Perez overcame an attack from Alonso at the start, a nervy Safety Car period and Verstappen’s charge from the midfield to make up for the potential win he lost at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit a year ago – kick-starting his championship hopes in the process.
Verstappen progressed to P2 quickly but ultimately had to accept defeat to Perez. The reigning world champion managed additional driveshaft concerns late in the race after the same component failed during qualifying.
Alonso took the lead into Turn 1, but a subsequent time penalty for lining up outside his grid box, coupled with the relentless pace of the Red Bulls, meant he had to settle for third place.
However, Alonso’s rear jack mechanic was later judged to have touched the car before his penalty had been served, the Spaniard receiving a further 10-second penalty after the race that dropped him to P4. Upon reviewing the decision, however, the stewards later ruled that Alonso’s P3 would stand, reversing the ruling and dropping Russell back to P4 – Alonso becoming just the sixth driver to earn 100 F1 podiums in the process.
Mercedes and Ferrari had no answers for Red Bull’s pace as they distantly followed in two-by-two formation, Russell getting the better of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz leading Charles Leclerc home.
Leclerc was also tasked with a race-day recovery after his pre-race grid penalty. Still, seventh represented a much smaller reward than Verstappen’s second-place finish, and the Monegasque could not contain his frustration over the radio.
Alpine enjoyed a much stronger second round as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly collected points in P8 and P9, respectively. At the same time, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda went wheel-to-wheel over the final point – the Dane coming out on top with a late move.
Nico Hulkenberg took 12th in the sister Haas, as the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu beat rookie drivers Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri), Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Logan Sargeant (Williams) to P13.
McLaren endured another tough day at the office after early front wing changes for Piastri, who clashed with Gasly at the start, and Lando Norris, who hit the debris, consigned them to evenings towards the back of the pack.
Piastri ultimately crossed the line in P15 after clearing Sargeant on the final lap, something Norris narrowly avoided repeating as he settled for 17th. Valtteri Bottas the last of the finishers amid apparent technical trouble in his Alfa…
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