F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix live race updates, leaderboard, result: Max Verstappen starts on pole

By | March 9, 2024
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Max Verstappen will bid to make it two wins from two to start the 2024 Formula 1 season, the reigning champion starting Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on pole position.

The Dutchman was in clinical form in Friday’s qualifying, his time of 1:27:472 around three tenths of a second quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who delivered a strong final flying lap to prevent a Red Bull lockout of the front row of the grid.

Sergio Perez starts in third, with Fernando Alonso — who has shown excellent pace this weekend in the Aston Martin — in fourth, ahead of the McLarens and Mercedes. Debutant Oliver Bearman, replacing Carlos Sainz this week after the Spaniard had appendix surgery, will start his first grand prix from P11.

Verstappen will certainly take some stopping if he gets through the opening turns in first place, with the Jeddah Corniche Circuit posing a real challenge when it comes to overtaking. Can anyone stake a claim as a challenger for the driver’s championship?

The Sporting News is following the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix live, providing score updates, commentary and highlights as they happen.

MORE: Watch Formula 1 live with Fubo (free trial)

F1 live race leaderboard

Updated every five laps

Lap 10/60 Driver
1.  Lando Norris 11. Yuki Tsunoda
2. Max Verstappen 12. Oliver Bearman
3. Lewis Hamilton 13. Kevin Magnussen
4. Sergio Perez 14. Alex Albon
5. Charles Leclerc 15. Esteban Ocon
6. Oscar Piastri 16. Valtteri Bottas
7. Fernando Alonso 17. Logan Sargeant
8. Nico Hulkenberg 18. Daniel Ricciardo
9. George Russell 19. Lance Stroll — OUT
10. Zhou Guanyu 20.  Pierre Gasly — OUT

F1 grid order:

1. Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Leclerc (Ferrari), 3. Perez (Red Bull), 4. Alonso (Aston Martin), 5. Piastri (McLaren), 6. Norris (McLaren), 7. Russell (Mercedes), 8. Hamilton (Mercedes), 9. Tsunoda (RB), 10. Stroll (Aston Martin)

11. Bearman (Ferrari), 12. Albon (Williams), 13. Magnussen (Haas), 14. Ricciardo (RB), 15. Hulkenberg (Haas), 16. Bottas (Kick Sauber), 17. Ocon (Alpine), 18. Gasly (Alpine), 19. Sargeant (Williams), 20. Zhou (Kick Sauber)

MORE: F1 2024 standings

F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix live updates, results, highlights from 2024 race

Lap 13: Verstappen retakes the lead! Norris just had no answer down the home straight. Perez has also taken P3 back from Hamilton and is closing the gap to the McLaren in second.

Lap 11: “What is he doing?” says an annoyed Alex Albon after Kevin Magnussen clips his front wing. The Perez-Alonso pit-lane incident is now being investigated by the stewards.

Lap 9: The safety car is in and we’re racing again. Verstappen is straight up the back of Lando Norris, who holds off the champion at Turn 1.

Lap 8: Lots of cars are pitting under the safety car — so many, in fact, that Alonso was stuck in the pits for eight seconds while they waited for clear track to release him. He very nearly collided with the back of a Red Bull! It hasn’t cost him much in terms of track position.

Lap 7: Stroll hits the barriers and we have a safety car. The Aston Martin is off the circuit but it’s jammed in the wall in a potentially risky area. Stroll is walking away unhurt. It looks like he clipped the same wall he did in practice and promptly went head first into the barrier.

Lap 6: Alonso is closing the gap to Piastri in a relatively empty area of the circuit. That could be an intriguing battle today. Perez has put more than a second between himself and Leclerc, with the running order now starting to settle down a bit.

Lap 4: Perez takes P2! He goes up the inside of Leclerc again, and this time, he makes it stick. The Red Bull just had too much straight-line speed with that DRS in effect. Verstappen’s lead is already over 2.3 seconds.

Lap 3: DRS comes into play. Bearman and Tsunoda are still having a real battle, while Oscar Piastri has overtaken Fernando Alonso. It was George Russell who accused Lando Norris of a jump start, and judging by the camera on board the McLaren, it definitely looks like he did.

Lap 1: Perez gets in front of Leclerc into Turn 1, but the Ferrari takes back P2! Brilliant early racing here in Jeddah. His teammate Oliver Bearman is already making moves on Yuki Tsunoda. Pierre Gasly is having to pit with a problem already, and there’s a suggestion of a false start. What a beginning here!

LIGHTS OUT!

It’s go, go, go at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix!

5 mins to go: The formation lap is underway and we’re moments from the start…

10 mins to lights out: Oliver Bearman is currently getting his mic sorted and helmet in place. He seems fairly relaxed given the occasion.

20 mins to lights out: The grid is still packed with mechanics and hangers-on. Lewis Hamilton’s car is undergoing a fair amount of work, under the (very) watchful eye of the FIA. AJ is hoping for quite a show today.

40 mins to lights out: There’s some stardust in the air: Anthony Joshua has arrived, fresh from his emphatic knockout of Francis Ngannou in Riyadh overnight, while Jose Mourinho is also around the paddock.

And, remarkably, Carlos Sainz is here, a day after appendix surgery!

50 mins to lights out: Marko has himself spoken and insisted he is not going to be suspended by the company. 

“We had a discussion and we decided these rumours were spread out and had no legal background,” Marko said after a “good conversation” with Red Bull’s sports CEO  Oliver Mintzlaff.

Asked if he was going to be suspended, Marko replied: “No, no, no. If someone has this wish or idea, there was no legal basis. I think our goal is to win the championship, fourth time with Max, and for that we all have to work together.”

1 hour to lights out: We’ve got just an hour to go until the race gets underway. The build-up to the race is, again, being dominated by Red Bull’s activities away from the track. Amid speculation that Helmut Marko could be leaving the team, Verstappen told Sky Sports when asked if his future could be tied to the 80-year-old: “I’ve always said that to the team, they know that.”

Marko is reportedly at risk of suspension by Red Bull amid an investigation into possible information leak around the Christian Horner probe.

1 hour 30 mins to lights out: What a day this is for Oliver Bearman: making his F1 race debut under the neon lights of this street circuit in Jeddah. Carlos Sainz, recovering in hospital, will no doubt be watching on.

2 hours prior to lights out: Fernando Alonso arrives in style for today’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. He might need a couple of extra wheels.

F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix grid, qualifying recap

Max Verstappen was once again clinical as he took pole position for Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On the day of the heavyweight contest between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou in the same country, this was very much a case of throwing power punches at the right time by Red Bull’s unstoppable world champion: each hot lap was delivered with unerring precision around the tight corners of this winding track and its neon surroundings, and each time, he seemed to time his runs perfectly to sour any optimism within the chasing pack.

F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race time

  UK USA Canada Australia India
Date Saturday, Mar 9 Saturday, Mar 9 Saturday, Mar 9 Sunday, Mar 10 Saturday, Mar 9
Time 5 p.m. GMT 12 p.m. ET 12 p.m. ET 4 a.m. AEDT 10:30 p.m. IST

F1 live stream, TV channel

Country TV channel Live stream
USA — FUBO, F1TV
Canada TSN (English); RDS (French) TSN Direct
UK Sky Sports F1 SkyGo, NOW TV
Australia Fox Sports Foxtel Go, Kayo Sports
India — F1 TV Pro

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