to retire the car. We must investigate why this happened, as it cost us valuable track time today. It’s disappointing for the whole team as everyone works hard and brings good energy all weekend, but things are not going our way. It’s not easy at the moment, but we need to keep our heads high and keep working to find the performance we lack. We’ll stick together and go to Australia, ready to go again.

Bruno Famin – Team Principal

We said it would be a tough start to the season, and it has been a tough first few weeks with the test and two Grand Prix. Even if upgrades are coming, we need to understand our lack of performance. Today, we must investigate the gearbox problem, which cost Pierre valuable track time. There is only one thing we can do, and that is to continue working hard together to improve the current situation that we are in. Credit to the factories in Enstone and Viry and the trackside team for their fantastic mindset and tenacity to quickly enhance our current performance level. Next stop, Australia.