Saudi Arabian GP – Syndication Server

‘I’ve got more points in F1 than I do in F2’ – Bearman

Ollie Bearman believes he has proven all he can in his surprise Formula 1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and wants to use the momentum to keep impressing in Formula 2. The Ferrari reserve driver was required as a late replacement for the …

Ollie Bearman believes he has proven all he can in his surprise Formula 1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and wants to use the momentum to keep impressing in Formula 2.

The Ferrari reserve driver was required as a late replacement for the unwell Carlos Sainz, and duly qualified 11th — within 0.04s of a Q3 spot — and then scored six points with seventh place in the race. Having targeted a top ten result and clean performance, Bearman says his attention will return to F2 and trying to play catch-up in the championship after having to withdraw from this weekend’s race.

“I don’t know what else I can do, because I don’t think I’ll be in Formula 1 for the rest of the year,” Bearman said. “That was my goal, to do a great showing this weekend. I think I did a decent job, so that is alright. That is all I can do, keep pushing in Formula 2 and cross my fingers.

“Of course, after getting pole in Formula 2 I was a bit disappointed not to be able to finish the weekend, but when an opportunity like this comes, you can’t not take it, so I am really happy to have gone for it and I think I did a good showing for myself.

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“Now the focus goes back to Formula 2 and it’ll be a tough championship from now on because I am two rounds behind everyone. Bahrain was a different story, but here I could’ve scored some good points. I’ve got more points in Formula 1 than I do in Formula 2 at this point, so I’ve got some more work to do.”

Bearman pulled a strong move on Yuki Tsunoda as he climbed into the points on Saturday and then had the pace to hold off Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton on alternate strategies, but says his machinery played a big part in beating the seven-time world champion, who congratulated him in parc ferme.

“We also had a faster car, so that helps,” he said. “The car was flying today, so that is obviously a big bonus, but I think we executed a clean race, no mistakes, and that is exactly what we were looking for so I am happy with my performance.

“[Hamilton] was basically pulling me out of the car because I was struggling. It was really physical, but in a race like this, one of the lowest degradation tracks of the season and one of the highest lateral G’s, you are pretty much doing 50 qualifying laps which is quite impressive.”

While he’s unsure if his performance has earned him a full-time F1 drive in 2025, Bearman says it has at least warranted a post-race reward.

“I have some debriefs with the team and I think I’ll have a nice, big dinner tonight and a big dessert. I think I earned that. It depends what time we finish because at the moment the debrief is scheduled to finish at midnight. Maybe it’ll be some junk food, a burger.”

RBR’s off-track drama not affecting performance – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says the off-track controversies surrounding Red Bull are not distracting from performances, after taking another comfortable victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Red Bull repeated its one-two finish from the first race in Bahrain …

Max Verstappen says the off-track controversies surrounding Red Bull are not distracting from performances, after taking another comfortable victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Red Bull repeated its one-two finish from the first race in Bahrain with a similar display in Jeddah, although Charles Leclerc took the point for the fastest lap as he finished third. The result comes amid a backdrop of infighting at Red Bull — with Helmut Marko stating his own future was uncertain on Friday and Verstappen backing the Austrian — but the championship leader is impressed with how resilient the team has proven to be.

“I always said that what is most important is that we work together as a team and that everyone keeps the peace,” Verstappen said. “And that’s what we, I think, all agree on within the team. So hopefully from now on that is also fully the case. Everyone is trying to focus in the same direction.

“And I think the positive out of all this is that it didn’t hurt our performances. So it’s a very strong team. I think also mentally, what you can see from not only [the] driver’s side, but also mechanics, engineers, everyone is there to do their job. I think everyone, even when there is stuff going on or whatever, they’re just very focused on their job as they should be.”

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Verstappen’s victory is his 19th in the past 20 races and sees him reach three figures in terms of podiums, but he jokes that the landmark in his 188th race means he’s missed out on too many.

