When Sergio Perez overtook Charles Leclerc on lap four of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, I tweeted that the race was over. I could only see a processional race following, due to the lack of tyre degradation. The best chance to make the race exciting would be an early safety car, as this would lead to differing tyre strategies across the field. Thankfully, Lance Stroll saved this race by crashing on lap six.

Following the early safety car, Max Verstappen was not in the lead, needing to catch and pass the McLaren of Lando Norris, who had declined to stop under the safety car. Whilst Norris needing to stop meant that this battle would likely not affect the final result, Lando still fought valiantly, keeping Max behind for multiple laps on his medium tyres. I savor every moment Max Verstappen needs to catch and pass a rival car. Max is one of the best drivers in Formula One, so it’s a shame his domination means we seldom see him in battles anymore. Whilst the battle at the front was brief, the safety car provided for a number of smaller storylines to take place throughout the race. These storylines, whilst not making the race an all-time classic, kept me intrigued and entertained throughout.

The tyre strategies also meant that we got to clearly see the differing characteristics of the McLaren and Mercedes cars. Hamilton, who had not stopped, kept Oscar Piastri behind for much of the race. Whilst Piastri could close up to Hamilton during the lap, the McLaren was slow in a straight line and had an inefficient drag reduction system. Yet, when Hamilton found himself directly behind a McLaren (Lando Norris) after his pit stop, he also could not overtake. In the high-speed corners, the Mercedes could not keep up with Lando, who was pulling ahead in the first sector by almost a second. When we got to see Lewis’ onboard it was clear how much that Mercedes was struggling with high-speed performance, he began the sector right behind Norris and ended the sector barely able to see him. These clear differentials and contrasting strength and weaknesses between the two cars should provide for some entertaining battles throughout the season and it was exciting to see the first of these battles debut in Saudi.

The debut of Oliver Bearman was another highlight. As well as having my favorite name for a person ever, Ollie also had a Ferrari drive this weekend, courtesy of Carlos Sainz needing surgery for appendicitis. A lot of the focus went into Ollie’s debut this weekend and he impressed, by finishing 7^th. After learning the ropes of overtaking and carving his way through the midfield, Ollie found himself under pressure towards the end of the race. Both Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton decided to pit towards the end of the race, with hopes of making up multiple positions on fresh soft tyres. Yet, they never got close to Bearman, who kept a consistent pace on his aging hard tyres. Despite no experience managing F1 tyres, a consistent pitfall for rookies, Ollie showed this weekend why he is one of the stars of the future and I personally loved seeing the Bearcub evolve into the Bearman.

My favorite part of the race, however, was seeing Kevin Magnussen embracing chaos. After demonstrating questionable driving standards that led to a couple of incidents, Magnussen was handed twenty seconds worth of penalties. However, as Haas had not pit Nico Hulkenberg under the safety car, this provided the team with an opportunity to utilize an unorthodox strategy. Magnussen was in front of much of the bottom half of the field and was ordered to hold them up, to give Hulkenberg a gap to pit into.[1] He succeeded, building a train of cars so long one could call it the Magnussen Express. And similarly to many English train companies, he frustrated every passenger by delaying their progress indefinitely. The midfield used the opportunity to jostle with each other, but had no chance of overtaking that Haas, which appears to be an incredibly efficient car in a straight line. Hulkenberg got the gap he needed to pit in thanks to Kevin’s efforts, providing Haas with their first point of the season. Perhaps I was wrong to doubt Haas’ ability to perform, as new Team Principle Komatsu is doing the job that Gene Haas set out for him, to maximize every result with the car that they already have.[2]

So, I was surprised at the end of the race at how entertained I had found myself. These smaller storylines had made me forget the constant killjoy of having the same winner every week. As this Red Bull looks very good and will likely win the vast majority of races, I’d recommend to fans to put their focus onto these other storylines, as the sport is brimming with them.

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[1] The cars behind Magnussen after his overtake on Tsunoda [which he received one of his ten second penalties for] were Tsunoda, Ocon, Albon, Sargeant, Bottas and Ricciardo].

[2] EXCLUSIVE: ‘It came down to performance’ – Gene Haas on Guenther Steiner’s departure and what it means for his team’s future, Lawrence Barretto (11 January 2024) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.exclusive-gene-haas-guenther-steiner-departure-f1-team-future.3pt87IVfCzoOgJLV19Atf4.html