McLaren driver Oscar Piastri became the leader of the F1 Drivers Standings for the first time in his career on Sunday after winning the Saudi Arabian GP at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. He won from P2 on the grid, beating out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second place and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.
Piastri and Verstappen were involved in an incident on Turn 1 during the opening lap, with Piastri attempting to take the lead from Verstappen, who had started on pole. Verstappen maintained the position by going off track, for which he received a five-second penalty as Piastri asked to be given the position back on the radio.
“I tried my best, obviously the stewards had to get involved, but I thought I was plenty far enough up, and in the end, that’s what got me the race,” Piastri said of the incident. “So yeah, very happy with all the work we’ve been doing with the starts, and that’s what won us the race today.”
“Well, that is f—cking lovely,” said Verstappen on the radio when he was informed of the penalty.
Verstappen led Piastri for 20 laps before McLaren called their driver to boxes after he was unable to overtake Verstappen. Piastri swapped his Medium tires for Hards to complete the remaining 30 laps of the race.
Verstappen was asked over the radio to widen the distance to the cars behind to compensate for the time lost when he boxed and served the penalty. Still, the Red Bull driver boxed on Lap 22 and came out behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who Piastri overtook on that same lap.
Piastri took the lead in Lap 35 after his teammate Lando Norris boxed for the first time. Verstappen tried to close the gap between them but was unable to pass him for the rest of the race. Piastri crossed the finish line 2.843 seconds ahead of Verstappen, taking his third victory of the season.
“Well done, everyone,” Piastri said on the radio. “A little bit more difficult at the start than I had hoped for, but the car was great. Dirty air not so much, but at least the dirty air was from lapping people.”
Piastri leads the championship with 99 points, followed by Norris with 89 and Verstappen with 87. McLaren leads the Constructors Championship with 188 points, followed by Mercedes with 111 points.
Verstappen refused to entertain questions about the Turn 1 incident and the resulting penalty. “It is what it is,” he said. “I think it’s also better we don’t talk about it because we are anyway not allowed to express our opinions.” He referred to the strict regulations against criticising the FIA, the governing body of F1.
Round 6 of the 2025 season will occur at 3 p.m. May 4 at the Miami International Autodrome.
