SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

Sergio Pérez beats Max Verstappen

Sergio Perez (Red Bull) won the Saudi Arabia GP on Sunday 03/19/23 ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen, who remains the Championship leader thanks to the fastest lap point. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) completes the podium. 

Red Bull confirms its broad domination at the start of the 2023 season, with a second double after Bahrain. Sergio Perez, who had not been able to transform his pole position into victory last year on the Corniche, corrected the situation with style this Sunday despite an average start. He scored a fifth career success, the first in Jeddah!! 

Ratings of the 20 drivers who took part in the race in Jeddah. 

SERGIO PEREZ (RED BULL, 1ST): 8/10

Speeded up at the start but not inhibited. He quickly passed Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) to take the lead, and to take the lead with his teammate. We had rarely seen him bite so hard on his leader, with fastest laps, and on his team, whose instructions he refused. 

MAX VERSTAPPEN (RED BULL, 2ND): 6.5/10

From 15th place, he couldn't do much better. But why the hell does he need a locker at this stage of the season? To conquer without danger is to triumph without glory, and he did not deserve to win. 

FERNANDO ALONSO (ASTON MARTIN, 3RD): 7.5/10

Do not park correctly on the grid, we will say that it is a coquetry. An error that he accepted without flinching at the time, and that he readily recognized on arrival. "Nando" doesn't waste energy getting angry, even if he gladly walks on it. Ah, we forgot his fire start and his 50 clinical rounds. 

GEORGE RUSSELL (MERCEDES, 4TH): 7/10

We lost him in Sakhir, we found him in Jeddah. He had a hell of a lap in qualifying and he finished evenly ahead of Sainz's Ferrari. "One of my strongest weekends in F1," he summed up. Yes, he was remarkable. 

LEWIS HAMILTON (MERCEDES, 5E): 5.5/10

A technical shipwreck. "I messed up the settings on Saturday and they weren't the best for the race," he admitted. Really tough, because it hasn't often happened to him to zigzag to defend himself. His satisfaction: having beaten the Ferraris. 

CARLOS SAINZ (FERRARI, 6TH): 4/10

Humiliated by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) in the first round, he came out of the weekend particularly weakened vis-à-vis his teammate, even if he contained him. 

CHARLES LECLERC (FERRARI, 7TH): 5/10

He feared the effects of the DRS train and he was right. A rise not as bloody as expected

ESTEBAN OCON (ALPINE, 8TH): 5/10

A race that reflects the potential of the A523. A com' always locked on the weaknesses of his car while most of his colleagues are not afraid to bring up the subject and to make themselves interesting. 

PIERRE GASLY (ALPINE, 9TH): 5/10

The same result as in Sakhir following a less flattering scenario. Be careful, the adaptation period will soon end. 

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN (HAAS, 10TH): 6.5/10

A lot of discernment: the Dane changed his mind several times before passing Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) on a good maneuver for the last point at stake. 

YUKI TSUNODA (ALPHATAURI, 11TH): 6/10

We can believe his boss Franz Tost, who assures us that he is making great progress. Five places gained compared to its starting position, varnished by the timing of the safety car but at the door of the points for the 3rd time in a row. 

NICO HULKENBERG (HAAS, 12TH): 4/10

Always mentally fragile, he almost made the wall under the pressure of Logan Sargeant (Williams). He ended up letting go but it's too fair given his experience. 

ZHOU GUANYU (ALFA ROMEO, 13TH): 6/10

A superb overtaking at turn 1 over Logan Sargeant (Williams). 

NYCK DE VRIES (ALPHATAURI, 14TH): 3.5/10

"I haven't found the balance between managing the tires well so that I can attack," he explained. AlphaTauri claims the real Nyck, that of Monza 2022. 

OSCAR PIASTRI (MCLAREN, 15TH): 6.5/10

Avoidable contact with Pierre Gasly (Alpine). But the Australian has temperament and he already manages his tires like a grown-up. After replacing his front wing on lap 2, he completed the next 49 with the same set of "hard". Duel finally won against Norris. 

LOGAN SARGEANT (WILLIAMS, 16TH): 6.5/10

The US rookie outperformed again. He clung to Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) for a long time and did more than resist Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) and Lando Norris (McLaren). Imperturbable. 

LANDO NORRIS (MCLAREN, 17TH): 3/10

Returning early too to change his damaged front wing, he still took a small slap in bowing to his young, long-toothed teammate. 

VALTTERI BOTTAS (ALFA ROMEO, 18TH): 4.5/10

Lacking general grip and eclipsed by his teammate. 

LANCE STROLL (ASTON MARTIN, WITHDRAWAL): 6/10

For the promise of his overtaking on the outside of Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) in the parabolic on the first lap before the engine broke on the 13th lap. 

