Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah 2025
STARTING GRID:
1) VERSTAPPEN 2) PIASTRI 3) RUSSELL 4) LECLERC 5) ANTONELLI 6) SAINZ HAMILTON 7) TSUNODA 8) GASLY 9) GASLY 10) NORRIS 11) ALBON 12) LAWSON 13) ALONSO 14) HADJAR 15) BEARMAN 16) STROLL 17) DOOHAN 18) HULKENBERG 19) OCON 20) BORTOLETO
LAP 1: A good start from Oscar Piastri had him right beside Max Verstappen. Going into turn 1, Verstappen didn’t make the corner as he tried to defend against Piastri and cut the second corner as he kept the lead of the race.
Kimi Antonelli did the same going into the second corner but gave the place immediately back to Charles Leclerc to avoid a penalty.
As they went through turns 4 and into 5 Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda collided with both in the wall. Pierre Gasly was unable to carry on due to the damage to his car but Yuki Tsunoda tried to get the car moving before he retired the car. The replay showed that Gasly was looking to go round the outside of turn 4 and into turn 5 alongside Tsunoda but front and back wheels collided, leading to the incident. Before the end of lap 1 the Safety Car is deployed to clear the track.
LAP 3: The Safety Car ended at the end of lap 3, with Verstappen still leading. He got a good jump ahead of Piastri as he may have been wary of George Rusell at the restart. As they cross the line into lap 4, Verstappen is given a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Just as he looked to be pulling away he had an immediate set back.
The rest of the pack behind Verstappen were all close and compact but kept it clean as they all maintained their positions going into turns 1 and 2.
LAP 7: Lando Norris passed Carlos Sainz on the pit straight as he moved up to P7 and started to go after Lewis Hamilton. He kept a close slip stream on Sainz as he dived to the inside towards turn 1, passing his old teammate with relative ease.
LAP 13: Lando Norris again made moves as it took him just 5 laps to catch and overtake Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari. Another dive to the inside this time he chose to lunge unto the final corner. However, Lando seemed to make the move a bit too early as Hamilton got the DRS down the main straight. Hamilton took the position back with an error by Lando which cost him.
The identical thing happened on the next lap as Lando went for the move into the last corner but went too early as the DRS detection zone worked in Hamilton’s favour. He then passed Lando in the exact same way going down the pit straight.
LAP 15: With the help of some advice from the pit wall and by biding his time, Lando managed to make the move stick. He waited until after the detection zone to make the move and passed Hamilton with ease. A couple of frustrating laps for Lando, which may have hampered his progress and cost him in the long term.
LAP 19: Norris seemed to have learnt his lesson in picking his moments as he overtook Kimi Antonelli on the pit straight. Which was not met with much fight as it appeared Antonelli knew it was the battle he was fighting in the long term in the race.
LAP 21: Oscar Piastri pitted and ended up behind Lewis Hamilton, who was yet to pit. The Aussie driver was extremely brave and confident in his car to make a move on Hamilton on the outside of turn 22. A collective reaction of “WOW!” and the move being called “absolutely sensational” by Martin Brundle and Crofty from Sky Sports commentary. An excellent move by Pistri with no fear and supreme confidence to even think about that move.
LAP 22: Max Verstappen pitted and served the 5 second time penalty but despite being told he was pulling away and doing an excellent job, Piastri managed to get ahead of him. Not just Piastri but also Hamilton managed to stay ahead although he would later be passed when Hamilton pitted.
LAP 35: Lando Norris came in for his pit stop. A stop of 2.6 seconds by the McLaren team helped Lando to move into 5th place ahead of Antonelli. He moved forward with fresh medium tyres to try and maximise his result for the weekend, with those around him on the hard compound tyres.
LAP 38: The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc picks his moment and is patient to power past George Russell on the pit straight. He moved up to P3 and into the podium positions with the fresh hard tyres and later pit stop working well for Ferrari.
LAP 41: Another pass for Lando Norris going into the first corner. He had definitely learnt the hard way from earlier in the race for when to attempt to pass his opponent. He made it past with help from DRS and the faster medium tyres to move into 4th. He could then try to charge down Charles Leclerc for the final podium position. A position in which Team Principal Zak Brown said would be possible for the British driver in the Grand Prix.
LAP 50: The final lap starts with Lando Norris just outside of DRS range to make the proper charge he wanted on Charles Leclerc for 3rd place. However, he was unable to make the move due to still being outside of the DRS zone. Norris had to settle for 4th in the end with Leclerc hanging onto the final podium position.
Oscar Piastri once again won a Grand Prix without any relative pressure from his rivals. The nearest rival in this case was Max Verstappen but after opting not to give the place back the 5 second penalty may have been a mistake. Especially considering that Verstappen only lost the race by just over 2.8 seconds. Another win for Piastri with the Aussie now leading the Championship by 10 points from Lando Norris.
Both of the Mercedes cars finished ahead of their former colleague Lewis Hamilton who still seems to be adapting to the Ferrari car. Followed by a great showing from both Williams drivers, with Sainz in 8th and Albon in 9th. A solid driver from both men. Isaac Hadjar managed to pick up the final point for the Racing Bulls in a good performance from the rookie as he rounded out the top 10.
RACE RESULT:
1) PIASTRI 2) VERSTAPPEN 3) LECLERC 4) NORRIS 5) RUSSELL 6) ANTONELLI 7) HAMILTON 8) SAINZ 9) ALBON 10) HADJAR 11) ALONSO 12) LAWSON 13) BEARMAN 14) OCON 15) HULKENBERG 16) STROLL 17) DOOHAN 18) BORTOLETTO 19) TSUNODA (DNF) 20) GASLY (DNF)
