Experience the Best Moments from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Top Social Media Highlights

The second race of the Formula 1 season saw Red Bull once again dominate the podium and Ferrari secured a third-place finish thanks to Charles Leclerc, who also clinched the fastest lap of the race. Despite Carlos Sainz’s absence, he remained a prominent figure on social media.

Red Bull Racing continued to dominate podium with Verstappen and Checo Pérez. Their triumph at the Jeddah Corniche street circuit marked their 115th victory in F1, making them the fourth most winning team.

Carlos Sainz missed the race due to appendicitis surgery, but his presence on social media was remarkable. The Spanish driver shared an image from his hospital bed with his 16 million social media followers to express gratitude for the well-wishes. The image Sainz posted was a nod to his father, the current Dakar champion, who underwent appendicitis surgery 40 years ago.

Sainz’s post earned 3.4 million engagements and became the most engaging post across the entire grid during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix week. Sainz had already generated the most engagements during the first race weekend of the 2024 season, when he secured third place.

Ferrari, a Star on the Track and Social Media

The Italian team led the most popular posts on the grid, being present in the top five posts with the highest engagement. From Monday, March 4 to Sunday, March 11, after the race, Ferrari topped the Blinkfire’s Instagram engagement ranking, with an astonishing average of 279,868 engagements per post.

Bearman’s Impressive Debut

At 18 years old, Oliver Bearman had the challenging task of replacing Carlos Sainz, and the British driver didn’t disappoint. Bearman secured a seventh-place finish that earned him the “Driver of the Day” title by popular vote.

Bearman boasts 1.3 million followers, gaining 666,500 from March 7 – March 11. To better understand the impact of his Formula 1 debut, one need only look at the performance of his latest Instagram post compared to previous data. His average engagement per post on Instagram over the last 365 days is 99,000, while the post he shared after the race on Sunday, March 10, garnered 581,902 interactions.

TikTok Highlights

F1’s TikTok experienced a 1.67% increase in followers this week, with more than 414,600 new followers. Why is this so significant in the world of sports, specifically in Formula 1? The answer lies in the importance of attracting new followers, especially those who may not be familiar with motorsport.

The video platform offers a unique opportunity for teams, drivers, and racing as a whole to break barriers and connect with a wider audience. How? Through a marketing strategy aimed at creating content that is both entertaining and educational, using relevant hashtags, and participating in popular trends, they can capture the attention of a new generation of fans.

TikTok is not only a trendy platform with millions of active users worldwide but also an invaluable tool for expanding and diversifying the reach of F1. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite posts from the weekend.

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