You’d be forgiven for thinking the most dramatic action of Formula One in 2024 has taken place off the track, but the internal crisis at Red Bull has certainly not affected their performance on the track, with Max Verstappen heading home his teammate Sergio Perez comfortably in both races so far this season.
In fact, one could argue that F1’s hegemonic power has been even more dominant to start this season than it was in 2023 - an extraordinary achievement considering the RB19 claimed victory in all but one race last season.
The story of the weekend in Jeddah undoubtedly came at Ferrari in which reserve driver Oliver Bearman, who deputised for the unwell Carlos Sainz, finished seventh in his first ever Formula One race. Bearman became the youngest British driver to ever race in F1 and the third youngest of any nationality to race in F1 history, behind only Verstappen and Lance Stroll.
It was an incredible debut for Bearman who, in a year without any rookies in permanent race seats, showed just exactly what young drivers can do.
Let’s now take a look at what else we discovered from the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.
No catching the Flying Dutchman
With his victory in Jeddah on Saturday, Max Verstappen has now won 19 of the last 20 Grand Prix - an unparalleled run of unrivalled dominance.
The truth is the three-time champion has won the majority of these races at a canter, leaving his teammate in the same machinery for dust right from the start.
Barring an incredible change in fortune, Verstappen’s fourth consecutive championship already seems an inevitability. Perhaps even more worryingly for the rest of the field, the Dutchman appears convinced that more pace is still to be extracted out of the car.
It seems as though the only thing that can stop Verstappen is what happens out of his control in Milton Keynes, with his Red Bull future, extraordinarily, not totally certain.
Alpine woes continue
By far the biggest strugglers of the 2024 season after the first two races are Alpine, who have failed to show anywhere near the pace that brought them a sixth place finish in last season’s Constructors Championship.
Both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were once again eliminated from Q1 by nearly half a second, comfortably demonstrating that the Alpine is the slowest car over one lap so far this season.
The poor performance from the Enstone team so far in 2024 will have shocked even them. Optimism wasn’t especially high but testing suggested they wouldn't necessarily be F1’s basement team.
Of all the four teams that remain pointless through the first two races, Alpine, with their considerably larger budget, are of course best placed to right the ship. These next few fly away races however will be tough going before upgrades arrive for the European season.
Brilliant Bearman shows his worth
Having already put his Prema on pole position for the Formula 2 Feature Face, it would have been quite the shock for 18-year-old Oliver Bearman to get the call from the Scuderia to step in for the ill Carlos Sainz.
But Bearman made the transition look seamless as he stepped up to the mark at arguably one of Formula One’s toughest circuits. With less than an hour of practice under his belt, the Briton was able to qualify 11th before moving up the order in the race to finish a fantastic seventh.
Ironically, those most delighted with Bearman’s performance will be his rivals in Formula 2, who are desperate for a chance in one of F1’s coveted race seats.
The British teenager showed that young drivers, given the right equipment at their disposal, are more than capable at holding their own with the elite.
Where now for Mercedes?
Not a lot has gone right for Mercedes since they teased everyone with their pace during Friday practice at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows slumped to sixth and ninth place finishes in Jeddah at a track albeit historically tough for them in recent years, but the team from Brackey appear very much to be either fourth or fifth in the pecking order at present when it comes to race pace.
Toto Wolff said that the product Mercedes are currently fielding on the track is not performing as anticipated based on results from the simulators, suggesting the struggles at the team are a bit more fundamental than a plain pace issue.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have been the strongest driver-team pairing in Formula One history. Without a drastic change in fortunes, it seems as though the partnership is going to end with a whimper.
Formula One returns on the 24th March from Down Under at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.