Max Verstappen’s hard charge, the Mercedes bounceback, and other winners and losers from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

7 winners and 3 losers from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The second race of the 2023 Formula 1 season is in the books.

And it felt a lot like the first race.

Once again Red Bull locked out the front row, with Sergio Pérez starting on pole and taking the victory, followed by his teammate Max Verstappen. Verstappen finishing in second seemed in doubt on Saturday, after a driveshaft failure saw his qualifying session end in Q2. But the defending world champion charged his way through the field, finishing behind Pérez to give Red Bull their second one-two of the season.

Verstappen’s hard charge — along with the dominant performance from the Bulls — is among our winners and losers of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Winners: Red Bull

It might not have been the order many expected, and it took some twists and turns for it to happen, but Red Bull secured their second-straight one-two finish in Saudi Arabia, with Pérez finishing in first, followed by Verstappen.

Verstappen managed to fight his way through the field, after starting 15th due to the driveshaft failure in the second qualifying session on Saturday. Verstappen managed to pick up four places through the first few laps, and was into the points by Lap 10. When the safety car came out after Lance Stroll’s failure on Lap 17, Verstappen came into the pits and came out in fourth place, on the soft tyres. The defending world champion was able to power past both George Russell and Alonso to get into second, and from there it was a matter of whether he could chase down his teammate at the front of the pack.

However, Pérez was able to hold off Verstappen. Despite a slow start that saw Alonso charge into the early lead, Pérez was able to get into a solid rhythm, and led the bulk of the Grand Prix.

There was a rather humorous exchange late in the race between Verstappen and his team, as he asked on Lap 46 what the fastest lap of the day was. It was in Pérez’s hands at the moment, and the team told Verstappen that Red Bull was “not worried” about that extra point at the moment.

“But I am,” radioed Verstappen back to the team.

He certainly seemed worried about it, because his hard-charging effort was not done. On the final lap of the race Verstappen posted the fastest lap of the day, which gave him the bonus point.

And the difference in the Drivers’ standings as the grid leaves Saudi Arabia.

Winners: The hard C2 tyre compound

Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

One of the shock winners of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? The hard C2 compound. While Lewis Hamilton struggled on the hard tyre early in the race, the rest of the field seemed to make that compound work, and when the safety car came out on Lap 17 after Stroll’s incident, many of the teams made the switch to that compound, including nine of the teams in the top ten.

Only Hamilton made the switch to the medium compound, the C3. If you thought the slightly softer compound would give Hamilton an edge, that did not materialize. Instead, the drivers on the hard compound were able to maintain position. That included Alonso, who radioed into his pit on Lap 23 that the “tyres feel very good, I like this tyre.”

Tyre management is always critical during an F1 grand prix, and on this day, it was the hard compound that perhaps made the difference.

Winner: Kevin Magnussen

Following Friday’s first two practice session, Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner noted that he and the team were “happy” with how they looked over the first two sessions. Steiner, however, noted that they needed to “to find a little bit on Kevin [Magnussen’s] car” because the driver was not quite comfortable with the setup.

Whatever the team did over the past few days must have worked.

Following a late battle with Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri, Magnussen worked his way into P10, giving the team their first points of the 2023 F1 season.

Loser: Alex Albon

It was a tough day for Alex Albon and Williams. Both Albon and Logan Sargeant seemed to have some pace early in the Grand Prix, and shortly after the safety car, the Williams duo was riding in P13 and P14, with Albon just ahead of his rookie teammate on Lap 25. That put the duo in position to perhaps work together, and fight their way into the points.

However, that was not to be.

On Lap 27 Albon radioed into his team that he was experiencing “brake failure,” and eventually, he was forced to retire the car.

That left his rookie teammate alone on the track, and Sargent shortly found himself locked in a battle for position with the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The American fought hard, but eventually his fellow rookie passed him, and Sargeant was forced to settle for P16.

With his DNF, Albon finished the day in P19.

It was a difficult turn for Albon, who felt the FW45 — Williams’s challenger for the 2023 season — was as strong as ever. “It’s the best the car’s felt since my time driving at Williams so that’s very positive,” he said after the race. “More just frustrating because we had a lot of potential in the car this weekend and we couldn’t use it.”

Winners: Mercedes

Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images

It has been a rather up-and-down start to the season for Mercedes, but perhaps the Mercedes comeback is upon us.

Team Principal Toto Wolff promised that the team would have some “small developments” in store for the W14 this week, and those developments were enough to see both Russell and Hamilton start inside the top ten.

Now? Mercedes leaves Saudi Arabia with both their drivers having finished inside the top five.

Hamilton did struggle early in the race as one of the few drivers on the hard compound, and after the safety car came out for Stroll’s incident, he switched to the medium tyres. However, he was unable to take advantage as the rest of the field around him was on the harder compound. So there is still some work to be done to get him in a comfortable place with the W14.

George Russell came across the line in P4, and while there was some confusion over whether Fernando Alonso would be hit with a ten-second penalty — which would push Russell into a podium position — ultimately that penalty was overturned, leaving Alonso in P3 and Russell in P4.

Still, Mercedes not only sees their pair finish inside the top five, they also leave Saudi Arabia having shown more race pace over the Grand Prix than Ferrari, and tied for second with Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship. With even more improvements to the W14 planned, this could be the start of the big turnaround for the Silver Arrows.

