The 2024 F1 season has its second dose of Saturday Night fever as the latest Grand Prix on the fastest track in the world was taken out by Max Verstappen after a reasonably dull race. But he wasn’t the biggest star of the race for a change. To cover all the action and so much more with style and attitude is our 2024 Saudi Arabia F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2024 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
READ MORE:
2024 Saudi Arabian GP Preview
2024 Bahrain Grand Prix Summary and Review
Our 2024 F1 Calendar & Results
Our 2023 Full Season Reviews
2024 Saudi Arabia F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Despite a civil war threatening to break out within the team, Max Verstappen and Red Bull take pole. But it’s getting closer….sort of. Verstappen took pole position by 0.3 seconds, but 1st to 10th is covered by just 1.1 seconds. Charles Leclerc continued his great form on street tracks by taking second, and the Red Bull quality was underlined with Sergio Perez in third. Fernando Alonso may well be disappointed with fourth, and Oscar Piastri out-qualified Lando Norris as they shared the third row.
Big news though heading into the race was the absence of Carlos Sainz through sickness, and at the latest possible notice on Saturday F2 Ferrari academy driver Oliver Bearman took over and qualified a magnificent 11th. The 18 year old British driver will be challenged with such a fast race on a tough track, but the effort on Saturday was immense.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER LEC PER ALO PIA NOR HAM RUS STR TSU
Pierre Gasly reports a gearbox problem on the formation lap. Given how slow the Alpine is, that could be a sweet mercy. Or Merci….
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets off the line OK but so do Leclerc and Perez and there’s a hint of a challenge as they approach turn one but Verstappen shuts the door firmly. Leclerc and Perez sort-of battle for a few corners but remain as was from the grid. Like most of the field in fact who mostly stay in grid order. Rookie Ferrari driver Oliver Bearman does well holding onto his 11th grid slot and even trying to force his way past Tsunoda for 10thshowing no signs of being overawed by the situation. Pierre Gasly becomes the first retirement of the race as his car becomes overawed at the prospect of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix and Gasly’s team tell him to retire. Replays of the race start show Lando Norris jumping the start, as the only other major point of interest.
ORDER – VER LEC PER PIA ALO NOR RUS HAM STR TSU BEA
Lap 2 – Oscar Piastri nails Fernando Alonso into turn one on lap two after looking feisty and keen to pass for the whole first lap. Great start for the Australian after outqualifying his highly rated team mate.
Lap 4 – Well this race could well be over for competition at the front, as Sergio Perez gets past Charles Leclerc for second.
Lap 6 – Just as the race looks like it is settling in to bore us to tears, Lance Stroll runs straight on in Sector 3 and puts his Aston Martin into the barrier at a decent pace. That should bring out the Safety Car, and does. Possibly too early for major strategic tyre changing. Replays show Stroll just clips the inside barrier and breaking his left front suspension before going straight on into the barrier next turn. Ironically the Aston Martin Safety Car, who appears to be giving it plenty at the head of the filed, looks more interested in F1 than Lance Stroll.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 8 –A lot of the top ten pit, but not Lando Norris or Lewis Hamilton. Somehow Max Verstappen manages to split Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton despite pitting. It helps to be in a car so far in front. Replays show Red Bull (Perez) will be lucky to avoid a penalty for unsafe release as Alonso is nearly wiped out in the pitlane before his stop.
ORDER – NOR VER HAM PER LEC PIA ALO HUL RUS ZHO
SAFETY CAR EXITS
Lap 10 – The race resumes without incident. Piastri considers a move on Leclerc but abandons. Bearman gets ahead of Tsunoda for 11th as he continues to shine. Somehow Daniel Ricciardo is dead last after the pit stops. Which should make his team mate happy. And safer for F1 with them separated. Talking of being separated, replays show Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon making contact after the restart. Nothing wrong with their cars immediately.
Lap 13 – Not unlucky for Red Bull Lap 13 is. Max Verstappen gets by Lando Norris for the lead and Sergio Perez overtakes Lewis Hamilton for 3rd. Perez does have a potential penalty over his head as the stewards message pops up on screen. As does one for Lando Norris’ jump start. Wonder how much Norris and Hamilton regret their non pit stop now.
Lap 14 – Oliver Bearman overtakes Guanyu Zhou to take 10th place and grab a first F1 point for now. George Russell also overtakes Nico Hulkenberg. A lap later Leclerc passes Lewis Hamilton who is probably starting to struggle on old tyres.
ORDER – VER NOR PER LEC HAM PIA ALO RUS HUL BEA
Lap 15 – Fernando Alonso asks on his radio whether his team has a Plan B, as “they are in another league”. We presume the they are Red Bull, and Verstappen at least is in another league, leaving Lando Norris behind at a second a lap. Maybe Plan B could involve penalties against Red Bull, because Sergio Perez gets a five second penalty for unsafe release.
Lap 18 – Sergio Perez breezes by Lando Norris for second. He is five seconds behind his team mate with a further five second penalty to be added. That officially does the race for the top two positions unless there’s rain, a competitor has voodoo dolls that cause double and instant retirements for Red Bull, or another crash brings out a safety car. Looking at you Logan Sargeant of Kevin Magnussen.
Lap 20 – With things settling down the race at least has a few battles to watch with younger drivers challenging their much more experienced rivals. Oscar Piastri v Lewis Hamilton for 5th. And Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg for 9th. The latter does the deed on lap 21 to double his career points tally.
