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JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - APRIL 20: Race winner Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren and the McLaren team celebrate in the Pitlane after the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 20, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images)
(Photo by Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images)

F1 Review: Oscar Piastri Gets the Jump On Max Verstappen, Wins Saudi Arabia GP, Takes Championship Lead

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Oscar Piastri aced the start in Saudi Arabia, applying immediate pressure on Max Verstappen, who uncharacteristically blinked and was penalized for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Verstappen was punished with a five-second penalty, and that was enough for Piastri to cruise to the win in the STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday (April 20th), beating the Dutchman by nearly three seconds. It was Piastri’s second straight triumph and boosted the Australian to the top of the drivers standings.

“It was a pretty tough race,” Piastri said. “I made the difference at the start — I made my case into Turn 1, and that was enough. Once I got on the inside, I wasn’t coming out of Turn 1 in second.

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Oscar Piastri Wins in Saudi Arabia, Takes F1 Points Lead

“In the end, that’s what got me the race, so I’m very happy with all the work we’ve been doing at the starts.”

Charles Leclerc continued to lead the way for Ferrari and took third, snatching his first podium of the season. McLaren’s Lando Norris, who crashed in Q3 on Saturday (April 19th) and started 10th, scored a small victory with a fourth-place finish. Mercedes’ George Russell took fifth, over 27 seconds behind Piastri’s winning time, while teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli earned sixth. 

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, still struggling with his Ferrari, came home in seventh, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz posting his best result of the year with an eighth. Williams teammate Alex Albon finished ninth, and Racing Bulls’ Isaak Hadjar grabbed the last points-paying position.  

In the driver standings, Piastri leads Norris by 10 points, 99 to 89, with Verstappen a close third with 87 points, 14 ahead of Russell. 

In the constructor standings, the McLaren runaway continued, as the team added 19 points to their growing cushion over Mercedes, and now leads 188 to 111. Red Bull is third with 89 points.

The Race

Piastri blasted off the line at lights out and was just ahead of Verstappen as the two entered Turn 1. Verstappen bailed and cut the corner to keep the position, a move that the race stewards investigated. Verstappen swore innocence but was ultimately given a five-second time penalty.  

Back in the pack, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda made contact, sending Gasly into the wall, bringing out the safety car of the race. Tsunoda was able to make it to the pits but retired soon after.

Norris, who started 10th, was up to seventh by lap 7 and eyeing a podium as his best-case scenario, while anything outside of the top 5 would be considered a huge disappointment. 

With the first pit window approaching, Piastri was closing on Verstappen and within DRS range. Even if he had been close enough to make a move, it would have been a risky move for Piastri, knowing Verstappen’s upcoming penalty. While Piastri showed aggression at the start, it was now time for methodical patience. 

Norris and Hamilton traded positions several times in the day’s most exciting battle (save for the Piastri-Verstappen opening scrap), it was a testament to the Jeddah street circuit’s wide open passing opportunities. Norris finally cleared Hamilton for good on lap 15 and set off with clean air in search of an attainable podium.

Piastri pitted on lap 20 for hard tires, and a somewhat slow 3.4 stop brought him back out in sixth, behind Hamilton. It wasn’t the McLaren pit crew’s best work, but it also wasn’t a disastrous stop, which would have been the only way to allow Verstappen back in the race.

Verstappen pitted two laps later and served his time penalty, emerging in fifth, about three seconds behind Piastri in third, which confirmed that Verstappen’s five-second penalty was too much for even him to overcome. Piastri had the win in the bag, barring a colossal mistake or an untimely safety car.

Norris assumed the lead when Leclerc pitted on lap 30, with Norris still on his original set of hard tires. Norris planned to stretch his stint as long as possible and hope for a safety car. If no safety car had happened, he would be primed for medium tires and a late dash for position. 

Once Norris pitted, on lap 35, the Piastri-Verstappen 1-2 order resumed, with Piastri holding a comfortable four-second lead over the Red Bull. With Red Bull’s lack of pace compared to McLaren’s, it seemed unlikely that Verstappen would be able to mount a challenge for the lead.

