Listen to this article Red Bull’s Sergio Perez led from his first F1 career pole position start but his race came undone after making his pitstop just before a safety car, which promoted Leclerc to the lead ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Verstappen passed Leclerc after an intense battle where, like in Bahrain, they swapped the lead between them. Verstappen made the decisive move with four laps to go following a wild game of chicken over who reached the DRS line first. Read Also: 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race results How the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix unfolded Perez held his pole advantage on the run to Turn 1, ahead of Leclerc. Verstappen passed Sainz around the outside of Turn 2, with Esteban Ocon (Alpine) holding fifth from George Russell (Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri). Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton gained a spot to run 14th at the end of the opening lap after his troubled qualifying. Russell grabbed fifth from Ocon at the end of Lap 3. Alonso then got DRS on Ocon, but his teammate defending his sixth position hard for two laps before Alonso made it stick on Lap 7. Ocon re-attacked and regained the position using the run-off at Turn 1. Ocon let Alonso past, while ensuring he got DRS, and their fight allowed Bottas and Magnussen (the first car to start on hard tyres) on to their tail. Perez opened up a 2.3s lead over Leclerc by Lap 10, with Verstappen a further 2s back. Hamilton, who started on hards, worked himself up to 12th and then passed Lando Norris’s McLaren and Gasly to rise into the top 10 by Lap 15. Ocon and Alonso had another turf war on Lap 12, after which Ocon was then told to “hold position”. That didn’t work out, as Bottas passed Ocon for seventh at Turn 1. Perez pitted for hard tyres on Lap 16, after Ferrari had pretended to call in Leclerc. Just after his stop, Nicholas Latifi put his Williams into the fence, causing a virtual safety car and then a full safety car. Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz all pitted for hards, with Perez feeding back into the field in third – coming very close to Sainz on the pit exit. Sainz was ahead of Perez at the safety car line, but the positions weren’t swapped before the restart on Lap 20, but he let him through soon after. Russell passed the non-stopping Magnussen for fifth at Turn 1. Hamilton also gained spots having not pitted yet, and now ran seventh behind Magnussen. Hamilton passed Magnussen on Lap 23 but the Dane repassed him into Turn 1. …