Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss - Jeddah 2024 recap

Esther Kienapfel

Mar 11, 20242 min read

Just as quickly as the season started, the second race is already over. The Saudi Grand Prix surely was a race that spoke for itself.

Already before it even started Alpines Pierre Gasly complained about a gearbox problem which forced him to retire the car after one lap. Norris jumped the start, yet no further action was taken against it. The launch off the line for the Red Bulls was great while Charles Leclerc, who started in second, fought hard to keep his place, as Perez pressured him from behind.

Not to mention the fights in the middle of the grid in which Ollie Bearman, reserve driver for Ferrari driving his first ever f1 race with only fp3 to get used to the car, was fighting at the start.

In lap 4 Perez finally overtook Leclerc claiming p2 on the podium, again showcasing Red Bulls dominance. Two laps later we witnessed Stroll loose control and crash into the wall and out of the race, causing a safety car to emerge in lap 8, which again caused everyone to pit. There were only 4 drivers who did not pit during the safety car period, namely Norris, who afterwards lead the race for four laps, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Zhou.

During lap 10 and 11 we saw several fights and overtakes in the back of the field, one of them being Bearman fighting his way into the points.

While Kevin Magnussen kept getting time penalties, he did a great job at (gate)keeping a lot of cars behind him for over 20 laps, making way for Hulkenberg to pit in lap 34 and still be in the points, which gave us insight into great strategic and teamwork in Haas. Besides of that Magnussen also gave us great fights, especially during lap 29 where him and Tsunoda battled for 12th place in several corners.

Another honorable mention is Bearman who managed to keep both Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton behind him, securing himself a p7 finish in his first ever f1 race. He started from p11, making up 4 positions right into the points, which are also very valuable to Ferrari. He quite literally (girl)bossed his first race and established a reputation as Ferraris youngest driver and point scorer ever.

As expected the Red Bulls took another 1-2 podium, Verstappen on 1, Perez on 2, being joined by Leclerc on 3. Piastri followed in 4th and Alsonso in 5th. They are then followed by four British drivers: Russel (6), Bearman (7), Norris (8) and Hamilton (9). The last point was taken by Hulkenberg, thanks to his teammate and the brilliant strategic of Haas.

Now that the season is slowly picking up, we are all quite thrilled to see what will be happening in Melbourne in two weeks. Who knows, maybe someone will get even closer to Red Bull?