Saudi Arabia Grand Prix: Podium for Charles Leclerc, double for Max Verstappen
The Monegasque driver finished third at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (© Scuderia Ferrari)
The constructors’ podium was the same as last week in Jeddah with Red Bull’s Verstappen and Perez in first and second, and Ferrari in 3rd place, but this time with Charles Leclerc at the wheel.
We’re two Grand Prix into the new season, and it looks like 2023 is coming back to haunt us. With a double victory for Red Bull and the three-time reigning world champion, the 2024 season is starting off on exactly the same footing as the previous one.
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Which obviously suits Max Verstappen, who just notched up the 56th victory of his career and with the Austrian team which, despite the rumblings of the Horner affair behind the scenes, demonstrated once again on the track that it is absolutely unfazed.
Untouchable, the two Red Bulls left it to Charles Leclerc to pick up the crumbs, taking his first podium place this season, after a frustrating inaugural Grand Prix weekend.
Leclerc records fastest race lap
The Scuderia Ferrari driver, once again starting from second place on the grid, even treated himself to the fastest lap on the last one round the track. He moves up into third place in the Drivers’ World Championship, behind the two Red Bull drivers.
“We had pretty good pace, in fact we had the best lap in the race at the end. Overall, it felt pretty good but it must have seemed boring because the Red Bulls were way ahead. We took as many points as we could today,” the Monegasque told Canal+ in the post-race analysis. Six of those points were earned by Oliver Bearman, a rookie stand-in for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who was operated on for appendicitis during the week. Bearman came 7th in a car he had driven for the first time the day before.
“Compared to last year, it’s a step forward,” continued Leclerc. “There was probably less adrenaline on my side because I was on my own, but it is one of the most physical circuits of the championship, it is hot, it is painful because there are a lot of fast turns, It makes things difficult but it’s also a lot of fun to race here.”
The next date on the calendar is March 24, the Australian Grand Prix.