Here’re The Winners And Losers Of The 2022 Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Thought the Bahrain Grand Prix was a false dawn? Well, the 2022 Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix certainly proved that wasn’t the case. We had an intense battle in the midfield, as well as another round of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc going at it for the win. Here are the winners and losers from a race under the lights at Jeddah:

Winners

Max Verstappen 

Sure, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappan had a bit of an off day on Saturday, qualifying in fourth place, but the 2021 world champion immediately got up to third at the start. While the Dutchman was looking set for a third place finish, a safety car meant his teammate Sergio Perez dropped down to fourth from the lead of the race, which promoted Verstappen to second. Like in Bahrain, Verstappen was locked in an intense fight for the win with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. But this time, Verstappen managed to gain the upper hand, taking his first race win of the season by just 0.549 seconds. A much needed result after his unfortunate DNF in Bahrain, which now puts him third overall in the drivers’ standings. 

Ferrari

 

Charles Leclerc certainly had a massive stroke of luck when he benefited from the safety car period to take the lead. But the championship leader had yet another dose of wheel-to-wheel action with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Sure, Verstappen came out on top in the end, but Leclerc maximised his result to keep his lead in the drivers’ standings. As for title rival and teammate Carlos Sainz, he had a quiet race, but managed to make it onto the podium in third place. All this benefits Ferrari as they keep their lead  in the constructors standings.

Lando Norris

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After McLaren’s disastrous season opener last week, seventh place for Lando Norris could essentially be counted as a win. Despite remaining relatively anonymous for most of the race, Norris benefitted from retirements up front to gain well earned points on a day where teammate Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t finish the race. 

Kevin Magnussen

After Mick Schumacher was ruled out of the race due to a horrific crash in qualifying, it was Kevin Magnussen flying the flag for Haas – and the comeback kid delivered, finishing in ninth place despite being disadvantaged by the safety car period. Another valuable haul of points which currently puts Haas in fifth position in the constructors standings.

Losers

Sergio Perez

 

It was looking like a dream weekend for Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez, who not only qualified on pole position for the first time in his career, but had good enough race pace to take a comfortable win. However, an unfortunately timed safety car period dropped him down to fourth place. While he did try to pressure the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz for third, the Mexican driver had to settle for fourth in the end. 

Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas 

The 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw one of the most bizarre couple of laps, with three drivers retiring within a span of a couple of laps for technical issues. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, who were having a nice scrap for sixth and seventh place, both retired. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was having a relatively decent race, also couldn’t make it to the end.

Williams

It really was a day to forget for nine-time constructors champions, Williams Racing at Jeddah. Nicolas Latifi, who was already on the back foot after crashing in qualifying, crashed out of the race. Teammate Alexander Albon was involved in an incident with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, which caused a late race retirement.

With the first two rounds of the 2022 Formula One season done and dusted, there’ll be a week’s break before we’re back racing again in Melbourne, Australia. The Australian Grand Prix is scheduled to run from April 08-10.