Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Sergio Perez took a dominant victory at the 2023 race. Starting on pole position the Mexican driver took a strong win ahead of teammate Max Verstappen who started 15th after a driveshaft failure in qualifying. Both drivers however were unhappy throughout the race, Perez was unhappy with the pace he had been targeted to drive to claiming he was told to push flat out uneccessarily around the narrow Jeddah Corniche Circuit. He was also unhappy with the Red Bull team favouring Max Verstappen when he was told that both drivers were not pushing for the fastest lap. However Verstappen set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap taking that all important point which put him 1st in the drivers championship just one point ahead of Perez.

Verstappen did not have the easiest race fighting from 15th on the grid and seemed to have mechnical worries in the back of his mind as he reported that there was an unsettling vibration coming from the car. Clearly he was unsure if his car would make to the end after putting in the gearbox used at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Aston Martin had an up and down race as Fernando Alonso was hit with a penalty and then another podium threatening penalty which was successfully appealed by the team. Alonso was first given a 5 second time penalty for his starting position on the grid being slightly too far left for the FIA's liking. He was then hit with a 10 second penalty as one of the mechanics looked to have touched the car while serving his 5 second penalty during the safety car. However the FIA took too much time awarding the team with the penalty as well as Aston Martin taking 7 pieces of evidence of previous incidents of the same nature to the appeal to fight their case. Eventually Alonso was confirmed to have taken his 100th Formula 1 career podium.