Formula 1 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix results

Mercedes continued its difficult start to the new season as George Russell finished fifth at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, while teammate Lewis Hamilton recovered from his first Q1 knockout in over four years to score a point for P10.
After crossing the line for 10th, Hamilton asked Mercedes engineer Pete Bonnington if there was "even a point for that position".
The seven-time world champion ...

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The fantastic fight for victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix between the Monegasque driver and Max Verstappen was swung by the effectiveness of DRS.
As well as it setting up some cat-and-mouse games between Leclerc and Verstappen at the DRS detection zone before the final corner ? as they each tried to trick the other in to being ahead ? the overtaking aid proved critical in most of the ...

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Ocon started two places ahead of Alonso in fifth but having dropped behind Mercedes' George Russell he had to fend off the Spaniard, the pair trading places several times in the early laps of the race.
Alonso eventually gained the upper hand, while Ocon lost a place to Valtteri Bottas, who along with Kevin Magnussen had been able to join the fight as the Alpine drivers held each other ...

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After losing out in Bahrain one week earlier, Verstappen managed to make in 1-1 by beating Leclerc to victory in Jeddah courtesy of an overtaking with four laps remaining.
It was a move many laps in the planning for Verstappen, who had seen his initial move at the final corner backfire as it gave Leclerc DRS for the main straight, allowing the Ferrari driver to get back ahead on the long run to ...

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During the early safety car period that was triggered when Nicholas Latifi crashed, Sainz had emerged from the pits very close on the track to Red Bull rival Sergio Perez.
But, despite being ahead at the safety car line that defines who has position in the queue, Sainz lost third place on the road as Perez accelerated out of Turn 2 and forced him wide.
Ferrari spoke to race control about the ...

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The thrilling start to the 2022 Formula 1 season continued with a fascinating scrap for the win at the front of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. But that was only after pole winner and early leader Sergio Perez had been done over by unfortunate safety car timing.
As it had in Bahrain a week earlier, the battle boiled down to a series of ...

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In the wake of a difficult weekend for F1, following a missile strike on an oil storage facility less than 10 miles from the Jeddah circuit, the fate of the race hung in the balance.
While F1 chiefs were confident about security at the venue after briefing from Saudi authorities, drivers were more uneasy about the situation and held a four-hour meeting on Friday night to discuss a potential ...

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Although there was little to separate the two cars in ultimate laptime at Jeddah last weekend, there were notable differences in how they performed at different sections of the track.
With Ferrari opting for a higher downforce configuration, it was better in acceleration and low/medium speed corners, while the Red Bull's low drag solution meant it had higher top speed pace.
In the end, it ...

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Gasly says he struggled with the issue over the last 15 laps of the Jeddah race, but he managed to keep going and finish in eighth place.
The Frenchman had run strongly in the first part of the race, behind the group consisting of Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen, but lost out by pitting just before the safety car.
Fighting back to finish in eighth place ...

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The Briton qualified sixth in Jeddah, behind the four cars of Ferrari and Red Bull, and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, and finished sixth, having no pace to match the frontrunners.
His teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified only 16th and finished 10th, having taken a different and ultimately less optimal route with the car for qualifying.
Russell noted that a variety of parameters contribute to the ...

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With the warning flags having been brought out in the wake of Alex Albon and Lance Stroll's clash at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, race control issued a notification that Sainz, Perez and Magnussen may have not slowed down enough.
Any infringement could have resulted in a potential time penalty, which could have proved especially costly for Magnussen as he had Lewis Hamilton finish less than ...

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The Mercedes driver battled up the order from his lowly starting position of 15th to hold sixth place for the middle part of the race, but was unable to pit under the virtual safety car period when the pitlane was closed due to both Fernando Alonso's Alpine and Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren stopping on the track.
Once Hamilton could pit, he returned to the action in 12th place and with fresh ...

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Attempting to tee up a move on Stroll towards the end of the race in Jeddah into Turn 1, Albon dived down the inside of the Aston Martin driver in a bid to move up to 11th place at the start of the 48th lap.
But Albon, who had not been able to get fully alongside Stroll into the corner, speared into the Canadian driver's sidepod with his right-front tyre which was then taken off its rim by ...

