Max Verstappen, meanwhile, roared back from a qualifying setback to race from P15 on the grid to P2 at the chequered flag and to take the point for fastest lap with his final lap of the race.
Talking through his first win of the season, driver Sergio Perez said: “I had a wicked race – which is a new word I learnt this week!
“I didn’t have a great start but after I got back around Fernando, I was able to create a good gap between the rest of the field and me until the safety car came out I was reminded of Jeddah 2022.
“Everyone back in Milton Keynes and here at the track have built such a fantastic car for us this season. In the end, we must remember it’s a long season but tonight was a massive team result.”
At the race start, it was Alonso who got away best from the front row and though polesitter Checo tried to defend off the line, the Aston Martin driver took the lead into Turn 1. However, within seconds, the race stewards revealed that Alonso was under investigation for possibly being in an incorrect starting location. And as the field crossed the line to start the second lap the Spaniard was handed a five-second penalty to be served during his pit stop.
Further back, Max also made a good start and on lap one he picked up two places, passing Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas for P14 and then inheriting 13th as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri dropped back following a lap one incident which required him to pit for a new nose cone.
At the front, on lap 3 and with DRS in play, Checo closed up to Alonso and on lap four he dived down the inside of the Aston Martin into Turn 1 where, despite a small lock-up, he reclaimed the lead. Max, too, was making gains and by lap six he’d risen to 11th place after comfortably dismissing the Haas cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Slowly but surely, Checo began to eke out a gap at the front and by lap 11 he’d carved out a two-second buffer to Alonso. His solid first stint also left him almost 19 seconds clear of Max, who was now up to ninth place, having picked off Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu into Turn 1.
The Dutchman was now hunting down Lewis Hamilton and at the start of lap 12 he eased past the Mercedes under DRS on the pit straight to take P8 behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Max then made light work of passing the Frenchman to steal P7.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was the first of the front runners to pit, from P4, and the Canadian switched to hard tyres at the end of lap 13 before rejoining the action in 11th place. The move pushed Max further up the order and on lap 15 the champion was already up to sixth place, just over a second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The reigning champion was, however, still 21.5 seconds behind Checo who was beginning to stretch away at the front. Under pressure from Max, Leclerc pitted at the end of lap 16 and came out behind Sainz in P8.
On lap 18, the Safety Car was released, a common occurrence here at Jeddah. Stroll was told by his pit wall that there was an issue with his Aston Martin and he asked to stop the car. He pulled over at the side of the track and the SC was released.
With the opportunity for a “free” pit stop presenting itself, the Team jumped into action and Checo was brought into the pits on lap 19. The Mexican moved to hard tyres as Alonso pitted behind him. The Spanish driver sat out his penalty, moved to hard tyres and rejoined in second place as Max also came into the pits. The crew bolted on a set of hard tyres in a 2.8 second stop and the Dutchman was released into fourth place.
The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 20 and as Checo held his lead from Alonso, Max immediately began to put pressure on George Russell who now found himself in P3. Russell did his best to hold off Max’s charge but on lap 24 his defence crumbled, and Max powered past the Briton into Turn 27. From 15th on the grid to a podium place in just 24 laps. – Max had staged another remarkable recovery.
He wasn’t done, however. Alonso was next on his hit list and at the end of the lap he closed right up to the Spaniard and with DRS wide open he eased past to claim P2.
Ahead, Checo was keeping a tight grip on the lead and over the following 10 laps the Bulls traded fastest laps and raced to within a tenth or two of each other, all the time inexorably pulling away from the rest of the field.
As they began lap 35, Checo was 4.8 seconds ahead of Max and the Dutchman was now 10.7s clear of Alonso, with Russell in fourth place ahead of Hamilton and the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc.
On lap 37 Max began to report a “weird noise” and suggested to his race engineer GP that he might be suffering with another driveshaft issue. The message came back, however, that there was no cause for concern and that he could continue. The Dutchman was wary, however, and the gap widened to 5.2 seconds. Max gradually reeled his team-mate back in but then chose to settle into second.
Commenting on his podium finish, Max Verstappen said: “The beginning of the race was a bit tricky, it was hard to follow in the train of cars because there was very low grip. It was about being calm and overtaking the cars one by one.
“In general P2 was always the target today. Today was about recovering what was possible, if I had qualified P1 then today would have looked very different.
“I started to feel a vibration in the laps where I was catching and trying to push, I started to feel some instability in the car. Sometimes it’s better to just tell yourself it’s better to bring that P2 home.
“I would like a clean weekend in Melbourne to maximise everything we can. I am happy with the way it is turning it out at the moment but it is still a long season.”
Checo, meanwhile, was asking if he could push to the flag and on lap 43 the Mexican’s race engineer Hugh Bird told him he was free to open the gap. Within four laps Checo had stretched to six seconds ahead of Max and victory was assured.
And three laps later Checo crossed the line to take a well-worked and clinically completed fifth career win. Seven seconds later Max took the flag, and the point for fastest lap, to secure the 79th podium finish of his career.
Commenting on the team’s performance at the start of the 2023 season, Team Principal Christian Horner said: “What a race! All credit to the Team today. They’ve built an incredible car. That coupled with some truly fantastic driving has made for the best start to a season in our history, consecutive 1-2 finishes.
“Max had a mountain to climb, overcoming a significant deficit, but with over half the race to go, was already in P4. Similarly, Checo turned in an equally outstanding performance, perhaps the best drive I have ever seen from him.
“We won’t rest on it though, Australia is just around the corner. It is a track that has not been kind to us in the past so we want to ensure we are prepared, just as we were here, to give us the best chance of success and another first class performance.”
The Team now heads to Round 3 in Australia with 87 points, 49 ahead of Mercedes and Aston Martin who share second place on 38 points.
To find out how to get involved with ExxonMobil’s Technical Partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing, head to the ExxonMobil internal motorsport website: www.mobil1motorsport.com