The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix wrapped up the first triple header of the 2025 season, with Oscar Piastri defeating Max Verstappen.
The Australian was beaten to pole by Verstappen, but after a tussle over the lead on the run down to the first corner, the Red Bull driver was handed a five-second time penalty.
This proved to be the turning point for Piastri’s race as it enabled McLaren to pit him early and emerge as the leader, while Red Bull had to leave Verstappen out longer to factor in his punishment.
Piastri cruised to victory to take the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, while Verstappen finished second on the road and closed the gap in the points. With that in mind, here are the main talking points from the race.
Oscar Piastri is now the 2025 title favourite
Piastri’s ascendancy to the Drivers’ Championship lead has been slower than it could have been. Without mistakes at his home race in Australia and Japan, Piastri would likely have the lead already by now.
Instead, he’s taken his third victory and back-to-back wins in the Middle East, establishing himself as the driver to beat at McLaren after costly mistakes from Lando Norris.
Verstappen put it best in the post-race drivers’ press conference: “He delivers when he has to, barely makes mistakes. That’s what you need when you want to fight for a championship.”
Max Verstappen is making the RB21 look better than it is
The RB21 is a tough car to drive, as evidenced by two separate teammates putting in roughly the same results up against Verstappen.
Yuki Tsunoda has provided a marginal improvement for Red Bull, but the fundamental problems still persist, where that car is very hard to get into a working window.
Tsunoda was nearly a second off Verstappen in qualifying, perhaps showing just how much of a difference the ‘Max Factor’ is currently making at Red Bull.
Ferrari expects better results from the Spanish Grand Prix
Ferrari’s start to the season has been a mixed bag. Although Lewis Hamilton won his first race with them at the Chinese GP Sprint, the double disqualification has spooked them.
They can’t run the car as low as they want, and now they have been stuck trying to experiment with ride heights to see which suits their drivers the most.
Charles Leclerc can clearly get more out of the tyres than Hamilton, as evidenced by his drive to P3 which included a 29-lap stint on the Medium tyres. Speaking after the race, Leclerc told Sky Sports: “There’s going to be a really important stop in Spain, when the front wing will be more… it will be changed.”
Fernando Alonso might not score points this year
It has been five races so far and Fernando Alonso has yet to bring in any points for Aston Martin. The Spaniard got off to a difficult start to the year with a double retirement, but so far his highest finishing position is P11.
Alonso couldn’t progress any further than just outside the top ten places, admitting after the race that he might have to “get used” to finishing there if Aston Martin is unable to make any progress.
Adrian Newey has now joined the team but his sole focus is on their 2026 machine, so Aston Martin will need to make use of existing resources to catch up to their rivals.
Carlos Sainz will put pressure on Alex Albon
Carlos Sainz finally finished in the points for Williams and ahead of teammate Alex Albon in the Saudi Arabian GP.
Team principal James Vowles compared Sainz’s result to his win for Ferrari in Singapore 2023, in which he used the DRS to hold off threats from Norris and George Russell.
Sainz had a tough start to his career at Williams so far, but the race in Jeddah gave us a glimpse of the pressure he could put Albon under if he continues to finish inside the top 10 places.
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