Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025 Race Analysis

Oscar Piastri has won for the third time in the 2025 Formula 1 season, and is the new championship leader!

This win was certainly a roller coaster for the driver, and it began right in lap one, turn one. Max Verstappen and Piastri went wheel to wheel right into turn one, where Verstappen went off track and gained an advantage. Thus began the team radio fight of who was ahead at the apex and who forced whom off. Despite going off track, Verstappen believed that he was ahead at the apex and therefore did not give the position back, choosing to lead until the FIA came with a verdict. The FIA gave Verstappen a 5-second penalty for going off track and gaining a position, though many fans believe that Piastri should have gotten a penalty instead for forcing another driver off track. Christian Horner, being one-fourth the man he is of Toto Wolff, had pictures all printed out of who was ahead at the apex and tried to create drama in front of the media. However, it is important to note that Liam Lawson received a ten-second penalty for going off track and gaining an advantage on Jack Doohan. When the FIA was questioned about the difference in penalties for the same reason, they stated that since Verstappen and Piastri’s kerfuffle happened on lap one, they gave a lesser penalty. Really makes one wonder about the braincells they use for decision-making, huh?

Lap one also brought in more chaos than just this. Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had a racing incident, causing Gasly to crash, and Tsunoda had to retire. While it seemed that Tsunoda might rejoin after going in the pits and changing tyres, unfortunately, the race ended for the ex-teammates on lap one. The safety car lasted for a few laps, and Max maintained his lead after the restart as well.

Verstappen did seem to be the fastest driver, maximising the potential of the car as much as he could. His race pace seemed to match Piastri and George Russell. He seemed to be about a tenth faster than Piastri. When comparing drivers, Verstappen was, in fact, the fastest driver, contrary to popular belief. Despite a five-second penalty, the four-time world champion overtook many drivers and ended on the podium as P2.

The Mercedes performed well all through Friday and Saturday but seemed to lack race pace on Sunday. Russell mentioned his tyres sliding off multiple times, which could be the reason for the lack of pace to get within DRS range, let alone overtake.

Despite it being the fifth race of the season, Lewis Hamilton still does not seem to be comfortable in his car. The lack of race pace and overall control of the car really proved this. But Hamilton used his experience and his team loyalty to play the DRS overtaking game with Lando Norris. For about three laps, the two British drivers switched positions until Norris’ race engineer, Will Joseph, offered a different strategy for overtaking. Some say, Zak Brown included, that this game with Hamilton may have cost Norris a chance on the podium and secured Charles Leclerc a P3.

Speaking of similar overtaking, Sauber’s rookie Gabriel Bortoleto almost had a moment with his manager, Fernando Alonso. At the first turn, Bortoleto had been so focused on Liam Lawson taking the inside line and overtaking that the rookie had completely missed the two-time world champion coming on the outside of the rookie. Alonso almost crashed into the wall but managed to save himself and overtake the rookie. We do hope Alonso did not give Bortoleto the cruel punishment of no dinner.

It was refreshing to see Carlos Sainz feeling comfortable in his Williams. The man made it to Q3 and successfully remained in points by the end of the race. Both Williams drivers, in fact, made it into points, with Sainz at P8 and Alex Albon at P9. It was also interesting and slightly nostalgic to see Sainz repeating the strategy from Singapore, 2023 – the iconic “Yeah, it’s on purpose.” Sainz kept his teammate in DRS range to help defend against Isack Hadjar’s VCARB so as to secure their positions and points. Amazing strategy and teamwork from the driver.

Lando Norris was unlucky in the qualifying and crashed just as Q3 began. This led to the championship leader starting from the tenth position on the grid. Jeddah is known to be a difficult track to overtake, with limited opportunities, despite over twenty turns. Norris steadily overtook multiple cars, leading the race for a good number of laps as well, all on the same tyres that he started with. It is also important to note that the driver started on hard tyres, unlike the front runners who were on mediums. He managed his degrading hard tyres for about 34 laps, going faster than most cars in the top six. Though, when he did finally pit, it came after his teammate was in P2 and said on the radio that the dirty air was affecting his race pace poorly. It is astonishing that the dirty air was affecting Piastri, despite him being two and a half seconds behind. The hasty decision to pit Norris right after the radio message does make an unbiased watcher wonder if it was the right call. The British driver exited the pit lane and came behind Russell in P6 and spent the remainder of the race closing gaps and making up two positions. If McLaren had chosen to pit a lap or two earlier, how much effect would it have had on the end result? Would soft tyres have helped more than the mediums? That seems unlikely, because the soft tyres would have grained extremely fast. Despite it all, a stellar drive from Norris, making up six places.

Last, but not the least – since everyone seems to be forgetting about this – Isack Hadjar successfully made it into points, securing a P10!