Reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen overtook Charles Leclerc in a thrilling late battle to win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
After several back and forth attempts in another thrilling series of wheel-to-wheel moves, Verstappen got past Leclerc with four laps remaining and made the move stick.
Just as they did at the Bahrain Grand Prix last week, Verstappen and Leclerc were using clever tactics to stay ahead, with neither wanting to pass on the final corner as they would have to defend against a car with DRS down the start-finish straight.
Verstappen executed his move perfectly and opted against making a pass at the final corner. He then won a drag race with Leclerc down to Turn 1 for the lead.
The pair were so close over the final laps that Verstappen took the checkered flag just half a second in front of the Ferrari driver, although he complained the Ferrari driver had not slowed properly to observe cautionary yellow flags over the final two laps.
“Well done to Max, that was nice,” Leclerc said on his race radio after finishing.
The race will heighten expectations of a close championship fight between Verstappen and Leclerc across the season.
Leclerc strengthened his early championship lead with second, as Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz rounded out the podium places in third.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, who had taken a first F1 pole position on Saturday, looked to be in control of the race until an awfully timed pit stop destroyed his race. Nicholas Latifi’s crash shortly after Perez had made his first stop effectively allowed Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz to get a much quicker stop and jump ahead of him.
George Russell finished fifth, where he was for most of the race in the Mercedes, which still appears to be a long way from solving its early issues and challenging the two lead cars.
Esteban Ocon caught Lando Norris for sixth and held him off in a drag race to the finish line, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly overcame a difficult race to finish eighth.
Kevin Magnussen was ninth in another impressive drive for Haas, while Lewis Hamilton claimed a single point for Mercedes in what was a difficult weekend for the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton battled back through the order from 16th on the grid and might have been able to finish sixth were it not for Fernando Alonso’s Alpine blocking the pit-lane when it hit engine trouble, meaning Hamilton was unable to make a stop under the Virtual Safety Car late on. Doing so under a VSC usually leads to a net gain over other cars, but when Hamilton made his stop he dropped from sixth to 14th with 10 laps left.
Alonso had provided some of the early drama after dueling with Alpine teammate Ocon for much of the opening stint.
The next race will take place in Australia in two weeks’ time.