5 F1 Request A Bets to Look Out for in this Weekend’s Saudi Arabia GP

Last weekend at Bahrain, eventual race winner Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen went head to head for the win, before a series of problems for the Dutchman forced him to retire his car, following fuel pump issues, as well as steering issues following a bent track rod during a pit stop.

Prior to the safety car, Leclerc and Verstappen were far out ahead in the race, whilst eventual runner-up Carlos Sainz trailed in third-place, with Perez fourth, however, following Verstappen’s retirement, Perez moved up to the podium places before his car had to be retired due to fuel pump problems.

Kevin Magnussen notably managed to capitalise on some of the retirements further up the grid, by finishing in fifth place, whilst two-time World Driver’s Championship winner Fernando Alonso finished ninth for Alpine.

As mentioned above, Leclerc and Verstappen were the front-runners last time out prior to the Dutchman’s retirement, these two will both be expected to fight for the win once again in Jeddah.

Hamilton profited from two Red Bull retirements as the seven-time World Driver’s Championship winner earned an unlikely podium place, whilst former Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas finished sixth following an impressive display for a rejuvenated Alfa Romeo team who showed plenty of pace.

Magnussen showed pace all weekend for Haas who utilise a Ferrari engine which has been proven to be the dominant powertrain in the field, with the Danish driver qualifying in seventh and finishing fifth.

Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly retired from the last race as the Frenchman’s car burst into flames having shown promise, following his 10th place qualifying performance on Saturday.

Last time out, Sainz finished in second-place due to Verstappen’s retirement and had initially fended off Perez well for the podium places.

Meanwhile, Alonso, Bottas and Magnussen all managed to finish inside the points last time out, doing so in ninth, sixth and fifth places.

Gasly will be looking to bounce back having shown some early promise in Bahrain, whilst Mick Schumacher will be hoping to replicate his Haas teammate’s performance and score his first-ever F1 points in Jeddah having missed out in 11th-place last time out at Sakhir.

Sainz is yet to win a Grand Prix, but, it must also be remembered that the Spaniard has never been in a race-winning car prior to this season. The 27-year-old’s best finish came at the Italian GP back in 2020 where he finished second and it also must be remembered that the former McLaren driver outscored teammate Leclerc by 5.5 points, managing three more podiums in the process.

The aforementioned Bottas and Gasly will be determined to score points here, as the flying Finn in Bottas will be hoping to make an example of Ferrari’s superb powertrain in the Alfa Romeo here once again, whilst Gasly finished sixth in Jeddah last season.

Esteban Ocon’s pace was impressive in Bahrain as the Frenchman managed to record a seventh-place finish for Alpine. Last season in Saudi Arabia, the 25-year-old lost out on a podium as Bottas, then of Mercedes overtook him just before the finishing line.

Verstappen will be looking to bounce back from what was a poor start to the defence of his championship crown, as he now has a 25 points deficit due to reliability issues at Red Bull in Bahrain.

The Dutch driver ideally needs a win to claw back any lost points on Leclerc who looks like a championship contender early on. Meanwhile, Leclerc will be hoping for another good race and looks almost a certainty for a podium place based on his pace in Bahrain.

Perez was close to Sainz throughout the race as the Mexican managed his tyres well and as we saw last season, he has the capability to get podiums, it is just a matter of when these races occur.

Alonso and Ocon in the Alpines’ will be expecting another points haul here for the French Constructor, as will Bottas as this is mainly a power-based track, hence why he performed so well with Mercedes here last season with their engine speed.

Schumacher will be looking to record his first points in F1, Haas like Alfa Romeo use Ferrari engines which proved to be useful in Bahrain, as five of the top 10 in Bahrain had the Prancing Horses’ power units.