Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Perez's remarkable Red Bull run and Alonso enters illustrious club - Every vital Saudi GP stat

All the best stats and facts from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, pulled together in one article for GPFans readers

Sundaram Ramaswami

Tuesday 21 March 2023 16:19

Sergio Perez secured his fifth F1 victory with a stunning drive at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Mexican beat Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso home at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

As ever, GPFans brings you the best stats and facts with the help of Sundaram Ramaswami [@F1statsguru].

Street track maestro

Article continues under video

Sergio Perez took his fifth career win and fourth since joining Red Bull in 2021. If he wins six more races with the team, it’ll make him Red Bull’s third-most successful driver after Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen.

All of Perez’s wins with Red Bull have come on street circuits - Azerbaijan, Monaco, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.

With his two pole positions in Jeddah, Sergio Perez now has more poles than Max Verstappen at street venues. The Dutchman’s only pole on a street track came in Montreal last year.

SPEED

Starting from 15th, Verstappen powered his way through the field, eventually finishing P2. It’s the fourth time the reigning champion has started a race from 15th or lower and converted it to a podium finish [China 2017, USA 2018, Russia 2021, Saudi Arabia 2023].

It’s only the second time in the hybrid era a driver has finished on the podium of a street race when starting from lower than tenth. Sebastian Vettel is the only other driver to do so at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP, another race that was won by Perez.

Saudi Arabian success

Verstappen is the only driver to have stood on the rostrum in all of Saudi Arabian GPs so far. No other driver has featured on the Jeddah podium more than once.

Merc x Red Bull

The last time both drivers from a team won the opening two rounds of the season was in 2020 [Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes].

Street fighters

Red Bull has now won eight of the last 10 street races in Formula 1.

One-two, one-two

It’s only the second time that the Milton-Keynes-based team has taken consecutive one-two finishes in Formula 1. The last came in 2009.

It’s the fifth instance of a team taking successive one-twos in the opening two rounds of the year. On every previous occasion, the constructor to do so went on to win the championship later that season.

Domination

Red Bull has now claimed their fifth successive win under lights, a new record on its own.

The team now holds a 49-point lead over Aston Martin and Mercedes in the Constructors’ championship. That’s the second-biggest margin after the first two races since this points system was introduced in 2010. Mercedes had one point more after round two in 2016.

Ferrari's Saudi nightmare

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished sixth and seventh respectively. It’s the first time both drivers failed to finish in the top-five since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP where they came in seventh and eighth.

Ferrari has not made it to the podium in the first two races of the season for the third time in the hybrid era [2014, 2021 and 2023].

After two races, Leclerc is currently placed eighth in the championship with six points against his name. That’s his worst start to a season since joining Ferrari in 2019.

Russell's incredible run

With a P4 finish, George Russell has brought home a top-five result in 20 of the last 24 races.

Alonso's podium heaven

Fernando Alonso registered his 100th podium in F1, becoming the sixth driver to do so after Lewis Hamilton [191], Michael Schumacher [155], Sebastian Vettel [122], Alain Prost [106], and Kimi Raikkonen [103].

It took him 118 race starts to accumulate his first 50 podiums and a further 239 for his next 50.

Alonso’s 50th podium was also in a night race on a street circuit, the 2008 Singapore GP.

It’s the first time the Spaniard has taken back-to-back podiums in Formula 1 since Italy-Singapore 2013.

Good omens?

With his P3 finish, the team and Alonso both claimed their first points on Saudi Arabian soil. Lance Stroll, however, has yet to get off the mark in Jeddah.

The last time the two-time champion led the opening lap of a race was at the 2012 German GP.

Whenever Alonso has taken a podium in the first two races of the season, he’s always finished in the top-three of the championship [2005, 2006, and 2007].

Alonso currently sits third in the standings with 30 points after two rounds. That’s his best start to a season since 2012.

Nostalgia

It’s the first time the Silverstone-based squad has taken consecutive podiums since 1999 when it was still racing under the Jordan banner.

Consistency

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly reached Q3 and scored points for the third straight time in Saudi Arabia.

McLaren pain

McLaren is facing a troubled start to the season having not scored in the opening two rounds for the first time since 2017.

Bad for Bottas

Valtteri Bottas was the last of the finishers in 18th . That’s his lowest-ever race finish in his decade-long F1 career.

Trouble at the big teams

This is the first time in a decade that neither Ferrari nor Mercedes have failed to feature on the podium in successive races.

The team to take pole has always won the Saudi Arabian GP [Mercedes in 2021, Red Bull in 2022 and 2023].

The championship leader before the Saudi Arabian GP has never gone on to win the race.

No change

The same trio of drivers [Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Fernando Alonso] has graced the podium in the last two races, a first since the 2022 Dutch and Italian GPs.

For the first time since the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix last year, the same drivers stood on the podium in two successive races.

The safety car has made an appearance in every race at Jeddah.