Redemption for Perez in Jeddah
A year after he was robbed of victory in Saudi Arabia, Sergio Perez drove a brilliant race to take the win ahead of his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen whilst Fernando Alonso eventually finished on the podium after more stupid decisions by the FIA.
The Biggest Talking Points
Fernando Alonso took the lead into the first corner after he got a much better start than Sergio Perez. However, the Spaniard was quickly given a 5-second penalty for starting outside of his box. Checo was then able to get past the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and the big turning point in the race was when a Safety Car was called as Lance Stroll was forced to stop on “track”. It was unfortunate for Lance as he was driving really well, but we clearly didn’t need a Safety Car. Everyone who’d stayed out was able to get a free pitstop (including Fernando Alonso). The SC really helped Max Verstappen as he climbed up into P4 and he quickly dispatched both George Russell and Fernando to move up into second place. However, Checo showed brilliant pace to keep his double World Champion teammate 5 seconds behind him to take a brilliant win. Fernando Alonso ended the race in third place and celebrated on the Podium before he received a 10-second penalty for serving his penalty incorrectly meaning George Russell was promoted into P3 after having way more pace than his teammate Lewis Hamilton. However, I woke up this morning to see that Fernando had been pushed back up into third place so I’ve got no idea what’s going on.
The Standout Drives in the Race
After Bahrain where I was pretty generous (I gave out six 10's), I’ve calmed it down and given just the one ten out for this race. That person is of course Sergio Perez who is clearly the King of street circuits. His pace was superb and I think the Safety Car appearance made his win even more special. Max did a great job to recover from 15th to 2nd whilst Fernando Alonso once again showed his class. I was also impressed by both Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen who had great races respectively.
Drivers who had a Horror Race
I’ve given out two 1’s for the second race of the season. The first person is Lando Norris. He pit for damage on Lap 2 and he just didn’t look quick. I was particularly surprised at how much he struggled to overtake Logan Sargeant given the Williams driver was falling down the order. The other man I’ve given a rating of one to is Valtteri Bottas. Valtteri was absolutely nowhere in this race, finishing last on the road and the Alfa Romeo driver was also the only man to get lapped in this race. I also thought Logan Sargeant had a pretty poor race as well.
Overall Race Results and my Ratings
Sergio Perez: 10
Max Verstappen: 9 (FL)
Fernando Alonso: 9
George Russell: 8
Lewis Hamilton: 7
Carlos Sainz: 6
Charles Leclerc: 6
Esteban Ocon: 9
Pierre Gasly: 8
Kevin Magnussen: 9
Yuki Tsunoda: 8
Nico Hulkenberg: 7
Zhou Guanyu: 6
Nyck de Vries: 5
Oscar Piastri: 3
Logan Sargeant: 2
Lando Norris: 1
Valtteri Bottas: 1
Alex Albon: 3 (DNF)
Lance Stroll: 7 (DNF)
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