“It’s 88 missed podiums!” he quipped. “No, of course, very happy with that. But I’m not really a guy looking at the stats, so I’m just happy to hit 100, but I want to continue and just focus race-by-race on achieving the best possible result all the time.

“I think it was a very good race. Of course, after that first stint with the safety car, we had to box. I knew that it was going to be a very long stint to the end, but it was the same for most of us. I think we just managed the pace very well to the end.

“The whole weekend, the car has been performing really well, probably a little bit better than expected, even. And yeah, overall, very pleased to win here.”

Only a matter of time until Bearman gets F1 seat – Leclerc

Charles Leclerc says Ollie Bearman has proven it is only a matter of time before he gets a full-time seat in Formula 1 after finishing seventh on his Ferrari debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Bearman was called up as a last-minute replacement …

Charles Leclerc says Ollie Bearman has proven it is only a matter of time before he gets a full-time seat in Formula 1 after finishing seventh on his Ferrari debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Bearman was called up as a last-minute replacement for Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard required surgery on Friday morning after being diagnosed with appendicitis, leaving the 18-year-old just one practice session before he took part in qualifying. Starting from 11th after missing Q3 by less than 0.04s, Bearman drove an impressive race to climb to seventh ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, scoring points on debut and catching the eye of his temporary teammate.

“It’s incredibly difficult [to do],” Leclerc said. “He’s been extremely impressive. Extremely impressive. I think everybody has seen that. Obviously having him in the same garage, seeing how he worked and how he approached this whole situation with so much calm was very, very impressive. Obviously with so much excitement as well, but it was really impressive.

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“I think he has shown the whole paddock what he was capable of, and I think after a performance like that, it’s a matter of time before we see him permanently in the Formula 1 paddock.

“He completely deserves [driver of the day]. He’s done an incredible job. From FP3 he was straight on the pace, in qualifying he did a great job and missed Q3 by so little, and I think today he’s been incredible. I mean, seventh on your first race in Formula 1, having done only FP3, in a new car, it’s just hugely impressive. I’m sure he’s extremely proud but everybody has noticed how talented he is and I guess it’s just a matter of time before he comes here to Formula 1.”

Leclerc’s sentiments were echoed by George Russell, who along with his teammate Lewis Hamilton were among the first to congratulate Bearman on his performance when he jumped out of the car in parc ferme.

“He did an amazing job,” Russell said. “Coming in at a circuit like this, as well, is extremely difficult, and he exceeded everybody’s expectations. I’ve followed him briefly in the past, but I think he caught a lot of people by surprise, and that was a [big] result for him.

“It’s extremely difficult, but if you’ve got the speed and the talent, then it’s another race car. He clearly had the confidence straight from the off, pushing the car to the limit. So yeah, respect to him for the job he’s done, and fully expect to see him on the grid next year or the year after.”

Verstappen and Red Bull dominate Saudi Arabian GP

Max Verstappen led another comfortable Red Bull Racing one-two after dominating the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Verstappen lost the lead only during the first pit stop window, caused by Lance Stroll breaking his left-front suspension with a tap of the …

Max Verstappen led another comfortable Red Bull Racing one-two after dominating the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Verstappen lost the lead only during the first pit stop window, caused by Lance Stroll breaking his left-front suspension with a tap of the apex barrier at Turn 22, sending him careering into the barriers on the opposite side of the circuit. The ensuing safety car triggered all but four remaining drivers to make their sole mandatory pit stops for the hard tire, which could comfortably make it to the end of the 50-lap grand prix.

Lando Norris inherited the lead ahead of Verstappen, but it was never going to last. After bringing his tires up to temperature for a long final stint, the reigning champion made quick work of the McLaren on lap 13, after which he was never sighted on the way to his 100th grand prix podium.

“Overall, of course a fantastic weekend for the whole team but also for myself,” he said. “I felt really good in the car.

