The world champion needed two overtakes in the final laps to claim his first victory of the season.
It was epic and ended with Max Verstappen partying in Saudi Arabia. The second Grand Prix of the season ended in exciting fashion, with the Red Bull driver crossing the finish line in first place, followed closely by Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque (Ferrari) led much of the race, but could not contain the last forcing of Verstappen, who overtook Leclerc twice in the last laps.
The Dutch driver, starting from fourth place on the grid, completed the 50 laps scheduled for this street circuit in 1:24.19.293 hours, beating Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), by 0.549 seconds, and Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), by 8,097. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), seven-time world champion, was only 10th after starting from 15th place. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) finished fourth, ahead of George Russell (Mercedes).
“It was fun, a good race, very difficult up front, but we are happy with the first win of the season. We were playing to wait for the chance because the car was fast on the straight,” said Max Verstappen. after the race. Charles Leclerc agreed on the fun part: “I had the opportunity to win, but in the last corner it was difficult to stop Max with the DRS. It was a great battle, we went to the limit,” said the Monegasque.
Of the 18 cars on the track, five retired (Alexander Albon, in Williams, Valtteri Bottas, in Alfa Romeo, Fernando Alonso, in Alpine, Daniel Ricciardo, in McLaren, and Nicholas Latifi, in Williams).
With these results, Leclerc maintains the command of the championship, with 45 points (he added an extra point for having set the fastest lap), against the 33 of Carlos Sainz and the 25 of Max Verstappen, who had retired in the previous race. .
