Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024

Sophia Crothall

The excitement of the Formula 1 season continues to surge, this time for the exhilarating Saudi Arabian Grand Prix of 2024. Over the weekend, the racing world descended upon Jeddah’s street circuit, setting the stage for the second thrilling race of the season.

Amidst the fervour, one of the most noteworthy highlights was the debut of 18-year-old Oliver Bearman, stepping in for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and injecting a fresh wave of anticipation into the competition.

Thursday: Free Practice One and Two

With the race landing on Saturday for the second week in a row, the first two free practice sessions took place on Thursday. 

Red Bull proved their dominance once again, with Max Verstappen setting the pace, slotting ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez. 

Verstappen finished the first session with a time of 1m29.659s, with Alonso +0.186s behind. 

https://twitter.com/redbullracing/status/1765747764095307846?s=20

FP2 kicked off in the evening ten minutes later than planned. Drain covers were once again causing issues, with officials called to check the covers in the pit lane. 

The second session concluded with Alonso taking the lead, with a time of 1m28.827s. This placed him eight-tenths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell who was on soft tyres. Verstappen finished third, and +0.331 behind Alonso. 

https://twitter.com/redbullracing/status/1765803704345669914?s=20

Following the session, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Williams’ Logan Sargeant were sent to the stewards after Hamilton allegedly impeded Sargeant through the high-speed Turn 10, leaving him to back off and skitter across the kerbs to avoid a collision. 

Friday: Free Practice Three and Qualifying

On Friday lunchtime (GMT), the news broke that reserve driver Oliver Bearman would replace Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Sainz had already missed media duties on Wednesday due to feeling unwell, and on Friday it was confirmed he needed surgery for appendicitis. 

Bearman was due to be competing in Formula 2 on the weekend, having qualified for pole position. With the call to replace Sainz, he instead would be competing only in F1, joining the list of the youngest drivers to ever compete in the sport. 

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1766502059770019891?s=20

Once again, Verstappen topped the time sheets with a time of 1m28.412s, putting him 0.196s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

The session was red-flagged when Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu crashed into the barriers. 

In qualifying, Bearman narrowly missed out on Q3 and qualified 11th. 

https://twitter.com/sportbible/status/1766163479344419281?s=20

Verstappen took pole position with a time of 1m27.472 in Q3, with Leclerc finishing second, followed by Sergio Perez in third. 

Due to his accident in FP3, Zhou was unable to set a time in qualifying. 

Saturday: The Race

Starting in pole once again, Max Verstappen secured his second win of the season, alongside another 1-2 for Red Bull with his teammate Perez. 

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished in fourth, ahead of his teammate Lando Norris who finished eighth. 

Bearman was certainly the star of the race, finishing seventh, ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton who finished ninth. Bearman secured six points.

The 18-year-old also secured Driver of the Day for his performance. 

The race also saw Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crash out on Lap Six, triggering a Safety Car. 

Some questionable decisions were made by the stewards with regards to penalties throughout the race.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was given 20 seconds worth of his penalties, which allowed him to hold up the rest of the grid, meaning his teammate Nico Hulkenberg could pit without losing a position, securing a crucial point for the team. 

Lando Norris, on the other hand, was fortunate not to be penalised for moving and then stopping prior to the lights going out.

Formula 1 returns for the Melbourne Grand Prix weekend starting on 22nd March.

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Featured image courtesy of Random Winner via Pixabay No changes have been made to this image. Image license found here.

Sophia is a MA Cultural and Creative Industries graduate from Cardiff University, and a BSc Criminology graduate from the University of Bristol. She has experience writing for publications such as GPBlog and Metro. Sophia runs her own F1 Tik Tok account: @sophiacrothallf1

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