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Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024 - Results
Lots of fights in the midfield and back this weekend. And that performance from Oliver Bearman! For me, it was more entertaining than the season opener.
We get a little bit of a break before we head to Melbourne in two weeks, March 21-23.
Not gonna lie, I'll be missing these Thursday-Saturday formats. Well, for us Americans, Australia is still Th-Sa because of timezones.
Race Results -- SPOILER
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 50 | 1:20:43.273 | 25 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 50 | +13.643s | 18 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 50 | +18.639s | 16 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 50 | +32.007s | 12 |
| 5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 50 | +35.759s | 10 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 50 | +39.936s | 8 |
| 7 | 38 | Oliver Bearman | FERRARI | 50 | +42.679s | 6 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 50 | +45.708s | 4 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 50 | +47.391s | 2 |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 50 | +76.996s | 1 |
| 11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 50 | +88.354s | 0 |
| 12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 50 | +105.737s | 0 |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| NC | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 5 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1 | DNF | 0 |
Fastest Lap: Charles Leclerc
Source: F1.com
Crazy that a substitute driver got 7th place! There'll definitely be some eyes on him.
I would love to see him get first, max second, and bottas third --- BEAVERBOT
With so many driver contracts up at the end of this year, he could get a chance. I started watching some F3 in 2022, his rookie year, and he had an impressive season. And he had another good rookie F2 season last year. Hopefully he keeps it up again this year!
Would love to see some new faces in F1. Liam Lawson is another of those after his AT performances last year.
I think this silly season is going to be especially silly to make up for the lack of changes from last year. Hamilton goes to Ferrari, which opens a space at Mercedes, then if they don't pick up Sainz, someone else probably will, which kicks out another driver. Then Mercedes pick someone up which probably opens up a spot somewhere else. Next thing you know there's a cascading effect of drivers swapping around.
I could see a world in which both Tsunoda and Ricciardo get cut. Tsunoda is decently fast, but seems like a Gasly-type driver, just fine. Ricciardo is older than I remember normally, so I think he's getting less attractive year by year in favour of trying out some new talent. Perhaps one could be kept to help benchmark any newcomer, but I don't think either of them will set the F1 world on fire (again) at this point.
I did well in my pool this week. I called pole, the full podium, and Nando being 2nd in our modified F1.5. Oliver Bearman was awesome! Funny that Mags was up for Driver of the Day, too.
its a shame some of the dead weight doesn't get cut to let some of these young guys in. It seems like everybody does well on their temporary run -- e.g. George sitting in.
It does feel like the field is old at the moment, but I don't know whether the data would support that.
Piastri has been a breath of fresh air, though, hasn't he? He seems to have an old head on young shoulders. He seems to have consolidated a lot of the experience picked up in the 2023 season and I'm looking forward to him giving Norris a lot of headaches this year. Norris might still edge it, but I think he's overrated and think Piastri really needs to beat him to be a star performer. Piastri seems to race cleanly too, given his behaviour in the last outing at Jeddah - he might need to harden it up a touch if he gets towards the pointy end of the grid.
If we round the ages up to evens (from ascending order), this is where we sit:
There isn't a clear line of where to cut the oldies, but It wouldn't be the worst to see the Mags, Ric, Perez, Bottas, and Hulk go. I think Bottas will have a seat for as long as he can go without crashing / costing them money. It sucks because there are a handful of young drivers who really should be in F1, but nobody is retiring.
In a perfect world I'd say that 32 is the age cap unless you've won a championship. :)
Piastri is one of my favorites. I always have his onboard up along with Sharl, Lando (if he's up), and a few others that are going to be battling. He's just a great driver who got in with a decent team. I feel for Logan. Their car isn't great and he doesn't seem to have what it takes to keep up and he bins it enough to be expensive.
Absolutely love what Piastri is bringing. Such a cool headed guy with skills to back it up. Which is why I also like Norris. I am curious why you think Norris is underrated?
I definitely suspected that Ricciardo was washed and flattered Norris's performance. I don't think Norris is overrated but I think he has some opportunities to work on.