“We had good pace all around and we could manage it quite well with the gap also. Overall I’m very, very pleased.”

Verstappen also claimed Red Bull Racing’s 115th victory, taking the team one past Williams on the list of constructors winners to outright third behind Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.

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Sergio Perez had been running second before the safety car intervention but lost two places stacking behind Verstappen. He dropped to fourth behind Norris and Lewis Hamilton, who had also stayed out, and took eight laps to pass both, enough to put him out of touch with Verstappen after resuming one-two formation.

His pace was great enough to completely negate a five-second penalty levied for an unsafe release ahead of Fernando Alonso in the hectic pit lane during the first stop window.

“We definitely made good progress,” Perez said. “It was quite a compromised race with the safety car there so early.

“Overall it’s a great day for the team. It’s a very different track to Bahrain and we keep being strong. We just have to keep this momentum going.”

Charles Leclerc started from the front row, but the RB20’s superior straight-line speed had Perez through after only four laps.

The Monegasque followed the Mexican back up into the podium places after the safety car but was no match for him, and he finished 10 seconds behind the leading two at the flag before Perez’s penalty was applied. Leclerc also picked up a bonus point for fastest lap

“Overall the feeling was pretty good,” he said. “It was a bit of a boring race, because Red Bull was a bit too quick and behind we had a bit of a gap, but we took the maximum points we could today, and that was the target, so that was great.”

Oscar Piastri appeared to have the pace to duel with Leclerc for the final podium place but couldn’t follow the Ferrari past Hamilton despite the tire offset.

Hamilton’s Mercedes had significantly better straight-line speed than the McLaren, with even Piastri’s DRS doing little to get him to within striking distance.

It took Hamilton making his eventual stop on lap 36 for Piastri to get through after several failed attempts at the first chicane, but by then he was 10s behind the Russell, locking him into fourth place.

Fernando Alonso finished fifth after a long race defending ahead of George Russell.

Oliver Bearman finished a sensational seventh on debut for Ferrari, gaining four places on his starting position and fending off Norris and Hamilton on faster tires at the end of the race.

The Briton was called up to replace Carlos Sainz, who was suffering appendicitis, shortly before final practice but held himself well in the grand prix, making few mistakes and never appearing overwhelmed by his sudden chance at one of the calendar’s most testing circuits.

Norris and Hamilton pitted late for fresh softs but couldn’t extract the expected pace from the red-marked tires, finishing eighth and ninth.

Nico Hulkenberg scored the final point after an excellent exercise in teamwork at Haas. Hulkenberg had stayed out during the safety car while teammate Kevin Magnussen pitted, but the Dane rapidly accumulated 20 seconds of penalties, one for causing a collision with Alex Albon and another for passing Yuki Tsunoda off the track.

The team switch him to a defensive strategy, using him to hold up the midfield with some superb defensive driving to build a gap into which Hulkenberg could pit on lap 33. The German rejoined the race in net 10th place, just 2.3s ahead of the relentless Magnussen, to collect Haas’s first point of the year.

Magnussen dropped to 12th after his penalties, promoting Alex Albon to 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda in 13th and 14th after a tight race-long duel between the trio.

Logan Sargeant finished ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, whose race was undone by a super long stop that left him trailing far behind the safety car pack early in the race, and Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu at the back of the pack.

Pierre Gasly was the race’s only other retirement, pitting at the end of the first lap with a suspected gearbox problem.

Verstappen comfortably bests Leclerc for Saudi Arabia GP pole

Max Verstappen cruised to pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc. Verstappen held a hefty 0.335s advantage over the field after his first lap, setting a time of 1m27.472s. He couldn’t improve with his second lap, …

Max Verstappen cruised to pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen held a hefty 0.335s advantage over the field after his first lap, setting a time of 1m27.472s. He couldn’t improve with his second lap, which was 0.2s slower than his first, but with the rest of the field barely finding time, it made no difference to the outcome.

