It was another superb weekend for Red Bull Racing, who claimed another one-two finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Fresh off a perfect start to their world title defence at the Bahrain Grand Prix, in which Max Verstappen claimed a clean sweep of points and teammate Sergio Pérez finished in P2, Red Bull racing closed out the top two spots for a second consecutive week.
Verstappen once again claimed another Grand Prix victory, the 56th of his career, and the 100th podium finish of his career, earning another 25 points to start the 2024 season on 51 after just two races.
The Dutchman, who began the race in pole position, finished with a total time of 1:20:43.273.
Verstappen led for the majority of the race, with a short battle with McLaren's Lando Norris following an early safety car, with a pitstop seeing him drop to second. After keeping up with the 24-year-old Brit, Verstappen showed the quality of his car with a straightforward overtake down the main straight.
Pérez, meanwhile, picked up another 18 points after starting the race in P3, giving himself 36 to start the season.
Despite their respective performances, neither driver was able to claim the extra point awarded for the fastest lap, with that going to Charles Leclerc.
The pair have, however, combined for 87 points over the first two races, giving Red Bull a 38-point cushion over Ferrari in the Constructors' standings.
Verstappen's dominance carried over into the second race of the year, but the gap between him and second place was closer than in Bahrain, with 13.643 separating the pair compared to last week's 22.457-second lead.
The gap between the race leader and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who came in P3, was 18.639 seconds.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen commented: "I think overall a fantastic weekend for the whole team but also for myself as I felt great in the car. The last few laps with the backmarkers and old tyres was a bit slippery, but we could manage it with the gap behind."
He added: "Ideally you don't want to do such a long stint with the tyre but we had to."
Pérez also commented: "We definitely made some good progress, it was a shame we qualified out of the front row as Charles made it tough to get through, and it was a compromised race with the Safety Car so early."
"It's a great day for the team, we just have to keep this momentum going - we still have some bits to tidy up but our time will come."
