Oscar Piastri managed to hold off the charging Max Verstappen to win the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. The pair tangled in the first corner of the race, leading to a penalty for Verstappen. This helped Piastri undercut the Dutchman to take the lead, and the Aussie never looked back.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded off the podium places to get the Scuderia’s first of the season. Leclerc managed to hold off Lando Norris, who was on the quicker medium tyres. This rounded out a miserable weekend for Norris, who lost the championship lead for the first time this season.
Oscar Piastri wins the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix to take the lead of the championship
Oscar Piastri launched off the line better than Max Verstappen and took the race lead into turn 1. However, Max regained the lead after cutting the corner. Verstappen didn’t give the lead back to Piastri, leading to the Dutchman getting a five-second time penalty. Verstappen pushed on but couldn’t pull enough of a gap to Piastri, who undercut the Red Bull driver to lead.
After the race, Piastri spoke about the turn 1 incident and said: “Once I got on the inside, I was not coming out of Turn 1 in second. In the end, that is what got me the race, so very happy with the work we do on the starts.”
🏁 Race Winner in Jeddah: OSCAR PIASTRI! 🏆🇸🇦
A flawless drive under the lights sees the McLaren man take victory ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc.
He now leads the Drivers’ Championship for the first time in his F1 career! 🔥#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/c43b3Rsxvo
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) April 20, 2025
Despite Verstappen catching Piastri towards the end of the race, the McLaren driver held on to win the race. This gave Piastri the lead of the championship, after Lando Norris could only recover to fourth after his crash on Saturday. However, Piastri wants McLaren to keep pushing to upgrade the car.
Piastri added: “It was a pretty tough race. Very happy to have won. It was tricky to follow – I couldn’t stay with Max at the end of the first stint, I chewed up my tyres. We still need a bit more, Max was a little bit too close for my liking.”
Red Bull had pace very close to McLaren, with Piastri unable to drop Verstappen the whole race. However, Max Verstappen said very little after the race, as he was disappointed with his finishing position.
Leclerc looking forward to new upgrades after Saudi Arabia Grand Prix podium
Charles Leclerc held on to beat Lando Norris to the final step on the podium. The Monegasque was surprised to be standing on the podium as he expected to be fighting with the Mercedes. However, staying out longer on the medium tyres gave him an offset where he could attack.
After the race, Leclerc said: “In qualifying, we don’t manage to extract more out the car. But I’m very happy with the race, we maximised everything. I never expected to finish [P3], I thought this race was about defending from the cars behind like Kimi [Antonelli].”
🔴| Charles Leclerc was pleased with Ferrari’s progress as he finished in P3 ahead of the charging Lando Norris:
“In Qualifying we don’t manage to extract more out the car. But I’m very happy with the race, we maximised everything. I never expected to finish [P3], I thought this… pic.twitter.com/JNiiiQ8PDU
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) April 20, 2025
However, Ferrari didn’t expect to be challenging for the podium. They expected to be challenging for race wins, but they are still falling short. Leclerc says he is looking forward to new upgrades, adding: “We need to keep pushing and hopefully upgrades are coming soon.”
With new upgrades, Ferrari hopes it can soon mount a challenge to McLaren, which is running away with the constructors’ championship. Ferrari bolstered their ranks by adding seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, and expected to win races. Despite a slow start to the season, the season is not over yet for the Scuderia.
