Saudi Arabian GP: Verstappen grabs first win of the season in epic battle with Leclerc

Reigning World Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen grabbed his first win of the 2022 Formula One season after skillfully, cleverly and patiently managing to just pip Charles Leclerc to the top podium position in a thrilling Saudi Arabian Grand Prix held on Sunday evening at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

In a fantastic wheel to wheel racing battle witnessed in the second race of the season, Verstappen finally came out on top in his duel with Leclerc as he guided his Red Bull to victory with only 0.5 seconds separating the top two race finishers as Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz closed the podium places.

While Red Bull managed to get off the mark in terms of points after their double retirement in the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Sergio Perez, who started the race on pole position, was only left to contend with a fourth place finish after pitting just before a pivotal Safety Car that ended up costing the Mexican driver some precious position.

The incident happened on lap 16, at a point in which Perez had led until then after getting perfectly off the line, when cheeky Ferrari mechanics triggered Red Bull into an early pit stop.

That decision proved costly as Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed on the next lap and prompted a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) then Safety Car, with Leclerc, Verstappen – who had overtaken Sainz in the first lap to jump upto third – and Sainz capitalizing.

After the race’s resumption, the Mexican was set to restart third on Lap 21 but was found to have passed Sainz as the ‘Smooth Operator’ exited the pits alongside the Red Bull during the caution period, leaving the Red Bull fourth.

With the race winner hinged firmly between Leclerc and Verstappen, another VSC on lap 38 that came as a result of Mclaren’s Daniel Riccardo and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso losing power brought the Red Bull Driver within a second of Leclerc.

It is at that point that fantastic wheel to wheel racing, mind games and tyre lock ups took over as both drivers fought to get DRS advantage over the other.

With DRS, the Dutchman took the lead on the back straight on Lap 42, but Leclerc came back with DRS and held onto the lead. Again on Lap 43, Verstappen attempted a move but locked up in unison with the Ferrari into the final corner, the Ferrari keeping P1.

A brief lull followed and at the start of Lap 47, before Verstappen made sure he had DRS and prised the lead off Leclerc, the championship leader unable to close him off this time.

Leclerc put in the fastest lap with a second wind in the closing staged – but Verstappen narrowly kept him at bay, shrugging off the scare of a late Sector 1 yellow flag (for a Lance Stroll-Alex Albon coming-together) to win by just 0.549s.

George Russell took P5 at Esteban Ocon's expense, the Alpine driver having lost out to the Mercedes on Lap 3 and then battled with his team mate Alonso (DNF) in an exciting early-race battle. Ocon, out-dragged here for P3 in 2021, kept McLaren's Lando Norris at bay by a tenth of a second on the line in a drag race for P6.

Pierre Gasly made up one place to P8 for AlphaTauri, with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen ninth from 10th on the grid, and Lewis Hamilton – who was unfortunate not to be able to pit during the second VSC – taking the final point from his P15 start for Mercedes.

Additional reporting by Formula 1.