The Mexican Sergio “Checo” Pérez (Red Bull) overwhelmingly won the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia of Formula 1, the second competition of the annual calendar of the category that took place in the street circuit of the city of Jeddah.
The 33-year-old native of Guadalajara dominated for almost the entire development of the race, held at 50 laps, except for the start where the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) moved better and took the lead for two laps. .
The Mexican obtained his fifth victory in the highest automobile category, after registering an accumulated time of one hour 21 minutes 14 seconds 894 thousandths.
Pérez managed to win by 5s. 355/1000 to his teammate, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), current champion and current leader of the 2023 contest, who came back from fifteenth place at the start and finished as an escort.
The third position corresponded to the Asturian Alonso, who reached more than 20 seconds. However, the FIA sporting stewards gave the Aston Martin driver a 10-second penalty, because when he stopped in the pits to refuel tyres, some of his mechanics touched the machine before he served a 5s penalty. that he had previously been flagged for not “arranging correctly” in the starting box.
In this way, the British George Russell (Mercedes) who had finished fourth, 25s. 866/1000, inherited the last step of the podium.
With the surcharge, Alonso finished fourth, while fellow Englishman Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finished fifth. The seven-time world champion finished 31s behind. 065/1000 of “Checo” Pérez.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) finished sixth, 35s behind. 876/1000; the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was able to rise to seventh place after starting twelfth; and the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) finished eighth, 52s behind. 832/1000.
The Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was left with ninth place, 54s behind. 747/1000 and the Danish Kevin Magnussen (Haas) snatched the last available point from the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), finishing tenth.
The lap record for the circuit of 6,174 meters in length was achieved in the last turn by the champion Verstappen, with 1m. 31s. 906/1000. The additional unit allows the Dutchman to command the tournament standings with 44 points.
The race saw an absolute dominance by Red Bull, with Pérez intensifying that superiority, after the restart that occurred on lap 21, after the safety car came out, due to the abandonment suffered by the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin). .
The drivers’ championship positions were as follows: Verstappen 44 points; Perez 43; Alonso 27; Russell 21; Sainz and Hamilton 20; Stroll 8; Leclerc 6; Gasly, Ocon and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 4; Magnussen and Alexander Albon (Williams) 1.
The Constructors’ World Championship is like this: Red Bull 87 points; Mercedes 41; Aston Martin 35; Ferrari 26; Alpine 8; Alfa Romeo 4; Williams and Haas 1.
The third race of the World Championship will take place on Sunday, April 2, at the Melbourne circuit, with 5,278 meters of rope.