Either lap would have been enough for the Red Bull driver, who picked up his first pole position in Jeddah.

“It was a very good day,” Verstappen said. “We improved the car a little bit overnight, and that gave me a bit more confidence to attack the high-speed corners.”

The Dutchman was equally confident about Saturday’s grand prix.

“There have been a lot of crazy races around here. A lot can happen. I’m confident with the race pace that we have, that tomorrow the car will work really well too,” he said.

Leclerc found half a second on his second qualifying lap — his first was compromised by an experiment with tire preparation — but the gain was only enough to put the Ferrari driver 0.319s off pole on his route to the front row.

“In the second lap I put everything together, and that was what was in the car today,” he said. “I’m really happy with the lap.

“It’s a shame we are a bit further away than we hoped, but tomorrow is the race, and I hope we have a good surprise and will be able to challenge the Red Bull.”

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Sergio Perez has been set to start on the front row alongside his teammate after his first run, but the Mexican failed to find time with his second lap, leaving him vulnerable to being pipped by Leclerc and demoted to third.

“Max has done a tremendous lap,” he said. “I think that was not possible for me today.

“I think we are still in the fight for tomorrow. Tomorrow is a long race and anything can happen.”

Fernando Alonso qualified fourth at the tail of a tight group of three cars, with just 0.055s between him, Perez and Leclerc ahead.

Oscar Piastri qualified ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 0.043s, with the pair set to start ahead of Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Yuki Tsunoda made RB’s first Q3 appearance in ninth ahead of Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin completing the top 10.

Surprise Ferrari rookie Oliver Bearman qualified 11th, the Briton falling short of a top-10 spot by just 0.036s.

Alex Albon will start 12th ahead of Keving Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo, who lapped 0.558s slower than Q1-bound RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 15th without a Q2 time after his Haas car ground to a halt with a power unit issue at Turn 8 on his first flying lap, requiring a brief red flag to recover his stricken machine.

Valtteri Bottas will start 16th after missing out on progression by just 0.072s.

Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were closely matched but never in contention for Q2. Both were almost 0.4s off 15th, and they were more than 1.3s off top spot in Q1.

Logan Sargeant struggled to recover from losing FP3 to a broken left-front corner after clipping the barrier, leaving him 19th.

Zhou Guanyu will line up last without having set a time. The Sauber driver crashed heavily in FP3, and it too the team the entirety of the 2.5-hour break between sessions and almost all of Q1 to complete repairs.

Zhou got out on track with less than two minutes remaining, but the work was in vain, with the Chinese driver taking unable to get around the track to start his lap before the checkered flag fell.

Sainz out of Saudi GP, Bearman to make debut for Ferrari

Carlos Sainz has been ruled out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being diagnosed with appendicitis, with Ferrari reserve driver Ollie Bearman making his debut as he replaces him for the rest of the weekend. The Spaniard was feeling unwell on …

The Spaniard was feeling unwell on Wednesday and returned to his hotel to rest, before battling through illness to complete 48 laps in total across the two practice sessions on Thursday. Sainz — who finished third in the season-opening race in Bahrain — has since been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery, forcing his withdrawal from the rest of the weekend.

Taking his place will be rookie Bearman (pictured above), who had originally secured pole position for this weekend’s Formula 2 race in Jeddah. The 18-year-old will take no further part in the F2 schedule as he steps up to partner Charles Leclerc, starting with FP3 on Friday.

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Bearman completed two FP1 sessions for Haas in 2023 and has been promoted to reserve driver for Ayao Komatsu’s team too, as well as having six FP1s planned this year. However, it will be his first outing for Ferrari during a race weekend, with Robert Shwartzman having completed the team’s mandatory rookie running last season.

