does it the easy way in f1. and under the twisty, tight saudi arabian sunday night lights, he showed just why he's a world champion. it's lights out and away we go. the sport's newest venue always delivers drama. perhaps surprisingly, given last year's pile up, it didn't happen at the start. the crunch of carbon fibre came from nicholas latifi mid—race, allowing charles le clerc in the red ferrari to leapfrog into the lead, tracked closely by verstappen. behind, lewis hamilton was cruising through the field, starting down the grid. he ran as high as sixth before a late virtual safety car unravelled his strategy, dropping him to 10th. out front, a repeat of bahrain last week and the fireworks between leclerc and verstappen. tit for tat, pass for pass. for ten laps they tussled but didn't tangle, as verstappen won the battle to take his first victory of the season. number one for a reason. ben croucher, bbc news. well, you just have to take a look