Here is our full text transcript from the second round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which took place at the Jeddah circuit:
Welcome to race day! It’s time for the second round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is here and we hope for plenty of drama on the track.
Max Verstappen starts on pole position after a stunning lap in qualifying with Charles Leclerc lining up alongside him on the front row. Red Bull will be hard to beat but the Moneagsque promises he will “give it everything” to deny Max Verstappen a ninth straight win.
The battle for the podium should be intense as Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are all hunting for the best of the rest spot behind Red Bull. You just never know what will happen in F1, so stay with us and expect the unexpected.
A pre-race word with the man of the moment, Oliver Bearman, as he prepares to start his maiden Grand Prix – in a Ferrari!! – from an impressive debut position of 11th.
“It’s going to be a difficult race,” said the 18-year-old. “I thought I was prepared for F1 until I got to this track which is maybe the most difficult one, so it’s a baptism of fire. I think the main thing [in the race] is to just take it step by step and build on the performance of yesterday. Today I think I’m going to execute things slightly cleaner. Of course I would be satisfied to finish in the points but of course I’m kind of not looking at results, I’m more focused on my own performance and I’d be happy if I had a clean race and keep building my experience. Carlos sent me a message very kindly and said he was going to help me if I had any doubts and, of course, I sent him my best wishes. It seems like he’s recovering well.”
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
Meanwhile, the countdown to the season’s second race is ramping up now with the pit lane open for the first time today for F1 cars and the drivers starting their reconnaissance laps to the grids. And we’ve very nearly had our first collision of the evening as RB send Yuki Tsunoda out into the path of an oncoming Lando Norris.
Despite the high speed corners, Jeddah is a low degradation track so it should be a one-stop race. The soft tyres held up not too badly in Thursday’s second practice, which was held at night, but last year saw the medium to hard strategy play out best. Keeping the tyres in the right operating window will be key to performance.
The big factor to look out for though is a Safety Car, or even a red flag. If you haven’t pitted yet and other drivers have then you will gain a lot of time. You lose around 21 seconds by pitting under normal green flag conditions, but only lose around 13 seconds when pitting during a Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car.
Oliver Bearman is one of only two drivers starting the race on soft tyres. The other is Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas. The other 18 drivers all begin on mediums. All 20 cars leave the grid for the formation lap. A key two minutes or so to get the tyres up to temperature.
Lap 1/50: Max Verstappen gets away well and Red Bull look to be set for a one-two as Sergio Perez gets alongside Charles Leclerc, but the Ferrari produces some stunning driving to fight back and hold onto the position.
Lap 1/50: Oliver Bearman doesn’t make up any spots on the opening lap but he looks to the inside of Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 10. Pierre Gasly is told to come into the pit lane and retire the car. Oscar Piastri cruises past Fernando Alonso to take fourth place as Bearman looks left and right to get by Tsunoda, but he can’t quite make a move.
Lap 2/50: Oscar Piastri cruises past Fernando Alonso to take fourth place as Bearman looks left and right to get by Tsunoda, but he can’t quite make a move.
Lap 4/50: That first-lap defence from Charles Leclerc hasn’t come to much. Sergio Perez uses DRS to get alongside the Ferrari on the run to the first corner and dives up the inside. It’s a Red Bull one-two.
Lap 5/50: The young Brit has just been told over team radio that he is “doing well”. His engineer adds that: “We are faster than the cars in front.” That might be a gentle way of telling Bearman that he needs to get past Yuki Tsunoda in front of him.
ap 7/50: Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll has gone into the barriers. The good news is he has confirmed over radio that he is ok. As he did in practice, the Canadian touched the wall at Turn 22 and was then helpless as he flew into the barrier. He’s out the car and walking away. And we have a Safety Car! It looks like none of the top 10 are using this opportunity to pit but Oliver Bearman does come into the pit lane.
Lap 8/50: It looks like Fernando Alonso had to stand on the brakes to avoid hitting Sergio Perez in the pit lane. Let’s see if that gets looked at. Alonso comes on the radio and says: “Woah! I nearly crashed with the Red Bull.”
Lap 9/50: The Safety Car is coming in at the end of this lap as Lando Norris leads Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc. Norris and Hamilton are yet to pit.
Lap 10/50: No moves into Turn One despite some looks to the inside as Norris keeps Verstappen at bay. Leclerc defends from Piastri to keep fifth place.
Bearman gets ahead of Tsunoda!
Lap 11/50: Oliver Bearman has got past Yuki Tsunoda! He dived up the inside at the restart and got the move done despite a lock up. He’s running 11th, but Zhou Guanyu, a place ahead of him, has yet to stop.
