Max Verstappen was forced out of qualifying around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit early when a driveshaft failure led to the Red Bull driver’s retirement.
Starting the race in 15th, Verstappen had to fight his way back to second, finishing only 5 seconds behind his teammate Sergio Perez.
After the race, Jos Verstappen issued a backhanded compliment to Perez, saying that “I don’t think [Perez] gets the chance [to win] often. He sees that too and then goes for it.”
Continuing, he said: “It went against us in qualifying. Bad luck, I won’t go into that. We know what it is. But otherwise, Max just easily drives to that pole position. And then the race is a bit easier.”
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Red Bull has showed its dominant performance in 2023, securing back-to-back one-two finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The two drivers have beaten their rivals into submission, gliding past cars on the grid with ease.
At one stage of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, commentators noted that Verstappen’s overtake against Mercedes driver George Russell looked like F1 vs F2.
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Even Verstappen’s old rival Lewis Hamilton was unable to compete with the Red Bull’s pace, as the British driver failed to fight the reigning world champion.
“It looks like we will be dominant. We have a very good car,” Verstappen senior added. “If you saw how easily they drove away now too – a second faster.”
“Whether that can be overtaken by the rest this year? I don’t know. But it’s not like we’re standing still either. We are also coming up with updates,” he continued.