Verstappen and Red Bull, in another league; Also Alonso

There is no longer an adjective to denote the domain of Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the current Formula 1. They are so good at races that surprising those from Milton Keynes becomes impossible. Within Saudi Arabian GP The contrast is insulting. The Dutchman won with a few second margin vs Checo Perez and Charles Leclerc. The only thing that escaped Verstappen was the fastest lap, which the Monegasque signed on the last lap.

Fernando Alonsofifth, again had a great career placing Aston Martin in fifth place when in the middle of the race he asked the team for a solution because the McLaren and Mercedes “They are in a different league“. Despite this, he was able to manage the biggest destruction of his Aston Martin. A race far from the spotlight but it once again made it clear that the Asturian is always capable of putting his car higher than the simulations say.

There was not much movement at the exit. Verstappen defended the position without much trouble and immediately set a dazzling pace where he left everyone behind. As Pérez tried to pass Leclerc and Piastri did the same to Alonso. Both failed to achieve their goal. However, once the DRS was activated ‘Checo’ passed the Monegasque Ferrari without problems at the finish line and finished second. Piastri also overtook Fernando’s Aston Martin and finished fourth.

Just when things seemed to calm down, the Safety Car appeared. Lance Stroll hit the wall on the seventh lap, lost direction and crashed into the protective barriers. The Canadian driver had no physical consequences despite the heavy blow he took to his Aston Martin.

Despite being so early, almost all drivers took to the pit lane to change the first tire and put on the hard tyre. Only Norris and Hamilton were left among the top drivers. The traffic in the pit-lane was chaotic and in fact Pérez made an ‘unsafe release’ which almost caused an accident to Alonso. The Mexican was penalized five seconds.

Norris and Hamilton, on the contrary

At the start, Verstappen regained the lead on lap 13 after passing Lando Norris, who is currently under investigation for skipping the start. It took Pérez a few more laps to overtake the British McLaren driver who was struggling on the medium rubber. Behind him, Alonso asked his engineers if there was a Plan B: “They’re in a different league,” he said on the radio.

Despite losing ground, both Norris and Hamilton remained with good speed in the mediums. In fact, the Mercedes driver made Piastri desperate, staying in his wake but he could not overtake him and was in fifth. On lap 35 the Australian overtook the Englishman but went wide at turn 1 and had to give the position back. For his part, Alonso was seventh, maintaining a one-second gap to Russell so that DRS would not attack him. At the top, everything was very calm with the two Red Bulls ahead of Leclerc.

Hamilton finally got in on lap 37 and Norris on lap 38. Both were on soft rubber with just over ten laps to go. As Russell put himself within DRS distance of Fernando Alonso to fight for fifth position.

Since the TOP4 positions are more settled, the attention at the end is focused on the return of Norris and Hamilton. However, the soft tire did not work as expected and the strategy was wrong. The British were unable to overtake anyone after going through the pits and finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

The seventh ended well Oliver Bearman, who was chosen as the pilot of the day. The 18-year-old Briton, in exchange for Carlos Sainz He had an extraordinary debut career with Ferrari. Without taking more risks than necessary, it is easy to overtake and maintain a good speed. It will be remembered that he found out that he would have his big chance a few hours before qualifying.

As for Alonso, he did not suffer to hold off Russell and crossed the finish line fifth. “I’m in ranking mode“he said on the radio in the final laps, where he touched the wall with the wheel.

Under the classification there were good matches between Haas, Williams, the RBs and Ocon with the Alpine. Finally it was Nico Hulkenberg which took the point giving tenth place.