From mechanical failures to controversial penalties and from beastly recovery drives to a little bit of confusion about who was the rightful owner of the third-place trophy – the race certainly had its fair share of drama. As always, we’re here with our F1 report cards to give you the lowdown on who aced the test, and who ended up on the struggle bus. So buckle up and let’s dive into the Saudi Arabia 2023 report cards!
Top of the class:
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 15th | Race: 2nd (+FL)
Max Verstappen started off this race week rather unpleasantly, as a stomach bug got the better of him and kept the Dutchman away from the track until Friday morning. Then on Saturday, a mechanical issue with the driver shaft meant he wasn’t able to get out of Q2, relegating him to a rather displeasing 15th starting position on Sunday.
Thankfully, that bad luck didn’t last, or perhaps Verstappen himself decided not to take this laying down, as on Sunday he drove a beast of a recovery race. He gained a couple of positions at the start, before beginning a steady march upwards, cool and calculated, set on getting himself a place on the podium.
Each time (bar one), he would line up for the overtake, but hold off until the DRS detection point rather than try and outbreak a competitor. This enabled him to cruise past them on the main straight, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Whilst he wasn’t quite able to make it to the top step, as reliability gremlins reared their head again and forced him to slow, he did push at the end for the fastest lap. Meaning he’s retaining the championship lead. Certainly a very satisfying end to what seemed to be quite a rough week.
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 3rd (started 2nd) | Race: 3rd
Fernando drove a superb race, with a brilliant start. A start which meant he briefly got to lead the race, this for the first time in 11 years. Unfortunately for him, the pace of Checo’s Red Bull was brutal, meant he had to hand back the position in the 4th lap.
He later also earned himself a penalty for starting out of position, starting just left of the grid slot instead of in it, but the Spaniard took it in stride. Later on, he sounded quite chuffed with the car, and all throughout the race he looked very comfortable with maintaining the gap to George Russell behind.
It was the shenanigans after the race from the stewards which made Fernando’s day all the more interesting: He lost his podium briefly as he was handed a 10-second penalty, because it seemed to be the case that his pit crew touched the car whilst he was serving his first penalty
The controversial part? This penalty was only dished out after the race, rather than during the 30-something laps after said potential incident. This wasn’t received well, and Aston Martin was quick to protest it. The decision was then overturned and Fernando got his podium place back, so Alonso certainly earned his 100th podium in style!
Kevin Magnussen – Qualifying: 13th | Race: 10th
Another driver who earned himself a place among the top of the class is Kevin Magnussen, as he scored the first point of the season for Haas. It didn’t initally look like it was going to be a great weekend for him, as he was beaten for a second time by Nico Hulkenberg in Qualifying. The results on Sunday are the ones which matter, however, and Kevin seems to have kept that in mind. As the Dane was there when it mattered, managing a long stint on the hard tyres, before making a late dash for the final points position. He had to fight tooth and nail with Yuki Tsunoda to bring it home, but he came out to be victorious in the end.
A promising start, especially because the tyre deg of the Haas looked better than it did during the previous race.
Honourable mentions:
The first honourable mention goes to George Russell. He might have had to give Alonso’s trophy back after getting a hold of it ever so briefly, but that doesn’t mean that George shouldn’t be chuffed with finishing 4th. Considering the Red Bulls have a pace which seems far superior to the rest of the grid, and Alonso is a beast in his car, George did well to hold onto his position with teammate Hamilton breathing down his neck.
The second honourable mention goes to the man who got to climb the top step! On Sunday, Sergio Perez drove what had to be one of his most impressive drives of his career. The Mexican capitalised on his teammate’s misfortune, first nabbing pole and later the win. Sure, there was a little hiccup at the start of the race, as he was briefly overtaken by Alonso, but after getting past him again on lap 4, all the Mexican had to do was cruise home. He made it look easy, even with the safety car coming into play. Verstappen’s fastest lap denied Perez a chance to lead the F1 drivers’ championship for the first time, but otherwise it was a superb performance.
The last of the honourable mentions goes to Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver might have been flying under the radar a little, and yes he did lose out on a much-needed point, but thus far he’s on track to becoming the team leader he promised he would be in DTS. At with him finishing 11th, he’s been hanging onto the fringes of the points for two races now, which hopefully means that sooner or later he’ll actually be earning one.
Struggle Bus:
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 2nd (starting 12th) | Race: 7th
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 5th (starting 4th) | Race: 6th
Ferrari already knew this weekend was going to be a tough cookie, as Charles Leclerc went into this race well aware of the fact that he’d have to deal with a 10-place grid penalty due to power unit component changes – but add to that the unlucky move to pit before the safety car and their utter lack of decent pace, the prancing horses finished in less-than-stellar positions.
Leclerc had a decent recovery race and brought it home seventh, but compared to Verstappen’s beast of recovery race from much further back, it only serves as a reminder that the prancing horses are nowhere near where they should be performance-wise. Meanwhile teammate Carlos wasn’t heavily featured during the race, as he was mostly driving round and round on his own.
McLaren
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 19th | Race: 17th
Oscar Piastri – Qualifying: 9th (started 8th) | Race: 15th
Perhaps McLaren expected (or hoped) for things to look up in the second race of the season, but that most definitely wasn’t the case, as they finished at the back of the pack once more.
Their downward spiral started on the Saturday. After Lando brushed the wall in the first qualifying session, the mechanics couldn’t fix his car in time to go out and set a faster lap, meaning he was out. Things seemed more promising on the other side of the garage, as Oscar fought his way into Q3, but after damaging his front wing on opening-lap contact on Sunday with Pierre Gasly, Oscar had to limp to the pits to get a new nose fitted.
McLaren spiralled even further, as Lando ended up being hampered by the debris of Oscar’s front wing, damaging his own. From then on, the McLarens were nowhere to be seen. They’re now one of the only two teams who’ve got yet to score points this year, which is something they’ll be keen to change as soon as possible, especially because they should at least be able to battle for points, as their pace looks decent enough.
Williams
Alex Albon – Qualifying: 17th | Race: DNF
Logan Sargeant – Qualifying: NC | Race: 16th
Williams kicked the year off in Bahrain the right way with Albon collecting a point, but they weren’t able to keep the momentum going in Saudi Arabia.
Qualifying certainly didn’t go how the Grove-based team would like to see it, but at least Albon sounded very optimistic when asked about his expectations for Sunday. That was all for naught, however, as he was forced to retire with an issue with the mechanical brake system.
Sargeant had a more positive Sunday than Saturday, but not by much, and only because he was not able to set a competitive lap during qualifying. On Sunday, the mediums just weren’t it, meaning that he slipped back again after having made his way a little further up the pack. He ended up finishing more than 20 seconds behind the last point scorer, which is nothing short of disappointing.
Dishonourable mentions:
The first dishonourable mention goes to Lance Stroll. The Canadian had a promising start to his Sunday, as he passed Sainz in quite a brilliant fashion, but with an energy recovery issue coming into play his race ended after just 18 laps. He might have been able to battle the Ferrari’s and Mercedes, but it’s a weekend of could have been & should have been.
The second dishonourable mention goes to the band, because they could have practiced a little longer on their own national anthem. Several drivers and other F1 officials seemed to struggle to contain their laughter and keep their serious demeanour.
Next up we are going down under, as the F1 circuit packs up to their things and head to Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix. Be sure to wake bright and early to watch lights go out at 6 am BST on Sunday the 2nd of April.
