Verstappen secures his 100th podium with a ninth win in a row, Bearman records the best result for a debutant in almost a decade and Hulkenberg scores in a Grand Prix for the first time in almost a year. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 2024 SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen secured the 56th victory of his Formula 1 career at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. With his ninth successive victory, he became the first driver to win nine successive races twice in their career. Sebastian Vettel is the only other driver to win nine races in a row, doing so at the end of the 2013 season. Verstappen has now won all but one of the last 20 Grands Prix.
The 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix marked Red Bull’s 115th win in Formula 1, which sees them overtake Williams for fourth in the list of most wins for a team in the sport.
Verstappen won from pole for the 29th time in his career, equalling Ayrton Senna for fourth on the list of most wins taken from pole position. During the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen overtook Senna for fourth on the list of most Grand Prix laps led in Formula 1.
This is the first time in his career that Verstappen has won the first two races of a season. He is the first driver to win the first two races of the year since Sebastian Vettel did so in 2018.
Verstappen became the first driver to record multiple wins at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and extended his record for most podium finishes at Jeddah Corniche Circuit to four.
Verstappen’s victory made car number 1 the first car number to score 5,000 points in World Championship history.
On Lap 14 of the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen became the 20th driver to have raced 10,000 Grand Prix laps in Formula 1.
100 PODIUMS FOR MAX
Max Verstappen recorded his 100th podium finish at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, becoming the seventh driver to record 100 podium finishes in Formula 1.
Verstappen set a new record for the youngest age at which a driver has recorded their 100th podium finish. He was over four years younger than previous record holder Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen amassed his 100 podiums in 7 years, 9 months and 23 days – the shortest gap between first and 100th podium finishes in F1 history.
This is the second year in a row that a driver has recorded their 100th podium finish in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso recorded his 100th top three finish in last year’s Jeddah race.
Verstappen is only the third driver – after Michael Schumacher with Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes – to record 100 podium finishes with a single constructor.
ON THE PODIUM
Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc joined Max Verstappen on the podium at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, becoming the second and third drivers to record multiple top three finishes at the track.
With Sergio Perez finishing as runner-up to team-mate Max Verstappen, Red Bull became the fifth team to record 30 1-2 finishes in F1. They are the first team to reach the milestone since Mercedes at the 2016 Russian Grand Prix.
Having also finished 1-2 at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull make this only the sixth season in which a team have recorded 1-2 results in the first two races of a season. It’s the second consecutive season in which they have done so.
This is the first time since the 2023 Spanish and Canadian Grands Prix that Perez has finished on the podium at two consecutive races and the first time he has finished in the top two at successive races since the 2023 Azerbaijan and Miami Grands Prix.
For the second race in a row, the two Red Bull drivers were joined by a Ferrari on the podium. Charles Leclerc finished in third place.
Leclerc set the fastest lap of the race, recording the first fastest lap for a Ferrari driver since the 2022 French Grand Prix.
BEARMAN SCORES ON DEBUT
Oliver Bearman finished seventh on his Ferrari debut at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Becoming the third-youngest driver to ever race in Formula 1 – and the first to make their debut with Ferrari since 1972 – Bearman recorded the best result for a debutant since Felipe Nasr finished fifth on debut at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix.
Bearman is only the tenth driver to finish in the top seven on their F1 debut so far this millennium. Only six drivers have done so in Bearman’s lifetime: Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastien Buemi, Kevin Magnussen and Felipe Nasr.
Bearman was voted Driver Of The Day, winning with 48% of the vote. It’s the sixth biggest voting percentage in the award’s history.
The 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the first race since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix to feature four British drivers on the grid.
Bearman’s seventh place made this the third time in the four Saudi Arabian Grands Prix to date that a Ferrari driver has finished in seventh place.
IN THE POINTS
Oscar Piastri finished fourth in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, recording his best result since his podium finish at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
Both Piastri and Lando Norris finished in the top eight, making this McLaren’s best combined result to date at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso’s fifth place finish in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix made this the 50th Grand Prix in which Aston Martin scored. They are the 26th constructor to score points in 50 races.
Alonso finished in the top five for the first time since the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
With both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finishing in the points, Mercedes scored for a 62nd consecutive race. It equals the team’s longest points-scoring streak in F1, with them having previously scored at 62 consecutive races between the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2016 Russian Grand Prix.
Finishing ninth, Lewis Hamilton finished outside of the top five for a fifth consecutive race. This marked the first time since the five races between the 2009 Spanish and German Grands Prix that Hamilton failed to finish in the top five at five races in a row.
Hamilton lost a place from where he started in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – the first time he has done so in his four appearances at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Hamilton became the first driver to start eighth on the grid and score a point in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
With Russell, Norris, Bearman and Hamilton all scoring points, the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the first F1 race since the 1968 French Grand Prix in which four British drivers scored a point. It was also the first time since the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix that four British drivers finished in the top ten.
Nico Hulkenberg scored a point with a tenth place finish in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It made this the 100th Grand Prix weekend at which Hulkenberg has scored a point. He is the 19th driver to score points at 100 events.
This was the first Grand Prix in which Hulkenberg scored a point since the 2023 Australian Grand Prix – though he did score points in the Sprint at last year’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg’s point makes 2024 the 34th consecutive season in which a German driver has scored a point. Germany overtook France as the nation to have scored in the third most consecutive seasons as a result.
Making up five places, Hulkenberg gained the most places of any driver in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
This is the third consecutive Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in which Haas have scored points.
With Hulkenberg finishing 15th, 15th remains one of only six grid slots which has scored in every running of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to date. The other five grid slots to have done so are all in the top six.
2024 is the first season since 2007 that as few as six teams have scored points in the first two races of the season and the first time since 2017 that only 12 drivers have scored points after the first two rounds.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Alex Albon came home in 11th place at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, crossing the finish line at Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the first time in his career.
Kevin Magnussen finished 12th in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. With Hulkenberg tenth, this was the first time since last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that both Haas drivers finished in the top 12.
This was the first time in his three appearances at the event that Magnussen failed to score at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Both Alpine drivers – Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly lost their place in the club of drivers who’ve completed every Grand Prix lap to date at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc are now the only drivers to have raced all 200 laps at the track after the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
This was the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in which Alpine failed to score points.
With 13th place, Esteban Ocon recorded his worst Saudi Arabian Grand Prix result to date. This was the first time that the Frenchman failed to score at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Logan Sargeant made up four positions from 19th on the grid to 15th at the finish in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. He also made up four positions in last year’s Jeddah race.
With Albon 11th and Sargeant 15th, this was the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in which both Williams drivers crossed the finish line.
THE RETIREES
Pierre Gasly became the first retirement of the season, retiring with gearbox issues in the early stages of the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. This is the second time in the last three years that Gasly has recorded the first DNF of the year, having also done so in 2022. He is the ninth driver to record the first retirement of the season on multiple occasions.
Gasly recorded his first retirement since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lance Stroll was the second and final retirement from the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Bringing out the Safety Car with a crash on Lap 6, Stroll ensured that Jeddah Corniche Circuit retained its record of having at least one Safety Car period in every race at the track to date.
This was Stroll’s first retirement since the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.