With five laps to go, Norris was just over two seconds behind Leclerc in third. A podium finish would be a huge victory for Norris after his qualifying crash. But Leclerc remained steady and didn’t allow Norris any hope. 

Piastri took the checkered flag with a handy three-second edge over Verstappen and became the leader in the drivers standings for the first time in his career.  

The Good

Sunday’s race on the Jeddah Street Circuit had everything: an awesome start, a battle for the lead into Turn 1, a championship-impacting penalty, a crash, and a safety car – all in the first lap! And that was about it for excitement.    

Piastri’s win hammers home the fact that 2025 will be a three-way battle for the world championship. And a Piastri-Verstappen rivalry is born, to go along with the well-established Norris-Verstappen rivalry. In addition, there’s the awkward Norris-Piastri dynamic at McLaren, in which Zak Brown has no idea who to prioritize. Or, you could simply say, “Zak Brown has no idea,” and it would also be a factual statement.

Currently, Piastri looks like the favorite. But that could, and will, change many times over the course of the season.  

The Bad

Lance Stroll again failed to advance from Q1 and now holds the record for most Q1 eliminations in F1 history. That’s 75 Q1 eliminations for those counting and laughing at home. If you had $51 million for every Stroll Q1 elimination, you’d have about $3.8 billion, which is enough to buy your marginally talented son an F1 seat and keep him there indefinitely. So, when his pops Lawrence Stroll says “Lance is going nowhere,” it has a double meaning. 

Lando Norris blew his chance to leave Saudi Arabia as the championship leader with a crash in Q3 on Saturday (April 19th). It was a huge mental error, one that a seasoned F1 driver in the midst of a championship fight cannot make. 

Norris clearly has the talent to be a world champion. That’s not debatable. But can he find the mindset and cerebral fortitude needed to pair with that talent? Many have questioned that aspect of Norris’ makeup, including Norris himself. Norris called himself an “idiot” after his Q3 crash. He didn’t need to; that was understood. I see some serious self-reflection in Norris’ future, or maybe a sports psychologist.

In short, Norris doesn’t need to lessen his mistakes; he needs to eliminate them. It’s time for Norris to put on his big boy pants. The question that arises is: Does Norris even own a pair of big boy pants? If he doesn’t, he needs to invest in a pair quickly. And when he finds a nice-fitting pair, I suggest he do what every world champion in F1 history has done: put those big boy pants on one leg at a time. 

Lewis Hamilton continues to struggle with his Ferrari, and while he has finished in the points in every race this season, he hasn’t been remotely close to competing for a win, and even a podium finish looks beyond reach. Hamilton is still getting to know his car, and I don’t even think he’s on a first-name basis with it yet, let alone has made it to second base with the car.   

Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto nearly wrecked Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso when Bortoleto moved under braking, forcing Alonso into evasive action. The incident was made more notable because Bortoleto is represented by Alonso’s management firm. If Alonso would like to speak to the manager, that could easily be arranged. Bortoleto might also want to speak to the manager and ask, “Is a seat in a Sauber the best you could do?” To which said manager might reply, “Do you know who I am? More importantly, do you know who you are? You’re a rookie, and you’re father is not a billionaire. Be happy you’re in a car, albeit one that is a good one lap off the pace of the front-runners.” 

Sore Loser Of The Day

Max Verstappen walked out of a post-race interview with David Coulthard after Coulthard asked him about his thoughts on his penalty. Verstappen answered briefly, saying, “I’m going to keep it quite short. The rest is what it is. I’m looking forward to Miami – see you there.” Then he left. 

I respect Verstappen’s opinion. His opinion is that he did nothing wrong. The problem is that’s his only opinion. Had Verstappen been in Piastri’s position, he would have insisted he did nothing wrong. I applaud race stewards for having the guts to tell Verstappen that he was wrong. Because no one else is going to do it, certainly no one in the Red Bull organization. Christian Horner is Verstappen’s No. 1 cheerleader, and would probably dress as one if Verstappen asked him to. 

