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Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
F1 Saudi Arabia GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race
Live updates from the Saudi Arabian GP at Jeddah
The Saudi Arabian GP follows on from a dramatic season-opener in Bahrain, where Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 from team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr as Red Bull suffered a double retirement when both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez suffered a vacuum issue within its fuel system.
The Saudi Arabian race has already been a dramatic weekend both on and off the track, with a missile attack on a nearby oil facility creating serious talks about the race being boycotted by the drivers on Friday night. After gaining sufficient assurances from the Saudi Arabian security officials, the race weekend has continued with Red Bull’s Perez taking his maiden F1 pole position.
Mick Schumacher will miss the Saudi Arabian GP after a heavy crash in qualifying which has damaged his Haas F1 car. Sebastian Vettel is also missing for Aston Martin due to COVID-19, with Nico Hulkenberg continuing in his role as super-sub.
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Summary
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- Max Verstappen wins the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after fierce battle with Charles Leclerc
- Closest winning margin since Italian Grand Prix 2020 - 0.425s
- Sainz finishes third for Ferrari double podium with Perez fourth
- Ricciardo and Alonso both suffered mechanical failures, ending their races, while Bottas retired for Alfa Romeo
- Latifi crashes out at Turn 27
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Leaderboard
- Verstappen, Red Bull
- Leclerc, Ferrari
- Sainz, Ferrari
- Perez, Red Bull
- Russell, Mercedes
- Ocon, Alpine
- Norris, McLaren
- Gasly, AlphaTauri
- Magnussen, Haas
- Hamilton, Mercedes
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Good evening everyone - and welcome to our Autosport Live coverage of the second round of the 2022 Formula 1 season - the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
One hour until the race kicks off at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, so plenty of time to settle in and saddle up.
One hour until the race kicks off at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, so plenty of time to settle in and saddle up.
A reminder of yesterday: Sergio Perez starts from pole, after just beating Charles Leclerc to top spot in last night's Q3 session. Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen begin on row two. Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in Q1, following struggles with set-up yesterday.
There's a couple of changes to the grid from yesterday's qualifying order: Daniel Ricciardo was handed a three-place grid penalty and starts 14th, as Mick Schumacher will not start the race following his hefty shunt in Q2 yesterday. Luckily, Schumacher is uninjured and well - Haas is saving parts for Australia.
There's been some work down at Sainz's side of the Ferrari garage, so hopefully they'll fix whatever looked iffy and get the Spanish driver to the grid.
Breaking news
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Following his qualifying crash, Schumacher had this to say earlier today: "It was a big one. From what I heard, we were like around 270 km/h when I hit that wall. Luckily, the cars are so safe these days that I was able to walk away from it and stand here with no issues."
Breaking news
After Friday's missile attack on a nearby Aramco depot, F1 drivers have said there "needs to be discussions" over the future of the Saudi Arabian GP: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-drivers-call-for-further-talks-over-saudi-gps-future/9362935/
Sainz is out of the garage and doing a reconnaissance lap now, so it seems Ferrari has done its work. We'll continue to keep an eye out.
Ferrari has reported that Sainz was having to contend with a wiring loom issue - but as one car gets fixed, one encounters trouble. Tsunoda's parked up in a run-off zone, having apparently lost the engine - absolute nightmare.
Mechanical problem
"Yuki, that's the end," his AlphaTauri engineer says to him. More reliability concerns for the team - before we've even got going here.
It's been a hugely difficult weekend for Tsunoda - apparent powertrain problems stopped him setting a lap in qualifying, and now they've stopped him before the race could begin.
25 minutes until lights out on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Perez and Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen, and Ocon and Russell flank the opening three rows. Tantalising stuff for this 50-lap race.
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Gordon Ramsay's in attendance this weekend - it's rumoured he thought he was attending Spa rather than Jeddah, asking "where's the La Source" on his arrival.
Thought we'd magnanimously let that joke hang for a bit - and now, we move on with 15 minutes to go. Just 18 drivers left for the start, the last row populated entirely by drivers called Nic(h)olas.
You'll be pleased to know that there's a 0% risk of rain for this race. Rain in Saudi? Not even cloudy.
Magnussen struggled with his neck towards the end of qualifying yesterday - it appears to be strapped up as he gets on board his car, so it'll be a difficult day for the Dane.
Not long to go now - hope you're sitting comfortably. Or standing comfortably. We're not going to tell you how to live your lives.
Shower thought: why hasn't a yoghurt company ever bought the naming rights to an F1 circuit turn? Think of the advertising potential of Muller Corner...
Green flag
The F1 grid graphics show Sainz heading for a pitlane start - but that's not correct. The formation lap begins.
Breaking news
Tyre news: all on mediums, except Magnussen, Hamilton and Hulkenberg, who begin on the hard compound.
The cars are lining up - are you ready? Then let's begin.
Lights out
Lights off, let's rock - the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is away!
Perez covers off Leclerc at the start, as Verstappen dispatches Sainz into Turn 1! Sainz hangs on, as Ocon's looking to buy into the battle for third too!
Magnussen makes the best start of the midfield runners by moving up to ninth place ahead of Gasly in the first few corners.
Shocker of a start by Zhou who is down in last place after getting boxed in at Turn 1! Further ahead Norris gets ahead of Gasly at Turn 1 on the second lap to move up to 10th.
Perez begins lap 2 with 1.2s over Leclerc, with Verstappen a further second behind. Sainz is not letting go of Verstappen, as the pair has now dropped Ocon and Russell.
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"Same problem again!" Zhou says over team radio, it looks like he went into anti-stall at Turn 1 which is exactly what happened to him in Bahrain on his F1 debut. Zhou is up to 17th now having got back by Latifi.
Stopwatch
Perez is beginning to flex an advantage out in front, setting a 1m34.596s on the third lap to go 0.2s faster than Leclerc. Small margins, but they add up!
A Turn 4 incident between Norris and Magnussen has been noted by the race stewards.
Meanwhile, Russell stuffs his car down the inside of Ocon at Turn 27 and makes the move for fifth! He still has DRS, and keeps ahead into the first corner.
Gasly gets back by Norris at the final corner on lap four to reclaim 10th place.
Crikey! Alonso tries a move on Ocon but the French driver shows his Alpine driver the door into Turn 1 - that nearly came to blows!
Despite locking up at Turn 1 a lap earlier, Zhou is making good progress through the field and is back up to 15th having got by Albon and Hulkenberg in quick succession.
Ocon's continuing to defend against Alonso, who's looking much quicker than the leading Alpine. Will a switcheroo be imminent among the pink cars? We'll keep an eye out.
As of lap 7, Perez has 2.4s over Leclerc, who has 1.3s over Verstappen. Sainz has fallen back a little bit now.
Alonso finally makes the move on Ocon, blasting past with DRS and wrestling against his team-mate for sixth place. Ocon didn't want to give it up, as Alonso took the inside line for Turn 2.
Both Williams really struggling for pace as Albon drops behind Hulkenberg into 17th place, which means both the Grove team cars are at the back of the pack.
Ocon has a go at returning the favour against Alonso, grabbing DRS but goes far too deep into Turn 1 and takes to the run-off. He'll have to give it back, but with caution as Bottas is lurking behind them.
The FIA stewards are taking full use of their notepads, as both the Alonso vs Ocon Turn 1 battle and a Zhou vs Albon Turn 2 fight have been noted.
By: autosport.com
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