Verstappen snatches Saudi GP F1 win with late overtake on Leclerc

The reigning world champion made the race-winning move four laps from the end amid a thrilling scrap for the lead, with both Verstappen and Leclerc playing a game of cat and mouse to try and get the crucial DRS advantage. 

Verstappen initially got past Leclerc into the final corner at the end of Lap 42, but some smart driving from the Ferrari driver enabled him to immediately repass the Dutchman with the aid of DRS down the main straight. 

• Full results from F1 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
• F1 points table

The DRS games continued at the same part of the track on the next lap, with both Verstappen and Leclerc locking up as they each tried to ensure they had the extra speed boost for an attack into Turn 1. 

Leclerc appeared to have outsmarted Verstappen again after coming out on top in their brilliant duel at the season-opener in Bahrain last weekend, but Verstappen finally prevailed at the end of Lap 46 when he had the patience to stay behind Leclerc at the final turn. 

In doing so, Verstappen was able to tuck up behind Leclerc’s Ferrari before blasting past in his Red Bull to snatch the lead and claim his first victory of the 2022 season by just 0.5s. 

Verstappen’s 20th win of his F1 career moves him up to third in the world championship, 20 points behind early leader Leclerc. 

Behind the squabbling leaders, Carlos Sainz completed the podium in third ahead of Sergio Perez in fourth. 

Perez had looked in control after maintaining the lead from pole position at the start but the Mexican was unfortunate with the timing of a Safety Car, which was deployed when Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams at the final corner on Lap 16. 

The Safety Car came out just after Perez had pitted, meaning he dropped behind his nearest rivals who took advantage of making their pit stops under the Safety Car. Perez had to give up third place to Sainz after the Spaniard was ahead at the Safety Car line when he emerged from the pits. 

George Russell finished a distant fifth, while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton recovered from 15th to take 10th. 

The seven-time world champion gained places under the first Safety Car when he stayed out running a longer first stint on Hard tyres, but was unable to pit during a late Virtual Safety Car and subsequently dropped outside of the top 10 when he pitted once the race resumed on Lap 41. 

Hamilton battled his way back up to 10th to secure the final point on offer after suffering his worst qualifying on pure pace since the 2009 British Grand Prix. 

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon dramatically fended off Lando Norris’ McLaren on the run to the line to take sixth by a tenth of a second, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly beat Kevin Magnussen’s Haas to eighth. 

Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo’s cars both stopped at the pitlane entry to bring out the late VSC period, while Valtteri Bottas dropped out with a technical problem after spending much of the race inside the points. 

Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda failed to start after his AlphaTauri ground to a halt on the way to the grid with another engine issue.