Winner: Fernando Alonso

It took a while to get there, but we can finally declare Alonso one of the winners from Sunday.

Of course, this declaration is not without some controversy.

Alonso came across the line in third, more than five seconds ahead of Russell. But following the race the stewards enforced a ten-second penalty on Alonso. Earlier in the race, Alonso was given a five-second penalty for an improper start. Alonso served that penalty, under the safety car, but late in the race word worked its way through the paddock that the race stewards were looking into whether Alonso served the penalty properly.

In fact, Mercedes engineers radioed to Russell on Lap 48 that a potential five-second penalty was possible for Alonso. Moments later, the Aston Martin engineers told Alonso that he needed to maintain a five-second advantage over Russell, even though they believed the team was “in the clear.”

Alonso indeed came across third, believing he had secured his 100th career podium. But then came the word — after the podium celebration — that he was given a ten-second penalty, dropping him to fourth, and pushing Russell into third.

For reference, the wording of the FIA sporting regulations at issue:

That is for someone much smarter than me to decide, but it looks rather close.

Well, let’s hear from someone smarter:

So there you go.

But the bigger issue is how long it took for the stewards to let the team know of the possibility. What makes this penalty frustrating from both Aston Martin’s perspective — as well as the perspective of the fans watching in Saudi Arabia or at home — is that the incident took place on Lap 17, but word did not make its way to the teams until much later in the race. Had Alonso been informed of the potential penalty earlier, he could have changed his strategy. In addition, the teams were contemplating only a five-second penalty, not the ten-second penalty eventually handed out.

Following the race, FIA tried to add clarity to the situation:

Alonso appealed the penalty, and after review, word broke that his third-place finish was reinstated:

That marked the 100th podium of Alonso’s illustrious career, making him just the sixth driver in F1 history to reach that mark.

So, it took longer than he would have liked, but Alonso is officially among the winners of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Winners: Alpine

Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

After both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly pushed their way into the third qualifying session, Gasly stated that double points were possible for Alpine.

Double points is what they delivered.

The Alpine duo finished P8 and P9 in Jeddah, with Ocon coming across just in front of his teammate. That gives the team three points-winning results from the first two weeks of the season. Two weeks ago it was Gasly who finished in the points, fighting his way through the field after starting in 20th position.

Earlier this week, we wondered if Alpine would have something for the field thanks to their performance on Friday, and if Gasly in particular would be a driver to watch given his push up the field in Bahrain.

It seems like the team was able to deliver.

Loser: Lance Stroll

Alonso’s shock penalty, dropping him off the podium, was not the only bad break for Aston Martin on Sunday.

Teammate Lance Stroll, who began the day from fifth position, had worked up intp P4 early in the race. He was one of the first leaders to come into the pits, boxing on Lap 14.

A few laps later, his day would be over. Stroll was told to stop his car on Lap 17, which brought out a safety car. The early retirement saw Stroll finish in P20, well behind what the team, and the driver, were hoping to accomplish on Sunday at Jeddah.

Winners: Alfa Romeo’s social media team

It might not have been the weekend Alfa Romeo was hoping for — Zhou Guanyu finished in P13 and Valtteri Bottas in P18 — but there was a bright spot for the team.

Their social media department.

F1 social media teams do tremendous work all year long, but Alfa Romeo’s team was rather impressive this weekend, particularly on Saturday during qualifying.

Whether it was interacting with other teams:

Interacting with their fans:

Or even just putting a tough day in perspective:

A special hat tip for the fine folks behind the Alfa Romeo social accounts on a job well done.

Losers: McLaren

Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

When the 2023 F1 season began, McLaren and their fans hoped to see what we saw at the end of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with both Piastri and Norris locked in a hard battle to pick up places on the track.

However, they likely hoped it was for something other than P15.

The rookie barged into his first Q3 on Saturday, and began the day in ninth after qualifying, but his fortunes — and those of his teammate — quickly changed. Both Piastri and Norris endured some front wing damage early in the race, which forced both McLaren drivers to pit early and give up position on the track.

Piastri’s front wing damage came on the opening lap, when he came into contact with the Alpine of Gasly. Commentators on F1TV opined that Piastri might have been “too cautious” on the opening lap, but the damage forced him to box almost immediately.

Norris suffered some front end damage of his own, forcing him to pit on Lap 4. Both drivers were at the back fo the field just five laps into the Grand Prix. They were able to make up a few spots — Piastri finished in P15 while Norris finished in P17 — but this is not the start the team envisioned at the beginning of the season.

After the race, Team Principal Andrea Stella tried to find the silver lining.

“After beginning the race with hopes of scoring points, we had both cars at the back of the pack after the first lap and we come away from Jeddah empty-handed. Oscar had contact at the first corner, which required him to pit with a broken front wing, while Lando hit the debris coming off Oscar’s car and also suffered a broken front wing that required him to pit to change the front wing,” said Stella.

“We’re racers and we take these unfortunate circumstances on the chin. We will be even more motivated and determined to work on improving the car and to prepare for the next race in Australia,” he added. “Before we go to Melbourne, we know we have work to do to improve our car, and that will be our immediate focus.”

Earlier this week, Norris brushed aside the notion that it was time to panic at McLaren. But you can bet those feelings of worry will only linger around the team leading into the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.