Saudi Arabian GP: A burgeoning rivalry between Charles Leclerc & Max Verstappen

Two races down in the new Formula 1 season, two fantastic battles between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

The two 24-year-olds, the vanguards of the sport's new generation of drivers, staged a fight at turns tense and frantic as they played cat-and-mouse with each other and the various overtaking zones around the demanding and dangerous Jeddah track.

In the first race of the season, it was Leclerc who came out on top; in Saudi Arabia, it was Verstappen.

After pulling into the pit lane, the two drivers embraced, high on the adrenaline of their intense fight, and the season is so far giving the impression that it has the potential even to match the highs of Verstappen's fight with Lewis Hamilton last year.

But the excitement of the racing only went so far in being the distraction the sport's bosses had said they wanted from the overarching theme of the weekend — should F1 be racing in Saudi Arabia at all?

There was a missile strike on a nearby oil factory during Friday practice, and the drivers at one point that evening had unanimously decided not to race.

They already had serious concerns over the safety of the track and the human rights issues that surround Saudi Arabia, and the fear of a missile hitting the track tipped them over the edge.

After four hours of meetings with a rolling cast of senior figures, the drivers were persuaded to climb down. And the longer the weekend went on, the more claims there were that the fear of «what (could happen) if we don't race» — as Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas put it — was involved.

Some even said that the drivers received unspecific warnings that there could be «payback» or «repercussions» if they took action.

F1 and governing body the FIA insist there was no talk of potential