Verstappen Said After Winning The Saudi Arabian GP: Patience Is Always The Key

Max Verstappen (Instagram @maxverstappen1)

JAKARTA - Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen scored his first points of the season after winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah following the failure of the Red Bull team who suffered a "double DNF" in Bahrain a week earlier.

The 24-year-old Dutch racer is now in third place in the standings after the opening two races.

He admitted that he needed patience to beat the 50-lap race against Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who found his team-mate Carlos Sainz also on the podium in third place.

An incredible battle, from start to finish 👊

This, is why we love Formula 1 ❤️#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Yre4VZZe2Y

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 27, 2022

"I am very happy that we have finally started the season," said Verstappen.

"Patience is always the key," said the rider who started the race from the fourth starting position.

"Especially when you want to win this championship you always fight hard, but of course, you have to remember that you need to score points, so that's what we did today.

"We are racing hard but we also want to score points."

Verstappen was behind Leclerc in the final 10 laps at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit but he had the advantage of using the DRS on the straights and overtaking the Monaco driver in the final four laps before finishing.

Red Bull and Ferrari were not too far apart throughout the day's race thanks to the new 2022 car generation following a major regulatory overhaul to create a more stringent race.

"We saw it in Bahrain, we saw it here. There seems to be very little choice between the two of us," said Red Bull's chief technical officer Adrian Newey.

"I think it's going to be a development war (of cars) from now on, but that development war is being fought with one hand tied behind the back due to budget constraints.

"Our season has finally started after the disappointment of last weekend, so it's great to be back."

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the fight with Ferrari was tough.

"They have a great car, an amazing driver... if that's going to color the rest of the season, it's going to be epic," said Horner.

"We have to keep working hard now because with the new and young regulations the steps will be big and fast and our opponents will not standstill.

"We will bring a number of developments for this car going forward."