2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 26 points, 8 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez in second, and 11 from Carlos Sainz Jr. in third. Red Bull Racing led the Constructors' Championship over Ferrari by 17 points, and Mercedes by 28 points.^[4]

Entrants

Debutant Oliver Bearman (left) stood in for Carlos Sainz Jr. (right) at Ferrari.

The drivers and teams were initially the same as the season entry list.^[5] However, Ferrari reserve and Formula 2 driver Oliver Bearman replaced Carlos Sainz Jr. starting from the third free practice session, after Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis and withdrew from the event to undergo surgery.^[6] Bearman made his Formula One debut.^[7]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3, and C4 tyre compounds (the middle three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.^[8]

Qualifying classification

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:28.171	1:28.033	1:27.472	1
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:28.318	1:28.112	1:27.791	2
3	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:28.638	1:28.467	1:27.807	3
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:28.706	1:28.122	1:27.846	4
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:28.755	1:28.343	1:28.089	5
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:28.805	1:28.479	1:28.132	6
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:28.749	1:28.448	1:28.316	7
8	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.994	1:28.606	1:28.460	8
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1:28.988	1:28.564	1:28.547	9
10	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:28.250	1:28.578	1:28.572	10
11	38	Oliver Bearman	Ferrari	1:28.984	1:28.642	N/A	11
12	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1:29.107	1:28.980	N/A	12
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:29.069	1:29.020	N/A	13
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1:29.065	1:29.025	N/A	14
15	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1:29.055	No time	N/A	15
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:29.179	N/A	N/A	16
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:29.475	N/A	N/A	17
18	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1:29.479	N/A	N/A	18
19	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1:29.526	N/A	N/A	19
107% time: 1:34.342
—	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	No time	N/A	N/A	20a
Source:[13][14]

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Notes

• ^a – Zhou Guanyu failed to set a time during qualifying. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.^[14]

Race report

At the starting grid, Norris appeared to jump the start but the stewards did not issue any penalty as the FIA's standardised grid box transponder did not detect an infringement. The sporting regulations require these transponders to detect an infringement for a penalty to be issued.^[15] There were two retirements. Before the race, on the formation lap, Pierre Gasly reported gearbox issues which forced him to retire before the start of the race. Lance Stroll retired on lap 7 due to a crash at Turn 23 which brought out a safety car.^[16] Kevin Magnussen of Haas accumulated 20 seconds worth of penalties. One of these was a 10-second penalty for a collision with Alexander Albon, and the other 10-second penalty was for overtaking Yuki Tsunoda off-track. Knowing that he was unlikely to finish in the points, the team ordered him to focus on defense during the wide parts of the circuit, and drive as slowly as possible in the narrow parts of the circuit while overtaking is most difficult. With Magnussen backing up the drivers behind, teammate Nico Hülkenberg successfully finished tenth and earned his and Haas's first point of the season.^[17]

Polesitter Max Verstappen won the race ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez, marking a second straight 1–2 for Red Bull Racing, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in third with one extra point for the fastest lap. This marked Verstappen's 100th career podium.^[18][16] McLaren's Oscar Piastri finished fourth with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in fifth. Mercedes's George Russell finished sixth with Ferrari debutant Oliver Bearman in seventh. They were followed by Lando Norris, who briefly led the Grand Prix, in eighth, and Lewis Hamilton in ninth, after both drivers attempted an alternate tyre strategy. Nico Hülkenberg claimed the final point in tenth, clinching his and Haas's first point of the season.^[16]

Race classification

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	50	1:20:43.273	1	25
2	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	50	+13.6431	3	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	50	+18.639	2	162
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	50	+32.007	5	12
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	50	+35.759	4	10
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	50	+39.936	7	8
7	38	Oliver Bearman	Ferrari	50	+42.679	11	6
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	50	+45.708	6	4
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	50	+47.391	8	2
10	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	50	+1:16.996	15	1
11	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	50	+1:28.354	12
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	50	+1:45.7373	13
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	49	+1 lap	17
14	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	49	+1 lap	19
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	49	+1 lap4	9
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	49	+1 lap	14
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	49	+1 lap	16
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	49	+1 lap	20
Ret	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	5	Accident	10
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1	Gearbox	18
Fastest lap: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:31.632 (lap 50)
Source:[14][19][20][21]

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Notes

• ^1 – Sergio Pérez received a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release. His final position was not affected by the penalty.^[19]
• ^2 – Includes one point for fastest lap.^[20]
• ^3 – Kevin Magnussen finished 11th, but received two ten-second time penalties. The first was for causing a collision with Alexander Albon, and the second was for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while overtaking Yuki Tsunoda.^[19][16]
• ^4 – Yuki Tsunoda finished 14th on track, but received a post-race five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.^[19]