McLaren's Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday from Red Bull polesitter Max Verstappen to take a lead in the world championship for the first time in his career. Charles Leclerc's Ferrari completed the podium for this fifth round of the season at a floodlit Jeddah Corniche Circuit. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/2025/04/13/mclarens-oscar-piastri-surges-in-championship-race-with-bahrain-gp-win/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/2025/04/13/mclarens-oscar-piastri-surges-in-championship-race-with-bahrain-gp-win/">Piastri's third win this year</a> was in large part decided at the first turn, when Verstappen picked up a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage after going off the track. He becomes the first Australian to lead the drivers' standings since his agent, Mark Webber, 15 years ago. "Very happy to have won, made the difference at the start. Great race. Max was still a bit too close for my liking," Piastri said after crossing the line 2.843 seconds clear of the four-time world champion. His <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/2025/03/16/mclarens-lando-norris-holds-off-max-verstappen-to-win-wet-australian-grand-prix/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/2025/03/16/mclarens-lando-norris-holds-off-max-verstappen-to-win-wet-australian-grand-prix/">McLaren teammate Lando Norris</a>, who went into the weekend leading the standings, took fourth ahead of the two Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. Piastri made it back-to-back wins to move 10 points ahead of team-mate Norris at the top of the standings. Norris labelled himself an "idiot" after crashing in qualifying and admitted he'd made life difficult for himself starting from 10th. But he limited the damage with a strong race to finish fourth and is two points ahead of Verstappen. Verstappen's Red Bull future dominated the pre-race build-up after a disappointing weekend in Bahrain sparked more speculation that he may wish to leave the team. The four-time world champion banished that talk and issues with his car with a flawless lap to <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/2025/04/19/max-verstappen-grabs-saudi-arabian-gp-pole-after-lando-norris-hits-wall/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/2025/04/19/max-verstappen-grabs-saudi-arabian-gp-pole-after-lando-norris-hits-wall/">take pole on Saturday</a>. Every previous race this season, including China's sprint, had been won from pole but Piastri made an early bid to change that as he got a great launch off the line and moved to the inside of Verstappen. The Dutchman dived across the run-off area and stayed ahead, with Piastri on the radio to say: "He needs to give that back, I was ahead." Verstappen's view was: "He forced me off, there was no intention from him to make that corner." The stewards sided with Piastri as Verstappen received a five-second penalty. "Well that is lovely," said Verstappen. Further back, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly banged wheels and were both out - forcing a first-lap safety car. Verstappen got the jump on Piastri at the restart as the McLaren was forced to defend from Russell. Piastri pitted on lap 19, trailing by nearly three seconds, with Verstappen in two laps later. The Dutchman served his penalty and emerged three seconds behind. On his out lap, Piastri completed a sensational overtake on Lewis Hamilton. Once he gained clean air ahead of Verstappen, Piastri showcased the might of the McLaren to cruise to victory. "It was a pretty tough race. I’m very, very happy to have won. Made the difference at the start. Made my case into turn one, and that was enough," said the race winner. "Definitely one of the toughest races I've had in my career," he added after 50 laps in 30° Celsius around a super-fast track.