The British driver has only been racing single-seaters since the 2020 season, finishing third in F3 two years ago and sixth in his rookie F2 season. Bearman was named a Ferrari reserve driver earlier this year, joining Antonio Giovinazzi and Shwartzman who share duties depending on racing schedules. He will run Ferrari’s reserve number of 38 for the rest of this weekend.

Bearman becomes the first driver to make their debut in Formula 1 with Ferrari since Arturo Merzario at the 1972 British Grand Prix.

Alonso tops delayed FP2 amid near-misses

Fernando Alonso set the pace in the second practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as a number of drivers experienced near-misses in traffic. The start of the session was delayed by 10 minutes while pit lane checks were carried out, with …

Fernando Alonso set the pace in the second practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as a number of drivers experienced near-misses in traffic.

The start of the session was delayed by 10 minutes while pit lane checks were carried out, with concerns over loose drain covers. One that was resolved, the FIA simply pushed the session back and still allowed the full hour to take place given the relevancy of the conditions under the lights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

There was a close call between Logan Sargeant and Lewis Hamilton early in the session, with the Williams driver coming across the Mercedes and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari at the high-speed Turn 10. Hamilton was in the middle of the road, and Sargeant had to take evasive action, going over the exit curb and off track. The stewards opted to investigate the incident after the session, but it was far from the only such moment.

With multiple drivers encountering traffic in the first sector — where sight lines mean visibility is restricted but many of the corners are high speed — Alonso stated the situation was “a mess” and it’s likely to be discussed during the driver briefing. At present there is no maximum sector time in place in the first sector, that would mandate a minimum speed.

Alonso still topped the session with a 1m28.827s, leading George Russell by nearly a quarter of a second in the only representative session ahead of qualifying and the race. Much like Bahrain, FP1 and FP3 take place in the heat of the day, before the night sessions.

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Max Verstappen was third fastest after setting the pace from Alonso in FP1, this time over 0.3s adrift of the Aston Martin. Fourth was Charles Leclerc, who was just 0.022s slower than Verstappen, with Sergio Perez in fifth.

Lance Stroll ensured both Aston Martin cars were in the top six, with Carlos Sainz managing to compete in both practice sessions despite an illness that led to him leaving the track early on Wednesday and had put his ability to drive in Thursday practice in question.

It was a tough session for Hamilton, who not only faces the investigation into the incident with Sargeant but ended up nearly 0.7s adrift of Alonso and over 0.4s slower than teammate Russell. Hamilton complained of a lack of rear end stability, and then had to end his running early when he reported a loss of power after a big slide to run off-track at Turn 22.

Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri rounded out the top 10, with McLaren searching for answers to setup issues as Lando Norris — 12th fastest behind Yuki Tsunoda — complaining that the car was bottoming out badly during his running.

1.3 seconds covered the entire field during the second session, with Valtteri Bottas slowest for Stake Sauber and suffering a spin at Turn 1 early on once running had belatedly begun.

Technical updates: 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Multiple teams have brought circuit-specific upgrades to the second round of the season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with only Mercedes submitting what is listed as a performance item. Mercedes has a new lower deflector as part of the rear …

Multiple teams have brought circuit-specific upgrades to the second round of the season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with only Mercedes submitting what is listed as a performance item.

Mercedes has a new lower deflector as part of the rear corner that is designed to improve local load, as the only item named among its new parts. At Red Bull, there is tighter bodywork around the engine cover for cooling reasons, while the rear wing and beam wing have been adapted for drag levels.

Ferrari and McLaren both have the same tweak to the rear wing and beam wing, while Aston Martin only has the rear wing, coupled with a front corner adaptation that is designed to influence the wake around the front tires to improve airflow downstream.

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Williams has a new beam wing for drag levels as well as cooling-related changes to its front brake ducts, but the largest number of updates is at RB where a new engine cover improves air flow, while there are also more cooling louvers available on top of changes to the front and rear wings for drag purposes.

Alpine, Stake and Haas all have submitted no new components for this weekend’s race, with it coming just one week after the season opener in Bahrain.

