Max Verstappen wins his first race of the season after an intense battle with Charles Leclerc

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The champ is back! Max Verstappen made people forget his retirement from the first Grand Prix of the season last Sunday by winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on Sunday March 27. The Red Bull driver waited until the end of the race to overthrow Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), second ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.

In the lead at the start, Sergio Pérez finished fourth but confirmed the supremacy of the Ferrari – Red Bull duo in the hierarchy. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) finished sixth, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) eighth. At a comfortable distance from Leclerc, a little more leader in the drivers’ championship.

This time, the mano a mano between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen was able to last until the checkered flag. Betrayed last week by his mechanics, the Dutch driver saw the finish on Sunday. And his top speed made the difference at the end of the race. He came back into the exhausts of Leclerc after a virtual safety car with ten laps to go. The two pilots thus offered a good pass of arms. Verstappen, like Leclerc, used all the tools at his disposal, playing rules between areas where the DRS – the moving part of the rear wing – can be activated and pace at the limit under yellow flag.

But this duel remained clean until the end and the power of the Red Bull engine made the difference on the starting straight with three loops remaining. Max Verstappen finally wins by half a second over Charles Leclerc. “We wanted to play over time, we knew we would be fast and I had pace at the end of the racereacted the winner of the day. I fully launch my season today.“

A great revenge for the Red Bull driver, frustrated last season in Jeddah after a crazy Grand Prix which saw Lewis Hamilton return to his height in the driver standings before the last race of the season. And a wonderful advertisement for the 2022 regulations, which seems to be bearing fruit in terms of the long-term struggles between two cars close to each other.

In the strategic battle of the day, Red Bull will have had the last word. But the Austrian team will also have lost all hope of victory along the way for poleman Sergio Pérez, who was beaten today. Ferrari, feigning Charles Leclerc’s upcoming stop, prompted Red Bull to pit-call Sergio Pérez, then in the lead, on lap 15. A lap too early, since the accident of Nicholas Latifi (Williams) brought in the safety car, and thus allowed the rest of the pack to stop without wasting time. From an irreproachable leader, the Mexican slipped to fourth place, which he never left again.

Behind the two leading teams, the battle also raged to finish “best of the others”. Alpine put on a show with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso wheel to wheel and very close to collision on several occasions. The Spaniard finally had to give up, when the Habs stole sixth place from Lando Norris (McLaren) at the finish line.

The same fate that he had suffered a few months earlier in the same place Valtteri Bottas, who had deprived him of a podium. In great difficulty in Jeddah, Mercedes finally did more than limit damage. George Russel finished 5th with a comfortable margin over his pursuers. Starting 16th, Lewis Hamilton brought back the point of tenth place at the finish.


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