LANDO Norris secured his second points finish of the Formula 1 season after a “reasonable” race in Saudi Arabia on Saturday (March 9).

The Glastonbury racer started in sixth but briefly led the Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin in the barrier on lap seven.

All of the frontrunners came in for fresh tyres under the safety car – except Norris and Lewis Hamilton.

Norris led for three laps before championship leader Max Verstappen swooped past. 

When Norris and Hamilton did pit, both out of strategy sync, they came out behind Ferrari's 18-year-old debutant Ollie Bearman, who stepped in for Carlos Sainz on Friday after the Spaniard was ruled out of the race because of surgery to remove his appendix.

When Norris pitted on lap 37 out of 50, Bearman was 6.1 seconds up the road and had Hamilton behind him.

“At this pace will Norris catch us or not?” asked Bearman on the radio.

“We might have a chance to stay ahead of both of them,” came the reply from the Ferrari pit wall.

The lap counter ticked down but Bearman showed maturity way beyond his years to hold on to seventh place.

The teenager finished 5.7 seconds behind Mercedes' George Russell and comfortably ahead of Norris and Hamilton.

Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri took fifth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Max Verstappen romped to another comfortable triumph in his all-conquering Red Bull car – remarkably his 19th in 20 appearances.

Sergio Pérez completed a one-two finish for Red Bull, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third.

After his eighth-place finish, Norris told McLaren's website: “We tried something with strategy but, in the end, it didn't quite pay off – but it was a good effort and I think it was the right decision at the time as we were covering all options for the team.

“There was reasonable pace in the car today, so we maybe missed out on a couple of points, but I think we did what we could.

“We took a little bit of a gamble, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and today it didn’t, but it could have done! So, I'm still happy.

“I think today’s pace was pretty strong so there are some good signs there. On to the next one!”

Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 2024 results

  1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
  2. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
  3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
  4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
  5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
  6. George Russell (Mercedes)
  7. Oliver Bearman (Ferrari) 
  8. Lando Norris (McLaren)
  9. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
  10. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas)
  11. Alex Albon (Williams)
  12. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
  13. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
  14. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
  15. Logan Sergeant (Williams)
  16. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
  17. Valtteri Bottas (Stake)
  18. Zhou Guanyu (Stake)
  19. Lance Stroll – DNF (Aston Martin)
  20. Pierre Gasly – DNF (Alpine)