Formula 1 in Saudi Arabia: Verstappen just continues to dominate, Hülkenberg scores

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Max Verstappen took his second win of the season

Photo: Rula Rouhana / REUTERS

Unimpressed by internal power struggles at the Red Bull Racing team, Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen also drove to victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The evening before, the Dutchman had indirectly threatened his racing team with leaving if his sponsor Helmut Marko lost his position as the team's advisor.

On Saturday in Jeddah, Marko first confirmed his whereabouts - then Verstappen raced to his second victory in the second race of the season.

Behind Dominator Verstappen, teammate Sergio Pérez completed the Red Bull one-two.

This was also the case in Bahrain a week ago.

Under the eyes of celebrities such as football coach José Mourinho and heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, Charles Leclerc took third place in the Ferrari and drove the fastest lap of the race.

Verstappen got off to a good start and pulled away at the front of the field.

McLaren driver Lando Norris got off to a much bumpier start from sixth position, and a possible false start was investigated by the race stewards.

However, the Briton managed to avoid a penalty again and soon moved up to third place.

However, this was not due to his speed in the race, but rather to the strategy he chose: After Lance Stroll crashed in the Aston Martin, only Norris, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg and Zhou Guanyu in the Sauber missed the opportunity to make a pit stop temporarily moved up in the rankings.

Bearman makes his debut in the points

That didn't last, on lap 27 Leclerc finally fought off his opponent Norris and passed again.

There was no more movement in the front field, the hard duels took place in the back places.

There Oliver Bearman improved from eleventh on the grid to seventh position - the 18-year-old Ferrari driver had moved into the cockpit due to Carlos Sainz's appendix operation and scored his first world championship points on his debut.

Hülkenberg, who came in tenth, was happy about at least one point.

The German last scored points outside of sprint races last year in Australia.

In the drivers' standings, Verstappen now leads Pérez by 51 points.

In two weeks we are going to Australia, the third World Cup race will take place in Albert Park in Melbourne - again on Sunday: The races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were postponed to Saturday due to the fasting month of Ramadan.

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