SAUDI ARABIAN GP – Oscar Piastri holds off Max Verstappen to take a three-second win and the championship lead as Lando Norris finishes fourth
Oscar Piastri has won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and taken the lead of the championship after taking a nearly three-second win. Piastri passed Max Verstappen after his pit stop to then control the closing laps despite the Red Bull driver chipping away at his lead.
Piastri had retook the lead off teammate Lando Norris with eighteen laps to go, as the Englishman was run along opening stint to come through the field to finish fourth despite his attempts to try and close the gap to pass Charles Leclerc for third. Norris started in tenth following a crash in Q3 yesterday but avoided a grid penalty after not damaging his gearbox or power unit.
The Red Bull driver started from pole, and was aware it was going to be a tough race to keep the McLaren behind, but it lasted only through the opening corners. Piastri got the better launch allowing him to get alongside Verstappen then entering Turn Two and cut the corner, claiming he had been forced off, the stewards disagreed and gave the Dutchman his penalty, which he served at his pit stop.
Piastri, who had tracked Verstappen closely through the first stint, before beginning to drop off a little in the couple of laps before their stops, was now in a near five-second lead, which he managed to stabilise for the rest of the race. But the first stint kept Verstappen ahead of Russell and Leclerc.
The battle between Piastri and Verstappen was on for much of the first stint, the dutchman had taken the lead unfairly the stewards decided after he cut the first corner during the opening metres of the race, he was given a five-second time penalty served at his first stop. Piastri was then able to undercut the four-time champion despite a slow pit stop.
Verstappen was given a five-second penalty but was seven seconds ahead of Leclerc retaining second after pushing Piastri wide and retaining the lead. but despite the penalty the Dutchman had managed to stay with Piastri throughout the race. The Dutchman showed decent pace to prove he can still be a factor in the championship at the quarter of the way through the season.
Piastri wins his third race of the season in the McLaren, he said: “I’m looking for a couch, it was a pretty tough race. I’m very happy to have obviously won, I made the difference at the start and made my case into Turn One and that was enough. It was really tricky to follow out there, I couldn’t really stay with Max Verstappen at the end of the first stint and I just chewed up my tyres.”
Leclerc said, “It’s the way it is for now, unfortunately in qualifying we don’t manage to extract more out of the car. I was extremely happy with the lap yesterday and I was very happy with the race today, I think we maximised absolutely everything.”
Norris meanwhile used the McLaren’s pace advantage and an offset tyre strategy to stop later in the race after starting on hards and switching to mediums for the last fifteen laps when he rejoined behind George Russell who. He then passed in the closing stages to take fourth, the long first stint put Norris into clear air allowing him to run at his best pace and come through the field.
Norris will know if he wants to genuinely challenge his teammate Piastri for this championship he needs not make the mistakes like he did yesterday in qualifying when he crashed costing him the chance of fighting for the win. But he was lucky to escape without a grid penalty, not quite the Easter Sunday resurrection he would have wanted but still a decent result from tenth.
He told Sky Sports, “I think it’s the best we could have done today, it’s a shame we didn’t stand on the podium. We were close and it’s always hard to judge those things, Charles [Leclerc] drove a good race and a good first stint. I’m pleased on the whole but I make life tough for myself, especially when it’s a race like that. It would have been much easier and a lot more chill just to drive at the front.”
Russell finished eighteen seconds behind Norris as he looked not to have the pace to defend from the McLaren who rapidly closed in before passing him with nine laps to go. The Mercedes driver finished eighteen seconds ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli, Russell had looked like a podium finisher but Leclerc and Norris stopping later gave them tyre advantage allowing them to overtake in the latter stages.
Piastri leads the drivers’ championship by ten points from Norris, the first Australian since his manager Mark Webber to lead the championship in 2010. McLaren extends its lead to seventy-seven points over Mercedes in the constructors.
With 2025 shaping up to be an all time classic a quarter of the way through the season there could be a lot of twists and turns before the sport returns to the Middle East in late November.
Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle for grip and made no progress in the race staying seventh and finishing four seconds behind his Mercedes replacement. It was another strong race for Kimi Antonelli who was seven seconds behind Russell and ahead of Hamilton by four seconds.
Williams have perhaps now cemented their position in the midfield Carlos Sainz was eighth finishing nearly two second ahead of teammate Alex Albon, while Isack Hadjar completed the top ten. The French Algerian driver half a second behind Albon, despite his best efforts to try and pass the Williams in the closing stages.
Liam Lawson was eleventh on the road, but a ten-second time penalty, for passing Jack Doohan off track and gaining an advantage, dropped him behind Fernando Alonso, the Aston Martin driver eight seconds outside the points. Ollie Bearman was thirteenth as he finished twenty seconds ahead of Haas teammate Esteban Ocon.
Nico Hulkenberg was leader of the lapped cars as he finished just under a second ahead of Lance Stroll, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the field.
Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly were the only retirements the two former teammates crashed on the opening lap bringing out the safety car. The Frenchman ran into the back of the Red Bull breaking the Japanese
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- SAUDI ARABIAN GP – Max Verstappen beats Oscar Piastri by a hundredth to take pole, as Lando Norris crashes out of Q3
- SAUDI ARABIAN GP – Lando Norris a quarter of a tenth faster than Oscar Piastri in third practice
- SAUDI ARABIAN GP – Lando Norris leads a McLaren one-two by a tenth and a 2§half in second practice
- SAUDI ARABIAN GP – Pierre Gasly fastest going seven hundredths faster than Lando Norris in first practice
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