Verstappen wins as Bearman, 18, finishes seventh

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a comfortable victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as Briton Oliver Bearman scored points on his debut in seventh for Ferrari.

Verstappen’s win was his second in two races in 2024 and his ninth consecutive victory dating back to September.

Leading team-mate Sergio Perez to a Red Bull one-two, it continued the crushing superiority Verstappen has had over the Formula 1 field for nearly two years.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came third.

Bearman, standing in for Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard underwent an appendectomy, became at 18 years old the youngest British driver in F1 history, and the third youngest ever.

He drove with maturity to fend off a potential challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as they fought back after late pit stops for fresh tyres on inverted strategies.

Norris and Hamilton had stayed out during an early safety car, deployed after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crashed on lap six.

They stopped with 13 and 14 laps to go, Hamilton a lap before Norris, and fitted soft tyres, in the hope they could use their extra grip to close in on those ahead.

But after initially taking chunks out of Bearman’s advantage, their tyres began to fade, and Norris and Hamilton were left fighting among themselves for eighth place rather than challenging the teenager.

Bearman started 11th after being drafted in before final practice and was 12th after the safety car.

He passed Zhou Gunayu’s Sauber and then Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas and then benefited from the strategies of Hamilton and Norris on an accomplished debut that confirmed him as a potential star of the future.

Bearman was named driver of the day in the fans’ vote and team-mate Leclerc paid tribute to him after the race.

“He completely deserves it,” Leclerc said. “He has done an incredible job. In P3 he was straight on the pace, in qualifying he did an incredible job and missed Q3 only by a little.

“To finish seventh in your first race in F1 in a new car is incredibly impressive. Everyone has noticed how talented he is, and it is just a matter of time before he is in F1.”

Hamilton pressured Norris hard, and the younger Briton was warned for weaving on the straight in defence, but the McLaren managed to hang on in front.

McLaren’s and Mercedes’ decision not to stop under the safety car put Norris into the lead – he had been running sixth in the early laps, behind Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen rejoined after his stop under the safety car in second place behind the McLaren, but passed the Briton just three laps after the restart and was untroubled thereafter.

After two races, Verstappen already has a 15-point championship lead over Perez and looks well on target for a fourth consecutive drivers’ title. At this rate, he is looking as if he could even break all the win records he set last year.

Perez was no match for his team-mate’s pace but was more than fast enough to pull a big enough gap for a five-second penalty imposed for an unsafe release from the pits to have no effect on his second place.

Leclerc finished 11.4secs behind Perez, underlining Ferrari’s position as the leaders of the chasing pack, but a dispiriting margin for anyone hoping for a challenge to Red Bull in these early stages of the 2024 season.

Piastri spent many laps stuck behind Hamilton after the safety car reshuffle, but once the Mercedes pitted out of the way, the Australian consolidated fourth place.

He finished ahead of Alonso and Russell after a soporific race that provided little encouragement for those hoping for an exciting season, the longest in F1 history.

Race three of 24 this season is the Australian Grand Prix from 22-24 March at Albert Park in Melbourne.