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Sergio Perez saves Max Verstappen to win the Saudi Arabia GP


JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Sergio Perez wins Saudi Arabia grand opening And Max Verstappen drive from 15th to monday to give out Red Bull finished 1-2 on Sunday in the upcoming season for the reigning Formula One champions.

And only two races so far.

“Well done guys, an excellent result for the team,” said Perez, who finished about five seconds ahead of Verstappen.

Through the first two races of the season, Red Bull racked up two wins, two finishes at 1-2 and an atmosphere of desperation from others on the grid.

Verstappen is chasing a third title in a row and isn’t worried if it turns out to be a straight fight between him and Perez.

“The best will finish first,” said the Dutchman.

Perez feels he hasn’t reached his peak yet.

“I’m not sure it was my best weekend with the team, Melbourne will be even better,” he said, looking ahead to the next race in Australia on April 2.

Fernando Alonso finished third for the second straight race to claim the 100th podium of his career. But he was then given a 10-second penalty for incorrectly taking the previous penalty and that sent him down to fourth.

But even the Spaniard enjoys a renaissance with his new shirt Aston Martin team, Alonso has admitted that he has little chance of beating Red Bull.

Verstappen won a record 15 races last season and the second in a row F1 title, and Perez scored two more wins for a total of 17 wins in 23 races that easily gave Red Bull the assistor title. There’s been no sign of a drop in performance for the season and George Russell, who rose to third after Alonso’s penalty on Sunday, predicted after the season opener that Red Bull would win every game. racing this season.

“I’ve been happy to be out there and the car is doing well,” Russell said after his 10th career podium. “I think what happened to Fernando was harsh. But I’m happy to receive the silverware.

Lewis Hamilton ending Thursday like Mercedes only third and fifth three days after the seven-time F1 champion said the team needed three other organizations failing to complete a race for Mercedes to have a chance to win.

Hamilton told his team: “We’re not where we want to be but we’ll get there.

Sunday’s show was Verstappen, who overcame a mechanical failure in qualifying that forced him to start in 15th and quickly make his way to the net. The Dutch driver set the fastest lap on the last lap to stay at the top of the F1 scoring chart.

“Fantastic recovery, Max, it was a really good motivator in the end,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Verstappen over the radio.

Verstappen felt the late push was worth the risk.

“I finally gave it a try and luckily it worked,” he said.

Red Bull has now finished 1-2 in three consecutive races since last year’s finale.

It was the fifth career win for Perez, who started from the column for the second year in a row at Jeddah coast Circuit. He briefly led the championship standings until Verstappen took the lead for the fastest lap.

“Keep going, keep pushing,” said the Mexican.

Perez starts on the pole with Alonso in the front row with him and Alonso quickly took the lead, but was quickly penalized for starting out of position. He thought he had taken the five-second penalty, but race managers caught him another 10 seconds after the podium celebration.

Russell said ‘common sense needs to be applied’ and Alonso was annoyed with the regulator FIA.

“I think today it was a worse performance by the FIA ​​than a disappointment for ourselves,” Alonso told the broadcaster. Sky. “You cannot apply a 35-round penalty after a pit stop. They have enough time to inform us.”

Perez soon regained the lead while Verstappen and Charles Leclerc – starting in 12th for a penalty 10 places from the net – devoured the cars ahead.

When both by Ferrari pitted against the new tyres, Verstappen was fourth.

The 6.2 km (3.8 mi) stretch next to the Red Sea is the fastest track in F1 with average speeds in excess of 250 km/h (160 mph), matching Verstappen. It only took him seconds to get past Russell and Alonso didn’t last long either, making it a Red Bull shootout.

Perez holds his ground.

Ferrari had another race to forget, with Carlos Sainz Jr. ranked sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc in seventh place. At least Leclerc is done, after retiring to Bahrain, but he is not satisfied.

“Being behind like this is really (vulgar), I don’t know what to do,” Leclerc said as he squeezed behind the flow of traffic.

Frenchmen Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are eighth and ninth for Alpine with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in 10th.

Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll retired in Round 18, leading to a Verstappen-matched safety car restart.

Alex Albon retired his Williams and his teammate Logan Sargeant, the American rookie driver, started last and finished 16th. McLaren again struggled with Oscar Piastri at 15th and Lando Norris at 17th.

“Tough race after an unlucky start with both cars damaged in the opening lap. Making it too hard to turn things around. But we did our best,” McLaren boss Zak Brown tweeted. “It’s time to get our season back on track in Australia.”

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