Saudi Arabia Review
The Formula 1 season has started with back-to-back race weekends to start the new year. Round two of the Formula 1 World series took place in Saudi Arabia, the race involved many accidents and great racing for all watching.
Here’s a deeper dive into all the action that happened in Saudi Arabia.
The race weekend almost ended before it started as an oil factory was attacked with missiles during the middle of the first practice session on Friday.
The next practice session was delayed by 15 minutes as constant updates were being provided to the FIA and then relayed to the drivers as to what was going on with the attack on the factories.
The drivers would then continue with practice and Charles Leclerc would be the fastest in practices one and two. Max Verstappen would also follow Leclerc in both practices.
After the Friday practices were done, the drivers voiced concerns about the missile attack that happened 20 miles away from the track. The drivers and their teams deliberated with the FIA about if they felt safe and if they wanted to continue with the race for the weekend.
In the end, it was a unanimous decision to continue racing, so the show would go on.
Once qualifying rolled around, it was filled with shocking moments. Sir Lewis Hamilton ended up qualifying in 16th position. This was the first time he was kicked out of Q1 since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.
In Q2, Mich Schumacher had a devastating wreck that destroyed his car for the weekend. The wreck resulted in the Haas team keeping Schumacher from racing on Sunday as Schumacher and the car were not physically capable of racing on Sunday.
But when qualifying was finished it would be Sergio Pérez who would win the pole for Red Bull Racing. This would be Pérez’s first pole ever in his career.
The race on Sunday would start with Pérez on the pole, followed by both Ferrari’s, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, with Verstappen starting in fourth place.
For being a street circuit the race started calm, Verstappen was able to get past Sainz and move to third place. Throughout the rest of the pack, no one moved up more than one spot on the first lap.
During lap five is when the racing started to pick up, the two Alpines in Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon started to duel each for sixth place. The duel was created for entertaining passes and late braking to get the advantage over one another.
Around lap 15, Ferrari instructed Leclerc to come in for a pit stop which prompted Red Bull to call in Pérez for a pitstop so he would not be undercut. Pérez would come in, but Leclerc was able to fool Pérez and stay out to take the lead.
The bad luck for Pérez wouldn’t stop there, as caution would come out one lap later. This would give Leclerc the lead followed by Verstappen, Sainz, and push Pérez back to fourth.
Leclerc would end up leading until lap 42 until Verstappen was able to catch up to him. The two would have a five-lap battle on the straightaways to determine the winner. But, in the end, Verstappen’s Red Bull was faster on the straightaways and was able to pull away from Leclerc with four laps remaining in the race.
The reigning Formula 1 World Champion now has his first win of the new year and a huge comeback after retiring the car last week with mechanical issues. Leclerc and Sainz are still first and second in the points, but Verstappen has moved into third with his victory this week.
Round three of the Formula 1 World Championship will take place in Australia on Sunday, Apr. 10, at 1:00 AM.
Dale Ostrander is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dko5097@psu.edu.
