Perez from 10, like Verstappen. Leclerc beyond obstacles, Ferrari from 5- Corriere.it

Sergio Perez of Arabia muzzles the amazing (but announced) comeback of Max Verstappen and already at the second Gp of the F1 edition 2023 he confirms a sensation:
the Red Bulls will play a separate sport, the only problem could be the rivalry between the two pilots, roosters who don’t want to give up leadership in the chicken coop and who, as we will see, have begun to tease each other. So let’s go on with the promoted and rejected ones in Jeddah, anticipating that Ferrari remained behind the blackboard after Bahrain.

Sergio Perez: 10

He even beat the safety car that complicated his life and, after the pole position, achieved the fifth victory of his career. For the day’s hat trick, the fastest lap is missing: his teammate snatches it from him in the last lap, preventing him from savoring, for the first time in his career, that he is leader of the World Championship. But Perez’s great race – combined with not caring about the sneaky advice of the low wall (score 5) who tried to slow him down to get Max to get under him – leads us to think that the Mexican is no longer willing to play the boss’s doormat. However, obviously, this battle for liberation from the slave master can only succeed if the performance on the track is adequate.

Max Verstappen: 10

If someone from fifteenth place on the grid climbs up to second, even sniffing victory, it is clear that he is a champion. in the comeback ofFlying Dutchman We saw all of SuperMax’s talent and also his being a bastard inside (but in a paradoxically positive sense, because sinners do other things in life): they told him to slow down and he accelerated. Did you have any doubts that in extremis he would have churned out the fastest lap? We don’t, because Verstappen wanted to remember that he’s in charge.

Red Bulls: 8

The Rb19 suffered the first technical problems: from Verstappen’s breakdown in qualifying to some crunching in the race that could lead to fears of a repeat of the troubles. Mechanical or electronic failure is currently the only opening that the drinkers give to their rivals. Seeing then that no one is perfect, let’s slightly lower the rating of a single-seater that remains extraordinary and perhaps unattainable.

Fernando Alonso: 8

In reality, one vote would be needed for the driver, the one you see, and another, insufficient, for the bullshit of the wrong alignment on the grid, costing the 5-second penalty which then resulted in the second punishment which initially, before the appeal won by the ‘Aston Martin had taken Fernando off third place and the 100th podium of his career. But we prefer to think aboutAlonso warrior and more than ever on the spot, author of another beautiful performance and, above all, serene and confident in the means of this regenerated Aston Martin and for now the second strength of the championship.

Kevin Magnussen: 8

The most beautiful overtaking of the race, on Tsunoda, his. All right, only tenth place was worth it, but a precious point for a Haas who is always waiting for Godot to understand his value in this World Championship.

George Russell: 7.5

Half a point more, first of all, for the honesty he had shown when he was awarded third place at the table, a decision canceled late at night: Not my podium, Alonso deserved it and the stewards gave it to me. That said, he’s had a fair race with what the Mercedes convent goes through these days. And not much, alas.

Lewis Hamilton: 7

He starts with the hard tyres, probably to give Mercedes another strategic option compared to Russell. one of the beneficiaries from the introduction of the safety car, but in the end he finds himself with worn medium tires and so he has to put away the sharpened claws.

Logan Sargeant and Yuki Tsunoda: 7

We really like the American who fights and sells his life dearly on a Williams that is just a little better than the 2022 one (it didn’t take much, actually, to do more…) and the Japanese who races with the an unpresentable Alpha Tauri (score 3), still paying comrade De Vries. The overtaking suffered by Magnussen does not change the judgment on him.

Mercedes: 6.5

A step forward compared to Bahrain, the Arabian GP marked the first reaction of the Frecce Nere (formerly silver). But the W14 project will go inside out like a sock, announced Toto Wolff: a horse cure is on the way.

Charles Leclerc: 6.5

It seems to have happened in a video game full of obstacles in sequence: after the 10-position penalty, here is the safety car that breaks the eggs in the basket of the ascent and here is the misunderstanding with the low wall on the management of the situation. At this point the game turns into the nightmare of a Ferrari that is not the one you hoped for. Charles says that he expected the red team to be only the fourth force in the World Championship, but perhaps he is not telling it right.

Carlos Sainz: 6

He says he suffered from the dirty air and never had a joker in hand to try and take the stakes on the table. The facts remain: he started fourth, he finished sixth.

Alpine: 6.5

Two cars in the top ten and in the points, alright. But Ocon started sixth and finished eighth, while Gasly confirmed the ninth place of the start. Overall: good, but not great.

Ferraris: 5

Mala tempora currunt: Bahrain’s verdict changes for the better in some content (less tire wear, for example), but does not change the overall scenario and says that at the moment the Red is the third/fourth force in the World Championship, pace of trumpet blasts and proclamations on the eve of the World Cup. The SF-23 seems, trivially, not to have enough: it will need shock therapy like the one they program at Mercedes. The pit stops worked well in Jeddah (the one that allowed Sainz to overcut Stroll was excellent), but the scenario tends to be depressing. And if it is true that Frederic Vasseur wants to use the cleaver to fix the team well that proceeds quickly. As long as he’s convinced of it.

Valtteri Bottas: 5

We had deluded ourselves in the redemption of Iceman-2: a mozzarella came back already in the second race.

Mclaren: 4

Piastri and Norris found themselves in fights with each other and with Sargeant’s Williams. But in a rear that couldn’t be more rear than that. Tough moment for a team used to winning. Piastri also saw the eighth place at the start nullified by damage to the front wing: the forced stop ruined all hope. Enzo Biagi used to remember an Emilian adage: when you have to take it in that place, the wind lifts your shirt.

FIA: 2

The comic show of the Federales continues: the safety car entry is ridiculous, given that after the breakdown Stroll had parked the Aston Martin in a non-dangerous area (the virtual safety car would have been enough and it does not escape the fact that the more drastic choice seemed a way to help Verstappen comeback). Even more absurd, then, to take away the podium from Alonso after the award ceremony had already taken place. Finally, having canceled the provision in the middle of the night adds a grotesque tone to the story because the operational perimeter of the rule according to which penalties cannot be served under the safety car regime is not understood. The moral? The poppies of the FIA ​​never change.