Max Verstappen stayed on top of the Formula One world championship in Saudi Arabia on Sunday but was still unhappy at having to settle for second in the race behind Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

The Dutch driver paid the price for a drive-shaft failure in Saturday qualifying that left him fighting from 15th on the starting grid in Jeddah while Mexican Perez started on pole position.

“I recovered to second which is good and of course in general the whole feeling in the team, everyone is happy,” Verstappen told reporters.

“But personally I am not happy because I am not here to be second, especially when you are working very hard also back at the factory to make sure that you arrive here in a good state and basically making sure that everything is spot on.

“And then you have to do a recovery race, which I like. I don’t mind doing it. But when you’re fighting for a championship and especially when it looks like it’s just between two cars, you have to make sure that also the two cars are reliable.”

The double world champion, who won the opening race in Bahrain with Perez second, stayed top overall because he set the fastest lap on his way to the chequered flag. He was second already at half-distance but had a scare when he felt the drive-shaft was running “a bit rough”. “It makes like a weird noise at high speed,” he told his race engineer.

The champion has now led the standings for 19 races in a row, since the Spanish Grand Prix last May.

Alonso’s 100

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso celebrated his 100th F1 podium after stewards reversed a penalty decision that had demoted him from third to fourth.

The stewards said in a statement they had reviewed new evidence presented by the team, including video footage showing seven similar previous incidents where teams had not been penalised.

The decision meant Mercedes’s George Russell dropped back to fourth from third.