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Everything we learned at F1's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
There's a new Formula 1 world championship leader after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - but we learned a lot more than just that in Jeddah.This is a dirty air championshipFor the first time in 2025, Formula 1 had a winner who had not started from pole position.Oscar Piastri's brilliant getaway from the front row, and the first-corner shenanigans that triggered the penalty for Max Verstappen, meant ...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-2025-f1-saudi-arabian-gp/
Aston Martin holding key talks after point-less F1 triple-header
Aston Martin is bringing its senior Formula 1 chiefs together on Monday for a post-mortem into its triple-header struggles, as it tries to put a recovery plan in place. The Silverstone-based squad is coming off the back of a brutal run of three races in Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia where it has failed to score a point, with both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll struggling to extract pace from t...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/aston-martin-holding-key-talks-point-less-f1-2025-triple-header/
Edd Straw's 2025 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix driver rankings
Oscar Piastri might have won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - but he isn't the top pick in Edd Straw's Formula 1 driver rankings this week. How do the rankings work? The 20 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. Ho...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-2025-driver-rankings-edd-straw/
How an old Red Bull F1 boss would've handled Jeddah controversy
Red Bull's former Formula 1 sporting director Jonathan Wheatley says he would have handled Max Verstappen's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Turn 1 incident differently if he was still running things there.
Verstappen picked up a five-second time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage after he skipped across the run-off area at the opening corner in his bid to stay ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.Wit...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-an-old-red-bull-f1-boss-wouldve-handled-jeddah-controversy/
F1 Podcast: We debate all the Verstappen penalty arguments
Red Bull's disbelief at Max Verstappen's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix penalty, the Formula 1 stewards' reasoning and an enormous number of questions from The Race Members' Club about it all - that Jeddah first corner gives Edd Straw, Jon Noble and Scott Mitchell-Malm a lot to debate in The Race F1 Podcast.Plus Mark Hughes' analysis of how the race was won and lost, and plenty more on all the rest of t...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-podcast-we-debate-all-the-verstappen-penalty-arguments/
Mark Hughes: Verstappen had faster McLaren beaten if stewards had let him off
The bones of this intriguing Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were made when erstwhile pacesetter Lando Norris crashed in Q3 without a lap on the board and by Oscar Piastri’s great start from second on the grid, which undid the damage done by Max Verstappen having pipped him to pole.
That put Verstappen into a familiar territorial dispute, choosing to drive off track at Turn 1 and rejoining ahead rathe...
The rationale behind Verstappen's 'say nothing' penalty response
Max Verstappen's approach to dealing with the fallout from his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix penalty was basically as close as Formula 1 drivers come to 'pleading the fifth'.Not long after exiting his Red Bull F1 car, Verstappen had to face pre-podium interviewer (and Red Bull ambassador) David Coulthard, but refused to answer Coulthard's question about the first-corner incident that defined this race....
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-rationale-behind-verstappens-say-nothing-penalty-response/
'A joke' - Mercedes slams F1 proposal for major 2026 engine changes
Mercedes believes talks to scale back a key component of Formula 1's new-for-2026 engine regulations are a “joke”. The Race revealed ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that F1 chiefs will discuss with teams next week the idea of a solution to fears that cars could repeatedly run out of energy next year. The solution involves F1 moving away from one of the key components of the 2026 regulations ...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/a-joke-mercedes-slams-f1-proposal-for-major-2026-engine-changes/
Despondent Hamilton fears his whole 2025 F1 season will be 'painful'
Lewis Hamilton's "zero positives" Saudi Arabian Grand Prix represents an early nadir in his Ferrari Formula 1 tenure - and he's worried the rest of the 2025 season might not be much better.Hamilton was a distant second-best to team-mate Charles Leclerc all through the Jeddah weekend, with a gap that can't be explained just by his lack of affinity for this track (where he was the inaugural race win...
