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F1 | Saudi Arabian GP | Max Verstappen prevails in dramatic duel with Charles Leclerc to win in Jeddah

After an incredible race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, it was Max Verstappen that came out on top, getting the better of Charles Leclerc after an absolutely fantastic battle on the final few laps of the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP, coming down all the way to the final lap.. The race was also marked by reliability issues and safety stoppages due to cars stopped on track and minor incidents.

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F1 | Saudi Arabian GP | Max Verstappen prevails in dramatic duel with Charles Leclerc to win in Jeddah
Fuente imagen: Hasan Bratic - MotorLAT

The second ever Saudi Arabian GP, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, provided yet again a chaotic and hectic race, a llittle over four months since F1 last visited the venue. Max Verstappen kept his cool to win a fierce battle with Charles Leclerc, after an early safety car changed the dynamic of the race.

The race was also marked by several reliabilty problems for drivers up and down the grid, the first of which was Yuki Tsunoda, who communicated his team over the radio - on the laps to the grid - that he "lost" his engine. The young AlphaTauri driver didn't even start the grand prix, making it the second DNS of his career. Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso also suffered from poor reliability.

At the start, Sérgio Perez maintained his lead, and his team-mate Max Verstappen was able to get past Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. The field stayed relatively clean, with no major lap one incidents.

Zhou Guanyu suffered from a poor start once again, and fell to the back of the field. Lewis Hamilton -starting on the hard tyres - gained a position due to Zhou's problems.

George Russell, on the other Mercedes, made his move on Esteban Ocon on lap three, and started to chase after the Ferraris and Red Bulls.

By lap five, the two Alpines got a bit too close for comfort, with Esteban Ocon squeezing his team-mate Alonso towards the wall on the main straight, but no contact was made.

Alonso finally made the move stick on lap seven, surely upset with the agressive defending of his team-mate, but the battle still raged on for a few laps more, as Ocon came back on the Spaniard, on the next lap, the help of DRS, although he went off-track and had to give the place back, inviting Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen the fight as well.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton made steady progress, getting up to 11th place by lap 12.

The battle raged on at Alpine until Ocon was told to hold position, and lost a place to Valtteri Bottas immediately.

At the front of the field, Perez held his lead by lap 15, more than 2s ahead of Leclerc. The Ferrari driver signaled he would to try an undercut on the Mexican, but when Perez came in, Leclerc stayed out, along with Verstappen and Sainz.

Shortly after the pit stops started, Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams on the final corner and the safety car was deployed for the first time, allowing those who didn't pit to get ahead of Sergio Perez, who stopped under green flag conditions.

That meant the new order by lap 17 was Leclerc, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Russell.

Latifi walked away fine from his car, but frustrated saying “I don’t know what happened man”.

With a flurry of pit stops under safety car, Lewis Hamilton didn’t pit and moved up to 7th on his hard compound tyres. Another gainer was Nico Hulkenberg, the German moved up to ninth after staying out.

Zhou Guanyu’s struggles continued, as he endured a very slow pit stop and was again relegated to the back of the field.

Carlos Sainz rejoined the track from his pit stop side-by-side with Sergio Perez, and claimed, quite strongly, that the Mexican pushed him off the circuit, with the FIA noting the incident.

The race restarted on lap 21, and Leclerc maintained his lead ahead of Verstappen. Behind them, Perez gave the position back to Sainz, in order to avoid getting a penalty. 

By lap 24, Lewis Hamilton engaged in a battle with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, with the Dane getting the better of the Briton on that occasion, before the Mercedes driver finally made the move on the next lap.

Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg lost ground at the restart, his AMR22 not quite up to the pace of those around him, as he fell to 14th place by lap 29.

Out in front, Max Verstappen kept leader Leclerc honest, with the gap staying at around 1.5s with 60% of the race completed.

By lap 37, a flurry of reliability problems occurred, with Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas all having to retire their cars at more or less the same time. The virtual safety car was deployed by race control, and with both the McLaren and the Alpine blocking the pit lane entry, the pit lane was closed by race control, rather annoyingly for Lewis Hamilton, who hadn’t yet made his mandatory pit stop, relegating the Briton to pit under green flag conditions, whilst his rivals all stopped when the race was neutralised.

Hamilton made his stop on lap 41, and rejoined in 12th place, starting a charge through the field.

Out in front, Max Verstappen pressurised long time race leader Leclerc at the restart, continuing their battle from Bahrain.

The Dutchman made his move on the final corner, but once again, Leclerc cleverly used the DRS system to his favour, and powered his way past Verstappen on the main straight again.

The battle got absolutely frantic and dramatic on the next lap, as both Verstappen and Leclerc fought over the DRS detection point, locking up their tyres spectacularly, with the Monegasque coming out on top.

Verstappen complained on the radio, for a second time on the race, that Leclerc was crossing the pit entry white line, which is not permitted on the regulations.

The DRS battle continued to rage on, with Verstappen putting Leclerc under supreme pressure, but patient, and on lap 47, Verstappen played a clever tactic as well and powered past the Ferrari driver going into turn one.

A collision between Alex Albon and Lance Stroll on lap 49 put an end to the Leclerc’s attack on that lap, and the duo went for it again on the final lap, but ultimately it was the Dutchman holding off the charging Ferrari on the final lap.

Behind Verstappen and Leclerc, Carlos Sainz grabbed another podium for Ferrari after holding off Sergio Perez. The rest of the top ten consisted of: Russell, Ocon, Norris, Gasly, Magnussen and Hamilton.

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