Lap 12/50: It looked like a clean restart but replays show Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen made contact going into Turn Four. Albon had made a nice move at Turn One but Magnussen came back at him and they tangled in the fight for 13th.
Lap 14/50: Oliver Bearman’s progress continues! The 18-year-old eases past Zhou Guanyu and is currently in position to score a world championship point on his F1 debut. He’ll be looking for more than that though! Lewis Hamilton’s medium tyres are starting to drop off and Charles Leclerc is all over him, with Oscar Piastri not too far behind. And Leclerc does overtake Hamilton at Turn One despite the Mercedes driver’s best efforts by defending the inside. Leclerc is up to fourth, which should be third when Norris pits.
Lap 16/50: Sergio Perez has been given a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release. We saw the Red Bull driver go into the path of Fernando Alonso when most drivers came into the pits. Five seconds will be added to Perez’s end of race time or he will wait for five seconds in the pit lane IF he pits again.
Lap 18/50: Sergio Perez eases past Lando Norris with the McLaren on those older tyres. The Red Bull one-two is restored, and it might take another safety car to break it! Oscar Piastri is just not quite close enough to Lewis Hamilton but forces the Mercedes driver to defend again. Hamilton needs to pit, as does Lando Norris, and at the moment he would come out near the tail end of the field if he pitted now.
Lap 21/50: This time Bearman gets it done! The teenager learns his lesson and waits for some DRS help up the main straight before easing past the Haas. He was saying over team radio how “slow” Hulkenberg was, so it will be interesting to see what sort of pace he can show with six seconds of clear air in front of him.
24/50: Not that it’s a particular surprise given the speed of that Red Bull RB20, but Sergio Perez has now moved 6s clear of third-placed Lando Norris, who hasn’t stopped, and fourth-placed Charles Leclerc, who has, with the application of that 5s penalty still to come at some point, either at the chequered flag or before serving any second pit stop.
Leclerc finally passes Norris: Lap 27/50: Charles Leclerc has got the job done on Lando Norris. The Ferrari takes advantage of that impactful DRS zone up the main straight to ease into the final podium position. Behind, Lewis Hamilton is somehow still holding off Oscar Piastri.
Lap 30/50: Yuki Tsunoda looked to have got past Kevin Magnussen for 12th but the Haas driver fights back at Turn Two and forces Tsunoda to back out. Esteban Ocon takes full advantage by getting a better run off Tsunoda on the run to Turn Four. A calm Tsunoda says “what dangerous driving” regarding Magnussen’s defending.
Lap 31/50: Oliver Bearman has been unable to significantly close the gap to George Russell in P8. The Ferrari driver has taken a few tenths out of his compatriot, but the gap remains at six seconds. However, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton both still needed to pit again, there could be further places for Bearman to gain.
Lap 33/50: Max Verstappen would appear to be having a pleasant time at the front. The reigning world champion is about eight seconds clear of his team-mate Sergio Perez, who is a further 10 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.
Lap 35/50: Nico Hulkenberg is going to owe his team-mate Kevin Magnussen a nice gift after this race. Magnussen’s defiant defence has opened up a gap big enough for Hulkenberg to pit and come back out in P11, which will become P10 when Zhou Guanyu stops. This is a point that will belong to both Haas drivers and the pit wall if Hulkenberg finishes the job. Piastri had the move done as he gets past Hamilton into Turn One but outbrakes himself and cuts the chicane, so has to hand the position back. What a battle this has been for fifth place. Hamilton should pit soon.
Bearman told Norris and Hamilton will catch him
Lap 43/50: Bearman asks whether he will be caught at his pace and the bad news for the 18-year-old is Ferrari think it will take four laps for Norris and Hamilton to catch him. This is going to be a brilliant battle between three Brits for seventh place in the closing stages. Bearman is four seconds ahead of Norris, with Hamilton on the McLaren driver’s tail.
Lap 45/50: The gap is coming down! Lando Norris has closed to within 3.4s of Oliver Bearman, but the McLaren driver is also having to defend against Lewis Hamilton. This is set to be a grandstand finish in the battle for sixth, seventh and eighth!
Lap 48/50: Fernando Alonso is still 1.3 seconds ahead of George Russell. There is nothing to separate them in the fight for fifth. Up front, Max Verstappen is seven seconds ahead of Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc is in no man’s land in third.
We’ve hardly seen him this afternoon, such has been the dominance, but Max Verstappen wins the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix! The Dutchman comes home 13 seconds clear of team-mate Sergio Perez, with Charles Leclerc completing the podium and snatching the extra point for the fastest lap.
What a performance from British teenager Oliver Bearman on his Ferrari debut. He takes seventh place from Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Just in front of Bearman, Fernando Alonso holds off George Russell to take fifth place.
Buy official Ferrari F1 products!
Leave a Reply