Far out: Red Bull goes 1-2 at Saudi

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stayed firmly on course for another season of dominance in Formula 1 by winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Even after just two races, and despite turmoil involving team management, Verstappen seems to be in nearly total control on the track as he aims for a fourth consecutive title this year.

“A fantastic weekend for the whole team and also for myself. I felt really good with the car,” Verstappen said.

The 26-year-old Dutch driver won easily ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez by 8.6 seconds on the road and 13.6 seconds once a time penalty for Perez was factored in. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third.

“It was a bit of a boring race because Red Bull were a bit too quick and behind we had a bit of a gap, but we took the maximum points we could today,” Leclerc said.

Verstappen started from pole position in Jeddah, just as he did on his way to winning the season-opening Bahrain GP a week earlier, and held off Leclerc at the first corner before quickly building his lead.

The only interruption came when Lance Stroll’s crash brought out the safety car. Verstappen came into the pits for a tire change, and after the restart, he easily passed Lando Norris, who hadn’t stopped, to retake the lead.

Perez had a five-second penalty because Red Bull released him from a pit stop into the path of another car, but that didn’t matter because he finished far ahead of Leclerc.

Verstappen has won nine races in a row dating to last season and 19 of the past 20 races overall.