Due to the characteristics of the Jeddah Street Circuit, venue of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the drivers were aware that they should not risk too much in the first few laps, since the chances of having an accident here are much higher.
Everyone respected each other during the first few laps, until Fernando Alonso, who started seventh, slipped into the slipstream of his teammate, Esteban Ocon, fighting for sixth position.
The French driver did everything possible to avoid losing position against his teammate, even closing him against the wall on the finish straight, being very close to causing a fairly serious accident.
After that incident, Alonso learned his lesson and prepared himself better in the following laps. Thanks to that, the Spanish driver managed to get out close to Ocon in the last corner of Jeddah and with the help of the DRS he managed to gain position when he reached the first corner.
However, the battle did not end there, as Ocon tried to give him back the overtaking, but he was overly optimistic and gained position off the track, specifically going through the turn 2 run-off, something that forced him to return position .
Both drivers continued their battle over the next few laps and, although the Alpine pit wall was full of long faces every time the two team cars closed in on each other between the Jeddah barriers, they did not hesitate to fight despite the risk that this entailed.
Finally, the French rider paid dearly for his two braking passes and little by little he lost pace, something that relegated him to eighth position, with Valtteri Bottas climbing to seventh place after taking advantage of a battle between the two Alpines that lasted more than five laps.