ALEXANDER ALBON (WILLIAMS, WITHDRAWAL): 5/10

He was riding in 13th position when he was stopped by brake problems shortly after halfway. 

The reactions of the drivers after the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia

Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull Racing)

“It’s always great to win a race. It could have been an easy win but the safety car made it more complicated. I had Max Verstappen behind me who maintained this gap and I am happy with this victory. I didn't have a great start, it's something we have to work on to make sure we have better starts in Melbourne. I was asked to maintain a certain rhythm then to increase it and we were free to beat it. It's always this game with us, it's like that. »

Max Verstappen (PBS/Red Bull Racing)

“I was very careful at the start of the race. It was not easy to follow during the first laps because I lost a bit of grip in the first sector but I was able to overcome my opponents one by one. The safety car helped me a bit but I think that anyway, second place was the target today (Sunday). I always want the best lap in the race and I went for it. A few laps earlier, I was managing my pace because there was this problem with the car. Afterwards, I went to look for this point. »

George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)

“Fernando Alonso deserved to be on the podium. He was faster. I am happy to finish fourth today (Sunday). Obviously, I take the points for third place and I'm not going to complain about it. It is a good result. Attacking at the end of the race was risky. On a circuit like this, in qualifying, you give everything on a single lap, you are as close as possible to the walls. In the race, it's a little more dangerous and I couldn't keep this pace indefinitely. For four or five laps, I gave it my all. I'm happy to take the trophy but Fernando Alonso deserved to finish third today (Sunday). »

Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin)

"It doesn't hurt too bad to be honest. I was on the podium, I took the photos with the trophy, I celebrated with champagne and now I have not fifteen points, but twelve. I think it's rather the FIA ​​that is pale today (Sunday). You cannot apply a penalty 35 laps after the pit stop. They had enough time to inform us of the penalty because if I had known, I might have been able to create an eleven second gap on the car behind. Today (Sunday) we didn't make a good impression on our fans. No one told me about that ten second penalty, they only told me about the five seconds in the first stint, and I created a seven or eight second gap. In the second relay, there was no information at all. There wasn't even an investigation. The team is trying to analyze the situation with the stewards because we did not fully understand the second penalty. I feel concerned but it doesn't really matter to me because I celebrated the podium and I have three points less that I will try to recover in Australia. »

Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)

“I suffered today (Sunday) and generally all weekend. I didn't have the right settings in the qualifying session and I suffered in the race with the first stint on hard tyres. We then had to stop and, fortunately, I managed to make my medium tires last. It was really long. Finishing third and fifth is a very good result for us. If we qualify higher, I think we could have better results. In any case, we take the points. »

Charles Leclerc (MCO/Ferrari)

“The safety car, you can't really control that sort of thing. Today (Sunday), we weren't very lucky with her but that's how it is. I think the first stint on the soft tires was pretty good. Afterwards, on the hard tyres, it was very difficult to get into the second behind Carlos Sainz Jr in order to use the DRS. During almost the entire second stint, I stayed at a second and a half, I had a lot of trouble getting closer than that. He still lacks a lot of performance, that's what I will remember from this day. I want to fight for the top positions and, for the moment, we are clearly in difficulty. We have to work. I hope there is a miracle solution but I do not know it. »

Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine)

“I think that was the most we could do. We were in management mode behind because, in front, things were going too fast. We still widened the gap with those behind. With Pierre Gasly, we were a bit alone during this race, it was a bit sad. At first, we thought we could hang the Ferraris on the first stint. We managed to hold on a bit. On the second stint, this was also the case at the very beginning. We managed to keep up the pace and then they flew away. We couldn't have done much more, the maximum was done today (Sunday) so it's up to us to work to close this gap in the future. We know what we have to work on, that's a good thing. Quite simply, we need to gain performance in general with the single-seater. There are small things that we can improve on behavior but it is really performance that we are lacking at the moment. It was a solid weekend, I'm happy to finally start my season. There is more to follow. »

Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine)

“At the start, you had to be aggressive and try to pass Oscar Piastri's McLaren as quickly as possible. I think we are having a solid race, finishing where we need to finish with both cars. A second race in the points, we continue to adapt to this new car. There are plenty of positives to take from the weekend. I feel more and more comfortable with the car. There are things to improve, still work. Overall, in terms of performance, we would like to be able to get a little closer to the cars in front of us but I think, for now, that's where we are. I had the same problems as during the qualifying session yesterday (Saturday). I felt very good during the third free practice session, we will try to understand why and try to build on this session. This is only the second race, there are positives and negatives. We will continue to build and put everything together to get points again in Australia. »