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Leclerc and Verstappen fought out an enjoyable duel on the streets of Jeddah, with Leclerc leading for long spells of the night race but with Verstappen hounding him and remaining within striking distance.
In the last couple of laps, Verstappen's straight-line speed advantage in the Red Bull finally proved too much for Leclerc, the Dutchman making the racing-winning move with four laps to go ...

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The Red Bull driver led the opening 14 laps of the Saudi Arabian GP but saw his race wrecked by a safety car period just one lap after his pitstop, when Nicholas Latifi crashed at the final corner.
The safety car period allowed his frontrunning rivals a cheap pitstop, initially pushing Perez back to third, before the Mexican was instructed to allow Carlos Sainz to pass him at the safety car ...

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Red Bull?s Sergio Perez led from his first F1 career pole position start but his race came undone after making his pitstop just before a safety car, which promoted Leclerc to the lead ahead of Verstappen and Sainz.
Verstappen passed Leclerc after an intense battle where, like in Bahrain, they swapped the lead between them. Verstappen made the decisive move with four laps to go following a ...

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Following a late Virtual Safety Car period, the gloves came off between long-time leader Leclerc and his main 2022 rival Verstappen.
Verstappen first passed Leclerc in the final hairpin on lap 42 after the Monegasque driver appeared happy to let Verstappen by, as it returned the DRS advantage to him on the main straight and allowed him to retake the lead into Turn 1.
Verstappen smartened up ...

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The defending champion grabbed the spoils by just half a second after a DRS-enhanced slipstreaming dice with Leclerc in the second half of the contest on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, after the Ferrari racer tried again to tactically out manoeuvre Verstappen on track.
But the Dutch racer held on for victory as Ferrari scored a double podium, Carlos Sainz completing the rostrum while an ill-timed ...

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Ahead the second grand prix on the Corniche circuit this weekend, barriers at four of the 27 corners were moved back while the final turn was widened by 1.5 metres.
This came after GPDA director George Russell previously told Motorsport.com the track was "lacking a lot from a safety perspective and a racing perspective".
But Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz  and Charles Leclerc have led ...

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The German had a huge crash in Q2 in Jeddah, and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks. He was released shortly afterwards without any injuries.
Haas decided to withdraw Schumacher from the race, team boss Gunther Steiner saying "it doesn't make sense" to build up a new car and start from the pitlane given that parts are in short supply ahead of the Australian GP in a ...

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Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton took different set-up directions prior to qualifying, and it was clear that the former had the better option.
Hamilton struggled with the rear end of his car and was knocked out in Q1 in 16th place. Russell just made it through to Q3, and ultimately earned sixth on the grid.
As expected, he was beaten by the four cars of the Red Bull and Ferrari teams, but ...

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Hulkenberg was confirmed on Friday morning as replacement for the COVID-hit Sebastian Vettel for the second race in a row.
He qualified in 18th place for the Saudi Arabian GP, ahead of AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, who couldn't set a laptime in qualifying due to a fuel issue, although both move up one place on the final grid as the Haas of Mick Schumacher has been withdrawn after his heavy ...

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After a year out of F1, Magnussen has had only a limited time to step up his physical preparation to the required level after landing the Haas drive at the last minute.
Although he had no real problems in Bahrain, the forces involved in driving around the Jeddah track tipped him over the edge come qualifying.
He believes that he could have been in trouble even earlier in the weekend had his ...

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Schumacher badly damaged his VF-22 car in a massive accident during qualifying for this weekend?s event in Jeddah.
The German escaped without injury though and, following precautionary checks at a nearby hospital on Saturday night, he was discharged and able to return to his hotel.
With Schumacher declared fit, Haas could have elected to prepare a new car for him and get him out to start ...

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In Q2 on Saturday Schumacher suffered a massive accident on the exit of Turn 10 after going over the kerbs and losing control over his car.
Schumacher then veered into the inside concrete wall at high speed, which destroyed his Haas, but he was fortunate to escape the dramatic wreck without injuries.
Later in Q3, after a lengthy clean-up and Schumacher taken to the medical centre and then ...

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As the team continues to chase answers to its porpoising problems, Lewis Hamilton had one of his worst qualifying sessions for Mercedes in terms of pure pace as he ended up getting dumped out of Q1 in Jeddah.
He ended up 16th fastest, but will start 15th following Mick Schumacher?s withdrawal.
With Red Bull and Ferrari appearing to be a step ahead, and Mercedes still unable to ...

