Oscar Piastri says why Lando Norris is wrong to claim Red Bull were quicker than McLaren at the F1 2025 Saudi Arabian GP; as he explains he had more time in his pocket, but didn’t want to take risks at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Sunday.
The Australian started from second on the grid after Max Verstappen pipped him to pole by 0.010, but found himself in control of the Grand Prix by Lap 5 when the defending world champion collected a time penalty for gaining an advantage off-track.
Simply having to sit close to the Dutchman until the pit-stop phase, the 23-year-old took over the “net” lead of the race on Lap 22 and eventually went on to control the tempo until the chequered flag some 28 laps later.
It gifted him his third victory of the campaign and the lead of the driver standings, but proved to be a more competitive weekend than many were expecting as the four-time world champion kept the pressure up throughout the competitive sessions.
As a result, Norris took the chance to declare Red Bull were the quicker car at the F1 2025 Saudi Arabian GP but Piastri explains why his McLaren colleague’s claim is wrong in Jeddah.
“I think our car was still quicker. I think it was difficult to be in dirty air,” Piastri told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “Max was quicker than I expected for sure in the race.
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“I thought over one lap it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Max quick, but in the race, I wasn’t expecting to struggle so much at the end of the medium stint, that’s for sure. So clearly we’ve got some work to do.
“I think our car is still very good, but when you look at the layout here compared to Suzuka, it’s the most similar so far, and it’s been the two where Max and Red Bull have been closer.
“I think we still have an advantage. I don’t think it’s as big on surfaces like this and layouts like this, but we still have a very strong car at the moment.”
Piastri and McLaren had more time over Red Bull at F1 2025 Saudi Arabian GP
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit has a reputation for biting hard those who take slightly more risk ahead of adhesion, as Yuki Tsunoda found out in Free Practice 3, Norris in qualifying or even Verstappen himself in 2021.
Full of high-speed corners, raised kerbs and concrete walls with practically no run-off areas, it’s one of the most challenging street circuits on the Formula 1 calendar; meaning it’s not worth taking chances if you have control of the race.
And this is exactly what the new championship leader explained as he admits he had more time in his pocket, with Verstappen close behind, but simply didn’t want to take the risk of dramatically and disastrously crashing out under no real pressure.
“I don’t know how long I could’ve done that,” Piastri added of keeping the speed up. “But I felt like I was taking decent risks for the race.
“The last lap, obviously, I wanted to see exactly what I had, but there’s not too much point taking a crazy risk as well.
“So I think once we had some clean air, our pace was okay. But the end of the medium stint, I had nothing for Max and it was a struggle.
“So I think the pace wasn’t as much of an advantage as I wanted it to be, but it was good enough.”
