F1 2025: Piastri wins Saudi Arabian GP to take championship lead

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian GP after polesitter Max Verstappen was penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the opening lap. With his third win of the season secured, Piastri has now overtaken his teammate Lando Norris to claim the 2025 F1 championship lead.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fended off Norris to finish third and claim his first podium appearance this season.

1. Piastri wins 2.843 secs ahead of Verstappen
2. Leclerc P3, Hamilton P7 for Ferrari
3. Both Williams drivers in top 10

Piastri takes 2025 F1 championship lead

Piastri made a blistering start from second on the grid. He drew level with Verstappen on the run towards Turn 1 before the Red Bull driver cut across the apex to hold on to the lead.

With Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly’s crashes bringing out the Safety Car soon after, Verstappen didn’t quite get the chance to give the position back to Piastri and he was ultimately handed a five-second penalty for the incident.

Piastri acknowledged that he had a tough time staying with Verstappen in the first stint on medium tyres. Nevertheless, he took the race lead once Verstappen served his penalty during his sole pitstop. The Australian took his third win of the season 2.843 secs ahead of Verstappen.

“It wasn't the easiest of wins. I think the start was tough, the first stint was tough behind Max. And then once I had some clean air, it was a bit easier to manage. But I still couldn't afford to take my foot off the gas,” Piastri told media after the race.

“It was a difficult race, and Max was quick behind me, so I had to keep pushing. And, yep, I think I could control it reasonably well, but it was a little bit tighter than I would have liked.”

Verstappen “positively surprised” by Red Bull’s Jeddah turnaround

It’s been a rollercoaster of a season so far for Red Bull. But despite losing out on victory, Verstappen admitted he was“positively surprised” with Red Bull’s race form, specially given the struggles faced in Friday practice.

“On Friday it was very, very tough. It didn't matter what I was doing in terms of driving [or] management, the tyres would just fall off,” said Verstappen. “The car was a lot nicer [in the race]. [There are] still limitations, but it was much more promising”

The Red Bull driver doesn’t want to get carried away with the result, though, and pointed out that the Jeddah Corniche Circuit didn’t have a lot of tyre degradation. “We know that when we go to tracks where there's higher degradation, we just struggle more. We still need to work on that. But the changes that we made already yesterday also worked for today. So, I'm very pleased with that,” he added.

Leclerc: “We maximised everything we could”

Leclerc opted for a longer opening stint on medium tyres before switching to hard tyres on Lap 30. He held off a charging Norris in the closing laps to finish third.

“I feel like we've maximised absolutely everything we could have this weekend. There wasn't anything more in the car,” The Ferrari driver revealed after the race. “I think we need to focus on qualifying because it's been a very long time I haven't been as happy with the car balance.”

Leclerc added, “we were all surprised by our pace in free air on the first stint. That was really good. Everything else was perfectly executed.”

Norris bounded back from his qualifying crash to finish fourth, followed by the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton was next for Ferrari, claiming seventh place. Both the Williams drivers also scored points, with Carlos Sainz taking P8 ahead of his teammate Alex Albon. Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar completed the top 10.

2025 F1 championship standings

Piastri now holds a 10-point lead over Norris in the championship. Verstappen remains third overall, 12 points behind Piastri. Over in the teams’ championship, McLaren has already pulled 77 points clear of second-placed Mercedes in the standings.

After a one-week break, F1 will now head to the USA for the Miami GP on May 2-4.

2025 Saudi Arabian GP results

Also see:

F1 2025: Piastri takes commanding Bahrain GP win to join title fight