There was so much going on this weekend. Max Verstappen was quickest in qualifying and won the race by a lot. Securing his 100th podium in only his 187 race, saying in the press conference that he sees it as 87 missed opportunities.

Perez was second, but much further back, this time last year we had a veneer of a title challenge. Max now has a commanding advantage over his team mate and the rest of the field.

The win is also important as it appears to quieten the drama at Red Bull. After qualifying it appears all parties were rushing headlong towards the abyss with a Max departure to Mercedes looking the most likely scenario. 24 hours later, and after Oliver Mintzlaff had brought everyone to their senses, it appears that everything has returned to normal at Red Bull. It is a complicated story which keeps changing and while it appears to be stable at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if this is not the last we hear of it.

There is so much that is unclear or unknown that I don't feel comfortable commenting on the details until more has become clear. What was clear was the body language from Max, Christian, Adrian and Geri after the race made it look like there was unity back at the team - and that is what Max has been calling for.

While this story has given everyone something to focus on other than the racing, which lets be honest… has been rather dull. There was something to talk about on track. On qualifying day, Carlos Sainz pulled out due to appendicitis. His place was taken by young British F2 driver Oliver Bearman. 18 years old, from Chelmsford in England. Bearman is the Ferrari reserve driver, but has never (as far as I know) driven a Ferrari F1 car. He did do some Test and FP1 sessions last season with Haas - but not with Ferrari. He is quick, he has 4 F2 wins to his name and had put his F2 car on pole position on Friday before getting the call from Ferrari. So, without having driven the car, he had 1 practice session which was cut short when Zhou crashed and then straight into Qualifying, he was 0.6 seconds behind Max in Q2 which sadly was not enough to make it into Q3 - but he drove a very strong race to come from 11th to 7th in one of the hardest tracks. He is the third youngest driver ever to debut in F1, behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll - neither of which scored points in their first race. He is the 68th driver to score points on debut. He couldn't have done it at a better time with Ferrari president John Elkin at the race and watching every minute. Ollie looked so happy with this experience, he could not stop grinning, and the whole ferrari family were wishing him well. The race was gruelling for him, this track has the most corners of any of the circuit and by the end of the race he had damaged his headrest so much due to the g-forces apple. Talking of his helmet, he does race with a bear icon on his lid, which is kind of cool. This is his F2 helmet where he races with number 3, in F1 he had the temporary number of 38.

So what happens next, Sainz will probably return for Australia the next race, he actually came to the paddock on race day, the day after his operation, which I thought was a bit odd, and I don't know what the purpose of that appearance would have been. Surely remaining at the hospital and recovering would have been better. Next year Ferrari have Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclrec as their two drivers, so no option for Bearman there, but could there be an option for him over at Haas. The team has close ties with Ferrari and Ollie has already impressed the team with his previous outings for them.

Both Haas drivers actually had very good weekends Nico scored a point which for anyone not in a Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren or Aston Martin - that is a remarkable achievement. Those teams are so much ahead of the lower midfield. But that wouldn't have been possible if Magnussen hadn't selflessly held up the pack so Nico had enough time to do a pit stop and come out ahead. It was one of the best examples of teamwork in F1. Well done Haas. Remember Haas thought they would be slowest at the start of the year.

It was another bad weekend for Alpine, both cars were out in Q1 they did manage to beat Logan Sargent which was a slight improvement from last weekend. This was a particularly bad weekend to have performed so poorly as Renault CEO Luca de Meo was watching from the garage in Jeddah and couldn't have liked what he saw. Things don't look good in the team, a slew of firings and resignations have left the team reeling and somehow they need to pull it together and start showing results. De Meo is not a patient man.

Alpine investor Anthony Joshua also attended the race, having knocked out Francis Ngannou in the second round the night before in a heavyweight clash in Riyad. Other celebrities at the race included Joseph Mohrinio, the special one recently parted ways with Roma. I also was able to capture a photograph of Pharral WIlliams in a cowboy hat, and Gigi Buffon, the number 1 of number 1's. Possibly the best Goal keeper of all.

Over at F2 Enzo Fittipaldi pulled off one of the great double overtakes for the lead in the feature race to pull off a remarkable audacious win from 4th on the grid to go with his 3rd place in the sprint race. This has him 2nd in the standings behind Zane Maloney. Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes prodigy is 10th bagging a pair of 6th places this weekend as he comes up to speed with F2.

Have you ever wondered how close F1 cars get to the wall? This shot of Max Verstappen at the final corner shows how little room for error there is. Sometimes they get it wrong, as Lance Stroll did in the Aston Martin. Clipping the wall and flying off into the barrier. He was able to walk away despite crashing at around 250 kph. We did get a little glimpse of the underside of his car as the marshalls moved it away.

View my video of the race here.

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