Verstappen leads Alonso in first Saudi Arabia GP practice

Max Verstappen topped a gusty first practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. Winds of almost 20mph whipped the seaside Jeddah Corniche Circuit as the first hour of the weekend got underway, but the …

Max Verstappen topped a gusty first practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez.

Winds of almost 20mph whipped the seaside Jeddah Corniche Circuit as the first hour of the weekend got underway, but the bluster had little effect on reigning champion and new title leader Verstappen, who effortlessly rocketed to the top spot with a best time of 1m29.659s. It was almost identical to the fastest time he set this time last year, coming in just 0.042s slower.

Alonso put his Aston Martin second in the order, splitting Verstappen from Red Bull Racing teammate Perez. The Spaniard was 0.186s off the pace, with Perez 0.023s further back. The Mexican is running a new gearbox case, cassette and driveline this weekend, the first of five allowed for the season.

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First practice in Saudi Arabia, held late in the afternoon, is unrepresentative of qualifying and race, both of which are run after sunset, though teams made the most of the track time in a busy hour of track running.

George Russell was fourth quickest in his Mercedes, less than 0.1s behind Perez. Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz followed 0.3s and 0.5s off the pace respectively.

Sainz was a late inclusion for practice, having returned to his hotel early on Wednesday with illness. Ferrari confirmed the Spaniard would be taking part in the session only shortly before pit lane opened.

Lando Norris led the way for McLaren in seventh ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes. Hamilton complained early of severe bouncing at his rear axle.

Lance Stroll finished ninth after surviving an early brush with the barriers that cost him a left-front wheel cover but no more serious damage ahead of Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas in 10th and 11th.

Daniel Ricciardo was 12th and 1.2s off the pace for RB, but the Australian was one of four drivers not to use the soft tire in the session. Esteban Ocon followed for Alpine ahead of Williams driver Logan Sargeant and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Yuki Tsunoda put the second RB 16th, again without soft tires, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

Haas teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen completed the order at the bottom of the time sheet, though neither used the soft compound.

TV ratings: Atlanta, Saudi Arabia

Motorsports continued to hold its own against the sports Goliath of college basketball last weekend, with NASCAR up from the week prior and Formula 1 realizing a year-on-year gain. NASCAR’s Cup Series round from Atlanta led the way with a 1.95 …

Motorsports continued to hold its own against the sports Goliath of college basketball last weekend, with NASCAR up from the week prior and Formula 1 realizing a year-on-year gain.

NASCAR’s Cup Series round from Atlanta led the way with a 1.95 Nielsen rating and 3.422 million household viewers Sunday on FOX, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com. That was down from a 2.36/4.003m last year, but a slight uptick from the previous week’s Phoenix race (1.93/3.389m).

Formula 1, meanwhile, rebounded from its slight year-on-year decline for its season opener with a gain for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on ESPN, which averaged a 0.74/1.523m. That was up 5% over the ’22 race on ESPN (1.44m) and up 17% compared to last year’s F1 season average. It was also the weekend’s most-viewed telecast across ESPN platforms, according to the network, which reports that Buffalo was the top local market for the race, averaging a 2.4 rating. Time for a Buffalo GP, maybe? Last year on this date, ESPN carried the Bahrain GP, which averaged 0.75/1.353m.

Despite its smaller overall audience, F1 bested Cup in the 18-49 age range, averaging 681,000 in that demographic to Cup’s 608K.

NASCAR’s Xfinity Series race from Atlanta averaged 0.58/1.019m on FS1 Saturday afternoon, while the Camping World Truck Series race that preceded it on FS1 averaged 0.48/807,000. Last year these races averaged 0.66/1.123m and 0.51/841K, respectively.

While Saturday’s IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Sebring was live in its entirety on the Peacock streaming service, the portion airing on the USA network averaged 100,000 viewers.