The stewards' logic for penalising Verstappen
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix stewards have explained why they ruled against Max Verstappen with the penalty that arguably cost him Formula 1 victory in Jeddah. Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage following an incident with Oscar Piastri at the first corner of the race. Piastri had a better start and pulled ahead of Verstappen on the insi...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-penalty-saudi-arabian-gp-stewards-reasoning/
Red Bull's evidence it believes proves Verstappen penalty was wrong
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has criticised the “very harsh” decision to penalise Max Verstappen - and has evidence he believes proves the penalty was wrong.Verstappen was handed a five-second time penalty for passing Oscar Piastri off track at Turn 2 on the opening lap of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.That penalty cost Verstappen track position to Piastri, who drove away from Verstappen the...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-evidence-max-verstappen-saudi-arabian-gp-penalty/
Winners and losers from F1's 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
While hardly the most chaotic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ever, the fifth round of Formula 1's 2025 season still had plenty of room for a decent mix of standout drives and Sundays to forget.Here are our picks for the main winners and losers: Winner - Oscar PiastriGrand prix win number five for Oscar Piastri and the championship lead for the very first time.Piastri wasn’t devastatingly fast all weeken...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-f1-2025-saudi-arabian-grand-prix/
Is Red Bull's anger justified? Our verdict on Verstappen penalty
Oscar Piastri's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix win puts him into the Formula 1 world championship lead for the first time at McLaren team-mate Lando Norris's expense, but would Max Verstappen have beaten both - and now lead the points - if he hadn't got his five-second penalty and was that penalty justified?Here's our team's verdict on the events of Jeddah.Moments of weakness from all three contendersSc...
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race results
Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to take the lead in the Formula 1 world championship.Piastri capitalised on an opening-lap penalty for Max Verstappen to jump ahead of the Red Bull driver during the pitstop phase.Erstwhile championship leader Lando Norris came up just short of recovering to the podium after his Q3 crash, finishing in fourth behind Charles Leclerc.There were two retir...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/saudi-arabian-grand-prix-f1-2025-race-results/
Piastri beats penalised Verstappen to Saudi GP win
Oscar Piastri seized the lead of the Formula 1 drivers’ championship by winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.The key flashpoint came at Turn 1 on lap one as a slow start for poleman Max Verstappen allowed Piastri to force his McLaren up the inside of the Red Bull.Piastri and Verstappen went side-by-side into the first turn, with Piastri taking the apex and Verstappen going off the track and rejoin...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/piastri-beats-penalised-verstappen-to-saudi-gp-win/
F1 car changes under discussion to prevent more track fires
Formula 1 is to discuss changes to the spark-inducing skid blocks in a bid to avoid further grass fire problems over the remainder of this season.The recent Japanese Grand Prix was heavily impacted by sparks thrown off the cars at various corners igniting dry grass that surrounded the track.Sessions had to be stopped a total of five times over the Suzuka weekend – and it went all the way up to Q2 ...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-car-changes-proposed-to-prevent-mor-fires/
What McLaren is noticing about Norris's errors in 2025
Lando Norris's costly qualifying crash at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is another "episode" in getting caught out by McLaren's Formula 1 car at the limit.After topping practice and looking the favourite for pole, Norris has made his Jeddah race much trickier than it should be by crashing in the first sector on his first run in Q3.
He will start 10th, with Max Verstappen on pole and Norris's McL...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-noticing-more-clearly-what-lando-norris-is-getting-wrong/
F1 could ditch a core part of its 2026 engine plan
Formula 1 chiefs will discuss with teams next week the idea of a significant change to the 2026 engine rules aimed at heading off fears about cars repeatedly running out of energy, The Race can reveal.The idea would mean F1 moves away in races from the 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine and battery that has been a core principle of the new regulations.As work continues behind...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-could-ditch-a-core-part-of-its-2026-engine-plan/
Where Hamilton's 'just not gelling' with Ferrari's F1 car
Lewis Hamilton started the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend optimistic of a breakthrough in his first Ferrari Formula 1 season thanks to "changes I made to my driving style" in the middle stint of the race in Bahrain.That initial positivity melted away in the Jeddah heat of a difficult Friday practice, which was followed by an underwhelming qualifying session as Hamilton admitted he is "just not g...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/where-hamiltons-just-not-gelling-with-ferraris-f1-car/
Mark Hughes: The faster McLaren blew pole again
Lando Norris and McLaren had got it all set up beautifully. Knowing they were unlikely to retain their outrageous Saudi Arabian Grand Prix FP3 advantage when the track had been running at 47°C and that the others would close up in the cool of the Saturday evening, they remained confident.Norris was visibly driving on the top of a wave of it, one which had been so missing in Bahrain a week ago. Com...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hughes-the-faster-mclaren-blew-pole-again/