Another stunning duel for victory, unforeseen failures, breathtaking accidents and a series of twists and turns… This was briefly the Saudi GP, but several facts about the race remained in the background behind the vast bouquet of emotions.
#1 Serhio Peress won the first pole position of his career with his super lap. This was finally achieved in 217 attempts. Significantly, the previous record holder was also Red Bull’s second driver. Mark Weber won his first pole position in his 132nd qualifier. Although Peres has two victories in his account, as did his compatriot Pedro Rodriguez, he became the first Mexican to win an F1 qualification.
#2 The unsafe phase of the safety car prevented Peres from winning the race as well. Since Pastora Maldonado’s victory in pole position at the 2012 Spanish GP, no rider has been able to turn his first pole position into victory. – Richtero, Botass, Clecker and Verstapen were at least on the podium, while the last three new qualifiers failed – Lens Strols (9th place, Turkish GP, 2020), Lando Norris (7th place, Russian GP, 2021) and Serhio Peress (4th place, Saudi Arabian GP, 2022).
#3 Max Bullstapen was comforted by Red Bull’s 21st career win over Kimi Raikonen. Although Max is only 24 years old, this is the seventh consecutive season he has been successful. Only eight riders have managed such a long series – Hamilton (15 seasons), Schumacher (15), Prost (10), Senn (9), Pique (8), Moss (7), Clark (7), Culthard (7).
#4 Ferrari driver Charles Clare was a little short of recovering in the final lap. Verstapens crossed the finish line just 0.549 seconds ahead of the leaderboard. This was the second toughest finish in five years. The winners of the first and second places finished even closer to the 2020 Italian GP, where Pierre defeated Carlos Sainc.
#5 Although Saincas lacked brilliance, he is the only driver to climb the podium in each of the last three stages of F1. In addition, the Spaniard has scored 17 consecutive stages, as well as finished 31 races in a row. No other driver can be proud of such a long series at the moment. In addition, both Ferrari drivers climbed to the podium in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In the first two stages of the season, the reds had not succeeded since 2001.
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Graph: Pirelli#6 Esteban Okon managed a great performance, remaining a bit behind in the background after a striking fight with teammate Alonso. The Alpine rider crossed the finish line in sixth place – two positions lower than last year on the Jeddah track. Only Verstapen and Ocon made it into the top six in both stages in Saudi Arabia so far.
#7 Louis Hamilton’s face for the championship last season was not so bright. For the first time since 2017, he completed his first round of qualification in the Brazilian GP. At the time, it was decided not to take a test run at all due to engine component changes. The last time Hamilton dropped out of Q1 due to a lack of purely competitiveness dates back to 2009 in Silverston. Since the change in the scoring system in 2010, when the winner started with 25 points instead of 10, Lewis has never been in such a hopeless situation after the first two stages as he is now with 16 points.
#8 However, Hamilton’s fans are a little reassured by the fact that he has broken the record of another seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher: the longest cooperation with the team. Schumacher in Ferrari and Hamilton in Mercedes have both competed in 180 racing weekends, but Hamilton has one more start, because in 1996 Michael was not up to the start in France due to an engine failure. As part of his team, Hamilton has won 1 title, 10 victories and 18 pedestals, which is largely due to the car’s durability – while Schumacher left Ferrari 31 times, Hamilton has only been a member of Mercedes 9 times.
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Graph: Pirelli#9 Mick Schumacher and Yuki Cunoda were not at all until the start this time. Mike managed to avoid serious injuries after an accident in qualifying, but Juki was disappointed by the engine on the way to the starting position. Since Nikita Mazepin and the Haas team parted ways before the season, then none of last year’s three debutants took part in the race. Since Mika’s father Michael debuted in 1991, at least one German representative has competed in each race in Belgium. Although Mick and Sebastian Vettel could not start, the German representation was defended by Aston Martin reserve Niko Hulkenberg.
#10 The Saudi GP on Sunday bears a number of similarities to last season’s culmination in Abu Dhabi: again in the Middle East, Max Verstapen won the race in the final round, using the safety car phase in the box, much better than the lead in the box. In both stages, Haas took part in the race with only one car, but the third step on the podium went to Carlos Sainc.
