The Formula 1 teams left the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with far lower repair bills than they might have expected after the dramas of the first two races on the high-speed street circuit.
Two prominent names on the grid started outside of the top 10 for reasons out of their control, while some other drivers who would typically expect to be lower down the order were left frustrated after promising opportunities appeared to go begging in the race.
The Red Bull drivers came away from the weekend with the most points for a second consecutive round, in what looks likely to be the pattern for the rest of the year, though both had strikingly different weekends.
But which of the 20 competitors fared best in Jeddah? Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.
Max Verstappen – 8/10
Qualified: 15th (-14 places behind team mate)
Grid: 15th (-14 places behind team mate)
Start: +2 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 2nd (-1 place behind team mate)
- Quickest in all three practice sessions and Q1 by an average of 0.446s
- Eliminated from Q2 in 15th after driveshaft failed on exit of turn 12
- Gained two places on opening lap, then gained six more places in the first 14 laps
- Pitted under Safety Car for hard tyres, gaining fourth place for the restart
- Passed Russell, then Alonso after the restart to move up to second behind team mate
- Maintained gap of around five seconds to team mate, then complained of another driveshaft problem
- Set the fastest lap on the final lap, retaining the championship lead by a single point.
It says a lot to describe this as one of the most dominant race weekends of Verstappen’s career, but that is exactly how it looked until his driveshaft failed midway through Q2. Despite starting 15th, he steadily made his way up the order. While the Safety Car timing helped, his pace after the restart showed he likely would have finished second without it. Another ominous performance from the world champion.
Sergio Perez – 6/10
Qualified: Pole (+14 places ahead of team mate)
Grid: Pole (+14 places ahead of team mate)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: Winer (+1 place ahead of team mate)
- Behind team mate in all three practice sessions and Q1
- Claimed a “mechanical issue” with car in second practice
- Took advantage of team mate’s driveshaft failure to top Q2, then secured pole position
- Lost lead off the line to Alonso but claimed it back on lap four
- Pitted under…
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