Saudi Arabian GP: Oscar Piastri beats Max Verstappen to win after Red Bull driver’s penalty, with Lando Norris fourth | F1 News

Oscar Piastri leads the Formula 1 world championship for the first time after winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen’s hopes of victory were scuppered by a five-second penalty.

Front-row starters Verstappen and Piastri went wheel-to-wheel into the Jeddah street track’s first corner but stewards soon issued the Red Bull driver with the costly time sanction after judging he had unfairly cut the chicane to stay ahead of the faster-starting McLaren driver.

And having remained comfortably within that five-second margin behind Verstappen through the race’s first stint, Piastri duly jumped ahead of his Dutch rival when the world champion served the penalty at the sole round of pit stops.

Piastri never relinquished his advantage over Verstappen thereafter and the impressive Australian won by three seconds for his second win in as many weeks and his third victory in five races this season, giving him a maiden lead of the Drivers’ Championship over team-mate Lando Norris.

He leads Norris by 10 points with Verstappen a further two adrift heading to Miami in two weeks’ time.

Pre-race points leader Norris charged from 10th to fourth after his costly qualifying crash on an alternative tyre strategy, but just fell short in his attempt to overhaul Charles Leclerc for third through the closing laps.

Leclerc, who had started fourth, drove his own fine race after an extended first stint, overtaking Mercedes’ George Russell on fresher tyres to claim Ferrari’s first grand prix podium this season.

Indeed, having run in the final podium berth for most of the race, the late overtakes by Leclerc and Norris on fresher tyres saw Russell relegated to fifth ahead of Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in sixth.

Lewis Hamilton finished where he qualified in seventh after his weekend-long struggle for grip continued in the Ferrari for most of the race, although the seven-time champion was able to keep Norris at bay for several laps when the recovering McLaren reached him in the opening stint.

Williams scored a useful double top-10 result with Carlos Sainz capping a fine weekend to take eighth ahead of team-mate Alex Albon.

Sainz and Albon finished just ahead of Isack Hadjar, with the former dropping back to give his team-mate DRS so to help keep the Racing Bulls car at bay.

The Safety Car, meanwhile, continued its 100 per cent appearance record since the super-fast wall-lined Jeddah track joined the calendar in 2021 after a first-lap crash between Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, the result of which saw both drivers retire.

Verstappen vs Piastri – why the Red Bull driver took a penalty

With Norris well out of position on the grid courtesy of his crash when contending for pole position on Saturday, the 50-lap race had been framed as a direct head to head between Verstappen and Piastri with the chance for one of them to seize the lead of the title race for the first time this season.

Verstappen is not often beaten away from pole but faced immediate pressure after the lights went out here, with second-placed Piastri slightly quicker away from the grid and holding the crucial inside line for the short run to the opening chicane.

While the McLaren held his line into the braking zone, Verstappen continued to battle on the outside and, as they reached the apex, the Red Bull ducked right over the run-off area. He exited the second corner still in the lead, which the stewards would issue with.

“He needs to give that back. I was ahead,” quickly argued Piastri over McLaren team radio.

After dealing with the Safety Car-triggering tangle between Tsunoda and Gasly at the Turn Four-Five chicane, stewards placed the start controversy under full investigation and on lap four issued Verstappen with the five-second demotion which he would have to serve at his first pit stop.

“Well, that is **** lovely,” said an unimpressed Verstappen over Red Bull team radio when told of the penalty.

Given the McLaren was expected to be the quickest car over a race distance, Verstappen’s hopes of opening a big enough gap to negate his penalty before his stop appeared remote despite the fact he still held track position.

Impressively, he did get to a point where he was three seconds ahead of Piastri but, with McLaren bringing forward the Australian’s pit stop to get him on to fresh tyres sooner on lap 18, the Dutchman slipped back into a net second once he had served the penalty and Red Bull then completed his tyre stop when he visited the pits two laps later.

After Leclerc and then Norris eventually pitted from what had become the race’s leading positions, Piastri was then able to manage his advantage over Verstappen from there to the chequered flag with the minimum of fuss.

“Once I got on the inside, I wasn’t coming out of Turn One in second,” said Piastri afterwards. “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. So, I’m very happy with all the work we’ve been doing at the starts, and that’s what won us the race.”

Saying little in his own post-race interview, Verstappen simply said: “I’m going to keep it short. A big thank you to the fans here in Jeddah. It’s been a great weekend. I love the track.

“The rest, it is what it is. I’m looking forward to Miami, so I will see you there…”

Formula 1 heads to Miami for a Sprint weekend on May 2-4, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime