The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix started under the lights in Jeddah—and things got wild right from the start. Oscar Piastri had an incredible launch and almost got ahead of Max Verstappen, who had to cut the corner to stay in front. But before anyone could catch their breath—bang! Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly collided, bringing out an early yellow flag and a safety car.

Gasly was out on the spot, while Tsunoda managed to keep going for a few laps before retiring in the pits. The stewards also flagged the Verstappen-Piastri moment for review, so there was already a lot to unpack after just a few minutes.

Once the safety car came in on Lap 3, the race really began. Verstappen picked up a 5-second penalty for that opening-lap corner cut. On Lap 4, George Russell tried to get past Piastri but couldn’t quite make it work. Lando Norris, though, was flying—he’d made up several spots and was already up to eighth.

Then came one of the coolest moments of the race: rookie Isack Hadjar sent it late on the brakes and overtook both Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson in one move. DRS was enabled on Lap 5, and the on-track battles kicked off properly. Norris got into a fight with Carlos Sainz, eventually overtaking him on Lap 7. Meanwhile, Piastri was setting fastest laps and closing back in on Verstappen.

Things were tense in the McLaren garage, especially as Norris and Hamilton began swapping positions in a fun little back-and-forth. Norris tried passing Lewis at the final corner, only for Hamilton to take the place back into Turn 1—twice! But on Lap 15, Lando finally pulled it off with a textbook move, just like his engineer told him to.

Further down the field, Liam Lawson made his way past Alonso, and Norris set his sights on Kimi Antonelli up ahead. Verstappen was still leading, but Piastri kept closing the gap. The pit window opened around Lap 17, and a few drivers started coming in to switch from mediums to hards.

Piastri pitted on Lap 20 and came back out in sixth. Verstappen pitted shortly after, serving his time penalty, and rejoined in fifth behind Hamilton. This reshuffled the order: Leclerc was now leading, followed by Norris and then Piastri—though both still needed to pit.

Carlos Sainz quietly made up positions in the midfield, overtaking Ocon and Jack Doohan to move into the points. There was a scary moment between Alonso and Bortoleto, but Alonso returned the position quickly. Lawson made another big move, passing both Alonso and Bortoleto, and then continued climbing.

The Williams boys—Sainz and Albon—were both charging up the order, with Albon right behind his teammate. Leclerc finally pitted on Lap 30, which handed the lead to Norris (for a moment, at least). Antonelli then overtook Hadjar for sixth, while Bearman and Albon also moved up.

On Lap 34, Norris pitted, putting Piastri in the lead. Norris came back out in fifth, still in the fight. Meanwhile, Bortoleto got a black-and-white flag for moving under braking during his earlier battle with Alonso.

With just over 10 laps to go, Leclerc overtook Russell for third and started chasing his first podium of the season. Lawson, though, picked up a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Norris was now hunting down Leclerc.

Lando got past Russell on Lap 41 with a DRS move down the main straight—and grabbed the fastest lap too. At the same time, Hadjar was chasing Albon, who was trying to catch his teammate Sainz. It was a fun little Williams-Hadjar sandwich for a few laps, but the positions stayed the same.

There was some drama when Norris was investigated for crossing the pit lane line, but it turned out he hadn’t, so no penalty was given. In the closing laps, there weren’t many overtakes, but the tension stayed high—Norris kept closing on Leclerc, while Hadjar and Albon continued their battle.

In the end, Oscar Piastri took a well-deserved win in Saudi Arabia—his third win of the season, making him the only driver with multiple victories this year. Verstappen finished second, and Leclerc held on for third, grabbing that long-awaited podium.

2025 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix