'Street fighter' Perez leads Red Bull sweep in Saudi Arabian GP

The 33-year-old Mexican came home 5.355 seconds clear of the defending double world champion as Red Bull reeled off a masterful one-two triumph, the Dutchman having stormed through the field from 15th on the grid.

Verstappen, however, clocked the fastest lap of the race on the final lap to retain his lead of the embryonic drivers' championship, snatching it back from Perez as they duelled at high speed.

It was Perez's fifth career win having previously triumphed in Monte Carlo and Singapore to earn his reputation as a 'street fighter'.

"It turned out to be tougher than expected," he said. "The safety car tried to take the victory from us again here, but not this year! The team did a great job. Now we must keep pushing."

Verstappen, who was eliminated from qualifying after a drive-shaft failure, said it had not been an easy race.

"It wasn't easy to get through the field," he said. "In the first sector at the start it was difficult and I was sliding around. We settled for second so it's a good recovery in the end."

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso finished a stirring third on track for Aston Martin seemingly to claim a 100th podium finish on his record-extending 357th start.

But his podium was taken from him after the race when an investigation into an infringement of the rules when he served a five-second penalty at his pit-stop resulted in him receiving a further 10-second penalty.

George Russell rose to third for Mercedes and Alonso fell to fourth ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes.

The two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who started 12th, finished sixth and seventh ahead of Esteban Ocon and his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly. Kevin Magnussen was 10th for Haas.

The race began