FACTS AND STATS: Bearman makes it four Brits in the points for the first time since 1968

A century of podiums for one driver, the end of a 20-Grand Prix pointless streak for another, and a new team in fourth in the all-time winners list. Here’s a quick roundup of just some of the fascinating figures from Saturday’s race in Saudi Arabia.

• Verstappen today claimed a ninth consecutive race victory, tying the second-longest streak in F1 history, and trailing only his own record, which he set in the 10 races prior to his most recent defeat.

• Verstappen had never previously won the opening two races of a Grand Prix season.

• Verstappen today claimed his 100th career podium finish, only the seventh driver to reach that total.

REPORT: Verstappen seals assured victory in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Bearman scores points on debut

• Verstappen has now led the drivers’ championship for a greater percentage of his career than did Ayrton Senna (29.81%).

• Verstappen will now go to the next round in Australia having not retired from any race for two years (since Australia 2022).

• Red Bull have started the season with back-to-back one-two finishes for the second year running.

• Red Bull’s 115th win puts them into fourth on the all-time wins total, surpassing Williams and behind only Mercedes on 125, McLaren on 183 and Ferrari on 243.

• Sergio Perez took P2 in the second Red Bull and thus starts the year with consecutive second-place finishes, having not finished this high in any of the last eight races of 2023.

• Perez maintained second place in today’s race despite a five-second post-race penalty for an unsafe pit release.

• With Charles Leclerc P3 today, Ferrari are the only team other than Red Bull to finish on the podium so far in 2024.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Verstappen takes the win and Bearman shines

• Oscar Piastri took fourth for McLaren, who notably didn’t finish in the top-five in any of the opening eight races of last season.

• Piastri’s result was McLaren’s best-ever finish in Jeddah.

• With P5 for Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso has scored in both races this season, but finished lower than he started each time.

• With P6 for Mercedes, George Russell has achieved top-six finishes in both races this year.

• With P7 for Ferrari, Oliver Bearman became the 68th driver to score on his F1 debut, and the first British driver to do so since Paul Di Resta in 2011.

• Bearman becomes the fourth consecutive driver to score points when making his Grand Prix debut for Ferrari, after Ignazio Giunti and Clay Regazzoni in 1970, and Arturo Merzario in 1972.

• Lando Norris finished P8 in the second McLaren and has scored 12 points in the season’s opening two races (he needed eight races to score 12 points last year).

• After taking P9 for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has finished in the points in all four Jeddah F1 races, but has now gone five races without a top-six finish.

• Four British drivers scored points in the same race today, the first time that has happened since the 1968 French Grand Prix with John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, Vic Elford and Piers Courage.

DRIVER OF THE DAY: Bearman wins by a landslide with P7 on debut for Ferrari in Jeddah

• Nico Hulkenberg in P10 for Haas today ended a 20-race pointless streak in Grands Prix (not including Sprints).

• Hulkenberg helped Haas score in Jeddah for the third year in a row.

• Alex Albon’s P11 was Williams’ best result since he finished ninth in Mexico last season.

• In the second Haas, Kevin Magnussen finished 12th for the second consecutive weekend.

• Esteban Ocon’s P13 was Alpine’s best result of the year.

• At RB, Yuki Tsunoda finished 14th for the second consecutive weekend.