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A four-hour meeting was held by the drivers on Friday night in Jeddah amid the looming threat of the race being boycotted following the Houthi missile strike on the nearby Aramco site.
This was then followed by a large crash for Mick Schumacher in qualifying that will force the German to miss the grand prix on Sunday, although he was cleared to return to his hotel after medical checks in ...

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A missile strike by Houhtis on an oil facility less than 10 miles from the Jeddah circuit on Friday prompted a series of emergency meetings in the paddock to discuss the fate of the race.
But after F1 chiefs, teams and drivers met with the local authorities to get a detailed understanding of what was happening, and what security measures were in place, it was agreed that the event could carry ...

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Red Bull's Sergio Perez will start an F1 race from pole position for the first time in his career following a sensational 1m28.200s effort at the end of the qualifying session.
Perez's last-gasp lap prevented an all-Ferrari front row lockout, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz now due to start second and third respectively ahead of the other Red Bull of reigning champion Max ...

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Perez will start ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.
The shock result of the day was seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton failing to get out of Q1 for Mercedes and he will start 16th, while Red Bull?s world champion ...

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Ocon approached Turn 9 on a flying lap when he was briefly impeded by the McLaren driver, who was on an outlap.
The incident forced the Alpine driver to abort his lap, although it did not affect his qualifying result of P5.
Following the session, the FIA stewards handed Ricciardo a three-place grid penalty for impeding his colleague, demoting him to P15 for Sunday?s race. The Australian ...

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The 2021 F1 world champion was second and fourth respectively in the first two segments of qualifying, and felt that the performance in his car on used soft tyres was promising ahead of the final top-10 shootout for pole.
But Verstappen was only able to put together a time good enough for fourth overall, having initially dropped to eighth following the initial flurry of runs.
Explaining that ...

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Ahead of what will be his 215th grand prix start, the two-time F1 race winner topped qualifying on the Corniche Circuit with his final soft tyre run in Q3 to depose the Ferrari teammates.
Perez clocked a 1m28.200s effort to head Charles Leclerc by just 0.025s, while Q1 and Q3 pacesetter Carlos Sainz struggled to unlock a new set of the red-walled C4 tyres and landed third.
Defending champion ...

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During Q2, Schumacher suffered a high-speed crash into the concrete walls at Turn 10 after losing control over his car on the kerbs.
Schumacher's car was virtually destroyed by the side-on impact but following a lengthy extrication a first check-up at the Jeddah street track's medical centre revealed no physical injuries.
Nevertheless, Schumacher was airlifted by helicopter to the nearby ...

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In a close-fought final Q3 shootout at the Jeddah Corniche street circuit, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz led the way after the first round of attempts before being demoted by teammate Charles Leclerc, setting up a Ferrari front row for Sunday's race.
But Perez surprised the Ferrari duo by dipping 0.025s below Leclerc's time with his final effort.
With Perez' teammate Max Verstappen settling for ...

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The Mexican driver bolted to the top with his final flying lap of Q3 on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as he romped to a weekend-best 1m28.200s to triumph over the strong Ferraris.
That meant the late improvement of Leclerc, as the free practice pacesetter finally had an answer to Sainz in qualifying, missed out on consecutive pole positions by just 0.025s.
Sainz, who had headed the leader ...

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The German had been challenging for a slot in Q3 during the second session of qualifying when he touched the kerb at Turn 10, near the end of the first sector.
The bounce across the kerb triggered him to lose control of the rear of the car and he was quickly spun around, smashing heavily in to the concrete wall on the outside.
Schumacher then rebounded into the wall on the opposite side of ...

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The Mercedes driver has faced a challenging weekend as Mercedes has had to work hard to try to overcome the porpoising problems that are holding it back.
But with the team still not on top of the problems with its 2022 challenger, Hamilton was left with no pace in qualifying, as he failed to make it out of the Q1 segment at Jeddah.
Despite a late effort, he was pipped in the final seconds of ...

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With five minutes to go in Q2, Schumacher smashed nose first into the wall at high speed in Turn 10, near the end of the first sector.
The session was immediately red-flagged while the FIA medical crew was deployed to extricate Schumacher from the Haas, who was then taken to the medical centre by ambulance.
Soon after the accident Haas reported that Schumacher was "physically fine" and had ...

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