Verstappen’s go-to move is being the fearless one heading into a high-speed corner side-by-side with another driver. Piastri called Verstappen’s bluff, and Verstappen, as the driver forced to back down, folded. Verstappen is angry that he was penalized and therefore lost the race.  What angered him more than anything was that he was made to look weak.

Verstappen will undoubtedly channel his anger and disappointment into whatever he considers his revenge. That could be a win in Miami in two weeks, or making sure he never backs down to Piastri again. Piastri, energized by his own bravery and skill, was prepared for whatever Verstappen had in store. So, the next time these two meet in Turn 1, wherever, whenever, should be a spectacle.

Grid Walk Moments

Brundle had a difficult time finding celebrities to speak with, and when he did find someone, he was rebuffed.

Who does Usher think he is, having his bodyguard block Brundle away from interviewing the star (that’s right, I said “star,” and not “superstar.”) Usher is no longer “A-list;” he’s barely “R&B-list.” Can you name a post-2002 Usher smash hit? If you answered “Yeah,” you might be right, or you might be lying.

I get it, Usher, you’re on the grid just chilling, and you don’t want to have to answer the same tired old questions that you’ve been asked thousands of times. Plus, you’ve got a post-race concert to prepare for, and you want it to pop, because Saudi race organizers are probably paying you ten times what you would command anywhere else.    

Had Brundle Grid Walked on Saturday, he likely would have bumped into Jennifer Lopez, who was a guest of Ferrari. J-Lo would have been easy to find – she was wearing a pink leather, body-conforming catsuit, which likely had better aero than Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. And she would have likely welcomed an interview with Brundle, as she has a smart public relations team that would have told her that talking with Brundle is good for business.   

And when you’re struggling to find celebrities, or anyone of the least bit of importance, there’s always Alpine technical director/international scoundrel Flavio Briatore to fall back on for an interview. And when Brundle needed him most, there was Flavio to the rescue. Briatore always has something to say, whether it’s truthful or coherent, is another story. Briatore, bless his heart, always looks like a man who just woke up and can’t remember if his dentures are in or out.

The Driver

Piastri did what his McLaren teammate Norris can’t do, and that’s refuse to back down to Verstappen. Norris, had he been in that same position entering Turn 1, would have no doubt backed off, fearing a collision with Verstappen. Of course, Norris wouldn’t have been in that position because he wouldn’t have zoomed to the start that Piastri did.

Piastri knew his best chance, and maybe only chance, to pass Verstappen was at the start. And he pounced when he knew he had an edge, albeit a slight one, over the Red Bull entering Turn 1. Piastri gave Verstappen a taste of his own medicine, and Max definitely does not like the taste of his own medicine.  

Piastri willed himself to that victory; Norris often “will not’s” himself out of victory.


The Results (STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Jeddah Street Circuit)

PosNoDriverCarLapsTime/retiredPts
181Oscar PiastriMcLaren Mercedes501:21:06.75825
21Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT50+2.843s18
316Charles LeclercFerrari50+8.104s15
44Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes50+9.196s12
563George RussellMercedes50+27.236s10
612Kimi AntonelliMercedes50+34.688s8
744Lewis HamiltonFerrari50+39.073s6
855Carlos SainzWilliams Mercedes50+64.630s4
923Alexander AlbonWilliams Mercedes50+66.515s2
106Isack HadjarRacing Bulls Honda RBPT50+67.091s1
1114Fernando AlonsoAston Martin Aramco Mercedes50+75.917s0
1230Liam LawsonRacing Bulls Honda RBPT50+78.451s0
1387Oliver BearmanHaas Ferrari50+79.194s0
1431Esteban OconHaas Ferrari50+99.723s0
1527Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber Ferrari49+1 lap0
1618Lance StrollAston Martin Aramco Mercedes49+1 lap0
177Jack DoohanAlpine Renault49+1 lap0
185Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber Ferrari49+1 lap0
NC22Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT1DNF0
NC10Pierre GaslyAlpine Renault0DNF0

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