Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen wins after late overtake on Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen won an intense race-long battle with Charles Leclerc to take his first victory of the season in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver passed the Ferrari with four laps to go after the two had duelled during a tense race.

The battle occasionally bordered on farce as the two slowed down almost to a stop at times to try to work the DRS overtaking zones to their advantage.

But Verstappen edged it by 0.5 seconds after making the decisive move.

The two were in a league of their own out front as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Sergio Perez took third and fourth.

George Russell finished fifth for Mercedes, ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon and McLaren's Lando Norris.

Lewis Hamilton recovered from starting 15th to finish 10th.

The excitement meant a difficult weekend for F1 ended on a high, but the drivers and other senior figures unnerved by Friday's missile strike on a nearby oil depot are unlikely to allow the sport's bosses to forget what has been an uncomfortable three days in the desert.

Just two races into the season, it already feels as if this year could distil, like last one, into a two-horse race, with Leclerc replacing Hamilton as Verstappen's main rival.

Leclerc moved to the front after Ferrari appeared to trick Red Bull into making a pit stop with Sergio Perez, who started from pole and led the early laps.

Ferrari's plan was to run longer and make ground with what they believed was Leclerc's extra pace.

But events came to Leclerc's aid as Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams and brought out the safety car on the next lap, gifting Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz a 'free' stop and dropping Perez down to the fourth place he would retain to the end.

Leclerc nailed the restart and retained the lead. For