ORDER – VER PER NOR LEC HAM PIA ALO RUS BEAR HUL
Lap 23 – Even the TV coverage is boring itself with this race with the cameras flashing to most Team managers on the pit wall, all looking as bored as the regular viewers at the lack of action. Well aside from Piastri being unable to pass Hamilton. They didn’t show Gunther Steiner, because he got sacked from Haas before the start of the season. He’d liven up this race. As does Kevin Magnussen with a penalty from the stewards.
Lap 26 – Further back the TV has picked up a five car train behind Kevin Magnussen who currently holds 12th. Yuki Tsunoda gets by briefly and then Magnussen retakes the place, with three other cars almost tripping over behind. Oh, and Daniel Ricciardo has got by Valtteri Bottas for second last.
Lap 27 – Charles Leclerc passes Lando Norris for third, meanwhile Piastri still can’t pass Lewis Hamilton.
Lap 29 – Back to the Magnussen “Express” Yuki Tsunoda passes Magnussen going into the first corner but Kevin Magnussen sticks his car on the inside of turn two and invites Tsunoda to life or peel his car out of the barrier. Tsunoda picks the former, which also allows Esteban Ocon to pass him now. Could be an interesting warm down lap after the flag. Or before. This will surely end in tears for one or more competitors. Daniel Ricciardo has added a carriage too.
Lap 33 – Alex Albon passes Yuki Tsunoda, putting the RB driver one place closer to his team mate, which could provide some fun on and off track.
Lap 37 –To the great relief of Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton pits for new tyres. Hamilton drops to 9th. Sergio Perez sets a fastest lap to remind us he’s still in the race too. Max won’t let him keep that surely. Lando Norris pits from 4th a lap later and rejoins just in front of Lewis Hamilton after a “slow” stop of 4 seconds. The double pit stops lifts Bearman to 7th.
Lap 43 – Lando Norris gets a warning for weaving down the straight from the stewards in his defence of 8th place from Lewis Hamilton. They are both slowly catching Oliver Bearman ahead, but not rapidly. This looks to be the point of interest for the rest of the race. Hopefully the Ferrari driver hangs on, what a drive.
ORDER – VER PER LEC PIA ALO RUS BEA NOR HAM HUL
Lap 46 – With five laps to go Oliver Bearman is three seconds ahead of Lando Norris who is catching at around 0.4-0.5 seconds a lap but is also defending his place from Lewis Hamilton. Could make the last lap very interesting.
FINAL LAP – Lando Norris appears to be too far away to catch Oliver Bearman ahead for 7th, which is great news for the rookie. He does hold on by the way. Much further ahead Max Verstappen has seen to the lapped cars and crosses the line for a second straight win for 2024. Not too far behind is team mate Sergio Perez who made up enough time to cover his five second penalty and keep second. Then the rest, with faces full of Red Bull dust.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER PER LEC PIA ALO RUS BEA NOR HAM HUL
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – OLIVER BEARMAN
Becomes Ferrari’s youngest ever driver as he substitutes for Carlos Sainz at the last moment before qualifying. His 11th place was impressive enough, but he manages to survive the first lap and make some solid progress during the race. Runs 7th towards the end and holds on despite looming pressure from his experienced countrymen Norris and Hamilton. Considering it is his first race distance in an F1 car, it is truly magnificent. Compare it to a more experienced but lacklustre effort from Lance Stroll.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Pole and Win is usually good for our best of the race. But he can’t win everything. Even though he tends to win everything. His pace looks effortless, and there’s not going to be any season-long challenge from his team mate. This season is over already.
SERGIO PEREZ – Decent effort from Perez as he extracts the maximum allowed. Good pass on Leclerc to get up to second, but by the time that happened his team mate was too far away. He just needs to qualify second to be any chance.
CHARLES LECLERC – Qualified second, as he continues to do well on street track qualifying, finishes third, and sets fastest lap for fun on the final lap, which is the maximum available in current mode.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Despite wasting a lot of time and too much time behind Lewis Hamilton, Piastri did outqualify his highly rated team mate and fourth is a decent finish.
NICO HULKENBERG – 10th place and a point could be very handy for Haas by the end of the season.
THE GRAPE-EST – LANCE STROLL
Bins car like a rookie, which is bad news when there’s a genuine rookie in the field doing a much better job. Lucky he knows someone who owns a team.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
PIERRE GASLY – Car’s gearbox breaks on the opening lap, which probably comes as relief.
VISA CASH APP RB – Where’s the pace? These RB cars were meant to be mini Red Bulls, but that’s appearing like BS. Qualified OK in 10th and 14th but towards the back of the field for over half the race and look no faster than last year. Daniel Ricciardo even has a late-race spin. Good news for Sergio Perez’s career we presume.
KICK SAUBER STAKE – Slowest cars on the day by the looks, and a trouble pitstop for Zhou steals any hopes of points.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 2 / 10
A reasonably tame first lap, a few battles that took forever for a pass, a lower midfield train, Lance Stroll crashing. It wasn’t high on action.
ANY SURPRISES? – 1 / 5
Oliver Bearman doing so well was a surprise. Red Bull scoring a 1-2, Charles Leclerc being best of the rest and Lance Stroll crashing is hardly surprising.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5
The manner of the victory and ease of the Red Bull pace almost officially declares this season to be over.
ENDING 3 / 10
A little excitement as we wondered if Oliver Bearman would hold onto 7th place on his debut for Ferrari, ahead of Lando Norris who was around two seconds behind. That about sums up the action later in the race.
OVERALL RATING 9 / 30
What’s worst than a reasonably dull race? One that starts at 3am. At least it was a Saturday night.
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix Ratings
Or check out our 2023 Season Driver Rankings and Stats
