Max Verstappen was impeccable. As always, yes.
Continuing with the 2023 season and the Bahrain Grand Prix last week, the three-time world champion won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday, almost 14 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez. For the second time in two races, the Dutch and Austrian national anthems were in the spotlight; we begin to know them by heart, these ones.
“All in all, it’s a fantastic weekend for the team, but also for me. I felt really good with the car. Same thing during the race,” summarized “Mad Max” at the F1 microphone after his 56e career victory.
PHOTO RULA ROUHANA, REUTERS
Max Verstappen
Pérez, despite a 5-second penalty for a dangerous exit from the pits at 10e lap, managed to beat the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, giving Red Bull its second, and probably not its last, double of the season.
Leclerc, whose first podium of 2024, beat Verstappen’s fastest lap at the end of the race, a considerable achievement given the power of the Red Bulls. “I was helped a little by the DRS (drag reduction system, a device that temporarily increases speed), but overall I felt pretty good,” said the Monegasque.
“It was a bit of a boring race because Red Bull was too fast. We had a gap behind, but we collected as many points as possible today. That was the goal. »
Fearless Oliver Bearman
Let’s talk about Oliver Bearman. The replacement for Carlos Sainz Jr. – the latter missed the Grand Prix due to appendicitis – did not watch the race go by; he concluded in 7e place, an impressive result.
Intrepid, the 18-year-old Briton did very, very well behind the wheel of the Ferrari. Party 11ehe was insistent behind Yuki Tsunoda for 10e place in the first round; the overtake only came a few laps later. At 20e, he found himself stuck behind Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg. “He’s so slow,” he blurted into his microphone. In the next round, he was well ahead of him for 9e rank.
PHOTO DARKO BANDIC, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oliver Bearman
“You’re doing a great job,” said the Ferrari racing director in the young man’s ear.
When Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris finally made their obligatory pit stop, in the following laps, Bearman found himself 7e. And when his team asked him to maintain the pace at the end of the race so as not to be caught by Norris and Hamilton, he did so, under the eyes of his attentive father in the Ferrari garage.
Result: Bearman was named driver of the day with 48% of the votes.
“He completely deserves it,” said Leclerc. (…) Everyone has noticed how talented he is. It’s only a matter of time before he makes it to Formula 1.”
When he got out of his car after the race, Bearman was immediately greeted by Lewis Hamilton, who extended his hand and congratulated him. There is worse !
And the others
On this circuit suitable for overtaking, there was action. It started from the start, when Pérez and Leclerc fought for second place. In front of them, Verstappen was already distancing himself. And far behind, Lando Norris (McLaren) missed his start; surprisingly, he was not penalized.
Lance Stroll’s run didn’t last long. Party 10e on the grid, the Aston Martin driver missed a turn at 7e lap and hit the barrier, causing a yellow flag. Everyone entered the pits except four drivers, including Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Norris was therefore first when the safety car left the track, at 10e round ; unsurprisingly, Verstappen quickly took back his rightful place.
PHOTO GIUSEPPE CACACE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Lance Stroll’s car had to be towed following his accident.
In the category of drivers whose work deserves to be highlighted: Kevin Magnussen, at Haas, played the perfect teammate for Hülkenberg. After making questionable overtakes at the start of the race, which earned him two 10-second penalties, the 31-year-old Dane opted for team spirit. At 30e turn, he took charge of blocking the six cars behind him to allow Hülkenberg to enter the pits and come out 11e behind the Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu. When Guanyu took his turn in the pits, Hülkenberg found himself 10ecollecting his first point since July 2023.
“A point is worth a lot these days,” Hulkenberg said in a press release. (…) It was perfect teamwork, and I will return the favor later in the season. »
Elsewhere, Oscar Piastri took fourth place, giving McLaren 12 points. Fernando Alonso did what he could with his Aston Martin, taking 5e place. George Russell took the 6e ahead of Bearman, while Norris finished 8e and Hamilton, 9e.
Pierre Gasly, at Alpine, experienced gearbox problems during the warm-up lap. He started, but retired on the first lap. When nothing goes right…
Check the final ranking
Check the driver rankings
Helmut Marko is not going anywhere
PHOTO HAMAD I MOHAMMED, REUTERS
Helmut Marko
Things are brewing at Red Bull, and not just a little. Last week, the Austrian team decided not to pursue accusations of “inappropriate behavior” brought against director Christian Horner by a team employee. The said employee was, remember, suspended, reported the Associated Press in recent days. Then a file purporting to contain evidence against Horner was sent to numerous F1 stakeholders, including journalists. Red Bull’s historical advisor, Helmut Marko, was suspected of being the one who shared the file. The main person concerned denied it outright, while his protégé, Max Verstappen, made it clear that his future within the team depended on the presence of Marko. In an interview with Sky Sports on Saturday, Marko said he had a good conversation with Red Bull general manager Oliver Mintzlaff and assured he would stay with the team. “Calm must return” within the team, he maintained.
reference: www.lapresse.ca