Winners and Losers of the 2022 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix

By Joe Murphy

Round Two of the 2022 Formula 1 season is now officially in the books and we are not short of talking points or action after a pulsating weekend of racing. Firstly, the off-track incidents highlight the FIA’s priority of money over morals. The shady nature of dealings with Saudi officials threatened to overshadow the race itself. Luckily, two “once in a generation” talents showcased some incredible driving to make sure we were left salivating for the Australian Grand Prix in just under two weeks time.

Winners – Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc

There’s no doubt about it, these are the two title challengers. Their duels so far have been “heart-stopping” and there are still over twenty races remaining for them to continue their battles. You have to feel that whoever comes out on top between these two, will surely be the World Champion come December. Charles may have had success in Bahrain, but it was a relentless Max Verstappen who claimed victory in Jeddah. Despite being behind the man from Monaco, the Red Bull Driver eventually got by into the first corner and held on for the remaining four laps to claim victory by less than half a second. It had seemed that the Ferrari would make it back to back wins to open the season, but the World Champion officially opened his account for the campaign, after last week’s DNF in Bahrain. Despite being overtaken in the final stages, there are still positives for both Leclerc and his team. Charles remains top of the Driver’s Classification whilst Ferrari extended their lead in the Constructors Championship Standings, with the additional help of Carlos Sainz second consecutive podium, as he came home in third.

Loser – Sergio Perez

The Mexican, who had actually claimed a remarkable, career-first pole position, had led up until an extremely poorly timed Safety Car set him back into fourth. On what looked set to be a third career victory, Checo missed out on the podium altogether, at no real fault of his own. Without doubt, labelling Perez as a ‘loser’ is incredibly harsh, as he didn’t put much of a foot wrong over the entire weekend. Furthermore, he can take heart in the fact he out-paced the entire grid on Saturday. That being said, when you go from first to fourth and take home less than half the points you should have done, it’s not been a good weekend.

Winners – Alpine

Yes, Fernando Alonso eventually retired. And yes again, Estaban Ocon should have finished a lot higher as the team endured a nightmare end to events in Jeddah. However, Alpine demonstrated some great pace and were clearly the third fastest team on the grid, arguably besting even Mercedes. Ocon and Alonso gave fans some incredible entertainment in the opening stages with some real wheel-to-wheel action. With team orders seemingly non existent, the French team illustrated some incredible pace and showed spectators that they can be competitive this season, going forward.

Loser – Lewis Hamilton

Again, there’s an obvious caveat. Lewis Hamilton drove well to turn a disastrous 16th place starting position into a point by racing impressively in a long stint on some hard tyres. Unable to fully capitalise on the second Virtual Safety Car of the day as the pitlane was closed, the Mercedes driver could only fight back to claim tenth, whilst his teammate concluded a lonely race to come home fifth. Overall though, it is clear that Lewis will want to forget about this Grand Prix in a hurry. He won here only a matter of months ago and now he’s one of the slowest on the grid. Whilst it is surely a blip, it appears already as if the man from Stevenage is well short of contending for the World Title.

Winner – Lando Norris

At times last season, seventh would have been a disappointing outing for Lando Norris and his McLaren. However, after last week, the Orange team would have bitten your hand off for a handful of points. Lando drove solidly and took advantage of the misfortune and retirements of others to score a solid haul in the second race of the season. Yet again though, it appears as if this campaign is going to be a backwards stop for McLaren, with yet another slow performance. As much as Lando can rightfully be considered a winner, his teammate, still pointless, has experienced a nightmare start.

Loser – Nico Hulkenberg

Whilst this last entry could easily be Yuki Tsunoda or Mick Schumacher, I feel that they just experienced a small piece of misfortune that cost them dear. Like with Checo, I back them both to bounce back in the coming races and achieve multiple points finishes. However, this is left likely for the team with the green livery.

This could easily be Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll not having a particularly strong showing in the Middle East either. However, I want to shine some spotlight to Nico Hulkenberg for potentially the last time in 2022. The German was a sitting duck for a lot of the race. At one time, he ran in the points, but it looked a tall order. In fact, it was clear, even at the time, that Nico wouldn’t be able to hold station. It seems as if Aston Martin used his race as a petri dish of sorts, experimenting with tyre durability and pace over a long stint, ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s imminent return in Melbourne in a fortnight. The Aston Martin looks slow too, with only the other Mercedes-engined, Williams, looking at a similar pace. It looks like points are going to be at a premium in 2022. All things considered, the team will be looking to forget these last two races and start properly with their actual driver lineup next time out. Thought to Nico though for yet another stellar stand-in performance. It’s just a shame it was literally pointless.