Oscar Piastri climbs the top step of the podium once again just a week after his victory in Bahrain. The Australian driver was handed the first place trophy at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix along with the lead in the Driver’s Championship. Piastri leads the championship for the first time this season with 99 points, his teammate Lando Norris 10 points behind him in second place. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took second place this weekend, finishing 2.843 seconds behind Piastri. Ferrari claimed their first podium finish of the season with Charles Leclerc 5.261 seconds behind Verstappen in third.
Verstappen did not seem happy with his result, cutting his post-race interview with F1 alum David Coulthard short after thanking fans and expressing keen interest in moving on to Miami, the next stop this season. The Dutch driver went into Sunday’s Grand Prix in a good position after qualifying on pole the day before. Piastri held provisional pole until a last lap effort by Verstappen in Q3 secured the top spot on the starting grid by a mere 0.010 seconds. At lights out, Piastri got a significantly better launch and put immediate pressure on Verstappen, which led to the Red Bull driver to leave the track at Turn 1 and regain his lead on the McLaren driver.
The duo had differing opinions on the incident—Piastri was adamant that the position was rightfully his to get back after Verstappen left the track, while Verstappen believed that Piastri pushed him off. In the end, the stewards hit Verstappen with a five second penalty that may have been the nail in the coffin for the Dutchman’s chances for his second win of the season. The Red Bull driver’s only vote of conciliation was the Driver of the Day title, voted on every race by the fans.
Leclerc maximized what he could get out of the car, with his first podium of the season. The Monégasque driver was able to maintain competitiveness on nearly 30 lap old medium tires before pitting for a new set of hards. Leclerc exited the pits behind George Russell in P5 before overtaking him for P4 on Lap 38. The Ferrari driver was able to keep a gaining Norris at bay to clinch his third place trophy.
McLaren’s Norris missed the podium for the first time this season, finishing in P4 only 1.092 seconds behind Leclerc. The British driver still had a relatively decent performance, given his gain of six places from his start at P10 and recovery from his collision with the wall in yesterday’s Q3. Norris was able to manage his hard tires for 35 laps before pitting for mediums, and used his fresh tire advantage to overtake Russell of Mercedes for P4 and put pressure on Leclerc ahead of him at P3. Norris recorded the fastest lap of the day with a 1:31.778.
Apart from Norris, Russell was another notable absence from the podium, finishing in P5 for the second time this season. Although the British Mercedes driver qualified in the second row at P3, Russell was unable to fight for a better position as Leclerc and Norris easily passed him by.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda had a bleak weekend, especially in comparison to his teammate Verstappen, as he found himself in the wall in Free Practice 2 and on Lap 1 of the Grand Prix itself. Tsunoda made contact with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly at Turn 4 Lap 1 that resulted in the retirement of both cars and an early red flag. The race nearly had another safety car incident when Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto almost took out his manager and fellow driver Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, while moving under braking.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was also not as fortunate as his teammate today, his radio messages reporting constant struggles with grip. Hamilton finished the race in P7, four places below teammate Leclerc in P3. Hamilton was followed by Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alex Albon of Williams at P8 and P9, respectively, and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in P10.
Apart from the new Driver’s Championship leader, the rest of the rankings remain unchanged, with Verstappen and Russell sitting behind the McLaren drivers in the championship race. The Constructors Championship reflects the same three teams that are currently leading the results: McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull in first, second and third place, respectively.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix capped off the season’s exciting April tripleheader. Teams and fans get a breather next weekend before the drivers set foot in the States for the first time this season at the Miami Grand Prix, May 2-4.
