Perez wins, but Verstappen also celebrates

The 25-year-old Dutchman raced from 15th on the grid to second place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, only beaten by Sergio Perez, who, like last year, started the race from pole. “Fantastic Checo,” said team boss Christian Horner, congratulating the Mexican on his fifth career success. “It was harder than I thought,” said Perez. Thanks to the fastest lap of the race shortly before the end, Verstappen remained in the championship standings, just one point ahead of the Mexican Perez. As in the opening race two weeks ago in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso crossed the finish line in third place and initially celebrated the 100th podium finish of his career. Too early: After the 41-year-old Spaniard had already raised his trophy into the night sky, the news came from the race management: a ten-second penalty because he had not properly served a five-second penalty in the race. The beneficiary was George Russell, who subsequently climbed from fourth to third place in the Mercedes. +++ UPDATE: Alonso penalty withdrawn +++ Record world champion Lewis Hamilton came in fifth place. In sixth and seventh place, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari once again couldn't even begin to keep up with the Red Bull duo at the front. For Verstappen there was one thing above all: survive the first lap unscathed in the dense midfield. A defect in the drive shaft stopped the two-time champion, who had previously dominated all training sessions on the super-fast street circuit, from qualifying on Saturday. Perez made no mistakes, his lead remained at just under five seconds for a long time and never fell below the four-second mark. Ten laps before the end, Verstappen reported to the pit wall about a possible problem with the drive shaft. An ailment caused his car to end early in qualifying on Saturday. However, his lap times remained consistently good. However, not fast enough to be able to put Perez under pressure. Saudi Arabia GP 1. Sergio Perez (Mexico) – Red Bull 1:21:14,894 hours. 2. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) – Red Bull +5,355 sec. 3. Fernando Alonso (Spain) – Aston Martin +20,728 4. George Russell (Great Britain) – Mercedes +25,866 5. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) – Mercedes +31,065 6. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) – Ferrari +35,876 7. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) – Ferrari +43,162 8. Esteban Ocon (France) – Alpine +52,832 9. Pierre Gasly (France) – Alpine +54,747 10. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) – Haas +1:04,826 mins.

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Perez wins, but Verstappen also celebrates

Max Verstappen seemed pretty shaken from his world championship catch-up on the high-speed circuit on the Red Sea; he had to hand over victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to his Red Bull teammate.

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