Daniel Ricciardo suffers embarrassing moment at Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, while young Oscar Piastri impresses

Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s streak of dominance with victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo will probably want to forget about his own performance.

The Dutchman led a Red Bull 1-2 of Sergio Perez and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, whose rookie teammate Oliver Bearman, 18, finished a brilliant seventh on his Formula One debut.

Carlos Sainz missed the race with Ferrari because he underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis.

Piastri had an excellent race, finishing fourth and ahead of his teammate Lando Norris.

However, it was not a good day for Ricciardo, who limped home in 16th place and suffered an embarrassing moment on lap 49 of 50 when he spun.

Commentators speculated that the 34-year-old may have been hit from behind, however replays showed he simply lost control.

“It’s very strange,” said commentator Karun Chandhok.

‘You have to say it, in that fight for the Red Bull seat. Pérez has done a very good job. Seven and a half seconds behind Max is a very, very strong performance and that’s exactly what they want. They want him to be ahead of everyone else and for him to be there if Max has a problem.”

Simon Lazenby said: “It’s been a frustrating night for Danny Ricciardo. He hasn’t been able to make any impression.

“He lost positions at the start and hasn’t made any impression in this race.”

After the race, Ricciardo admitted that it was probably a lack of concentration.

“Probably a little bit of frustration, maybe on my part,” he said.

Ricciardo remained optimistic about improving, despite the frustrating result.

“The reason I’m still optimistic is because I know we got some things wrong,” he said.

‘With a good car and everything in order, I know we can do much better. Three very painful days, but I don’t want that to take away our confidence.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted, but it’s Race 2 and the next one in Melbourne. So yeah, a big boost for everyone to do well and we’ll have a good weekend.

“I think I’ll obviously put this weekend behind me, just push the team hard,” he added.

‘I stayed up quite late last night trying to help everyone find the problems. It’s up to me now to continue with them.

‘I know they love him as much as I do.

“So make sure you have a good package for Melbourne. My season will start there and I’ll kick ass.

Verstappen was back in his own league and consolidated his lead in the championship season.

“I think overall it was a fantastic weekend for the whole team, but also for me as I felt great in the car,” Verstappen said.

‘The last few laps with the drivers at the back and old tires were a bit slippery, but we were able to handle it with the gap behind.

“The ideal would be not to do such a long run on the tyre, but we had to do it.”

The Dutchman’s victory is his ninth consecutive grand prix, since the Japanese GP last September.