Max Verstappen stamps his authority with win in Saudi Arabian GP

Max Verstappen continued Red Bull's dominant start to the season by winning Saturday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc's Ferrari was third with British teen Oliver Bearman a remarkable seventh on his debut for Ferrari as a late stand-in for Carlos Sainz.

Even after just two races, and despite turmoil at Red Bull, Verstappen looked in complete control as he aims for a fourth consecutive title.

Verstappen started on pole and held off Leclerc at the first corner, as he did last week at the season-opener in Bahrain, before quickly building his lead.

The only interruption came when Lance Stroll's crash brought out the safety car. Verstappen came into the pits for a tire change and after the restart easily passed Lando Norris to retake the lead.

Perez had a five-second penalty because Red Bull released him from a pit stop into the path of another car, but that didn't matter since he finished far ahead of Leclerc.

Perez was runner-up under the Jeddah floodlights, last year's winner taking the chequered flag 13.643 seconds behind his triple world champion teammate.

The victory was a ninth in a row for Verstappen, dating back to Japan last September, and 56th of the 26-year-old Dutch driver's career.

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