Oscar Piastri took the lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship for the first time in his career by winning in Jeddah to complete an impressive triple-header and as ever there were some winners and losers from the Saudi Arabian GP.
The Australian followed up his victory in Bahrain with a performance to lead Red Bull’s Max Verstappen over the line, albeit under controversial circumstances after the Dutchman was penalised for going off at the first corner to hold position.
With stories up and down the grid, who were the winners and losers at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
All the winners and losers from the F1 2025 Saudi Arabian GP
Find out who made the cut and who faded away in the Total-Motorsport winners and losers from the F1 2025 Saudi Arabian GP.
Winner – Oscar Piastri
Piastri again displayed the form of a world champion in waiting as he put together a clean, successful weekend.
It wasn’t as dominant a performance as he showed in Bahrain – Verstappen took pole and Piastri was forced to get his elbows out at Turn 1. But he showed the ruthlessness the four-time champion had shown against Lewis Hamilton back in 2021, taking the high ground into the first corner and ensuring he would emerge either with the lead or force pressure on the stewards to make a decision.
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It turned out to be the latter, with Verstappen handed a five-second penalty and Piastri was able to do what he needed to remain within that buffer to take the ascendancy once the pitstop phase played out.
Once he had the lead he never looked under threat, though he wasn’t able to put a major gap between himself and the Red Bull, with his third win of the season putting a 10 point gap between himself and team-mate Lando Norris heading into the pre-Miami break.
Loser – Lando Norris
Norris had a really good race from 10th on the grid, advancing through on the alternate hard-medium strategy to limit the damage in the race for the drivers’ title.
But his racecraft has again been brought under the spotlight after being outfoxed by Hamilton on two consecutive laps – the seven-time champion braking earlier into the final corner in order to use the third DRS zone of the lap to retake position ahead of his compatriot.
The time lost there was likely the difference between third and fourth for Norris, though in reality the big mistake was crashing in qualifying and starting only 10th. It was exactly what he didn’t need after the noise around his title hopes in the build-up to the race weekend, given his apparent struggles in Bahrain.
This weekend off comes at the perfect time for Norris, allowing him to regroup ahead of the grand prix that gave him a first F1 victory. He has to reset and return to form and arrest Piastri’s momentum, otherwise panic will likely start to set in.
Winner – Williams
Alex Albon has been on form all season but this weekend both the Thai-Briton and Carlos Sainz scored points. In fact, it was Sainz gaining the upper hand for the first time as team-mates.
Sainz qualified strongly and was canny in not fighting lost causes against Hamilton and Norris early in the race, instead maximising his stints to ensure a strong points return.
Albon stayed out of trouble to finish just behind Sainz and the team’s tally of 25 points so far puts it fifth in the constructors’ standings. With rumours that Williams has already fully switched its focus to next season, the Grove-based outfit is seemingly in a good spot.
Loser – Red Bull
The big question for Red Bull over the past year has been how the exodus of senior personnel would affect the team and with Verstappen‘s penalty early in the race, the indication is that the answer would be ‘greatly’.
Had former sporting director – now Sauber team principal – Jonathan Wheatley been in position, then Verstappen would have been told to give the position to Piastri and fight from there without being penalised. Wheatley has said as much himself in the aftermath.
It was obvious that a penalty was coming yet Red Bull and Verstappen decided to continue as if nothing had happened. Was that a conscious decision in the belief that he could bridge the five-seconds needed to remain in the lead by the time the pitstop window opened? Or did they genuinely believe that Verstappen was rightfully in front with no penalty forthcoming.
It was either optimistic in the first case or painfully naive in the second and that decision-making cost Verstappen the chance to fight in the end.
The other car of Yuki Tsunoda was damaged for the second time over the weekend after contact with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine on the opening lap, though no one party seemed fully to blame.
Winner – Isack Hadjar
Another impressive weekend for the French rookie meant that he stood out from the crowd on a weekend where there was little to see past the main protagonists.
We have already mentioned the resilience of recovering from what happened on debut in Australia to put the performances in that he has been doing, and while Antonelli is impressing in the Mercedes, an argument can be made for Hadjar being the most impressive rookie so far this term.
And another point came with Racing Bulls getting the strategy right – an area that has cost Hadjar a greater tally this term already – and it’s exciting to see how he can build from these strong performances. Was there anything spectacular? No. But that’s exactly what you want from a rookie on a difficult circuit sometimes.
Loser – F1
Whichever way you look at the first corner incident between Piastri and Verstappen, you can’t deny that racing etiquette is broken in F1.
The behaviour of both cars shows that neither driver intended to go side-by-side, with Verstappen always likely to go wide on his braking point and Piastri, while staying on-track, never likely to leave space for his rival.
The McLaren was alongside and up the inside, so as per the racing guidelines as they currently stand, Piastri was within his rights to force Verstappen off, so long as he remained on the track. Or to put it another way, Verstappen was obliged to ensure he made it around the corner safely.
It’s a tactic that Verstappen himself has made the norm in F1 over the past five seasons so to complain could be seen as hypocritical. But taking drivers and factions out of it and using drivers A and B as examples, both A and B should be able to race side-by-side without issue.
The F2 drivers managed it all weekend, as did the F1 Academy drivers. Yet in F1, the ability to race seems to be thrown out the window. Racing is now a battle to be ahead at the apex rather than precise car placement to gain the upper hand. The exit of the corner is an afterthought, as long as your car is on the inside and ahead at the apex.
Has circuit design played into this? Yes – if there was grass or gravel at that corner then the same situation wouldn’t have happened.
Then there’s the question of consistency. Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for essentially overtaking by cutting a corner, mitigated down from 10 seconds as it was the first lap. Yet if you were Liam Lawson, you would overtake a rival with DRS, be at least a car length ahead before the braking zone yet run slightly wide, attempt to make it back onto the track for Turn 2 and get given a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
It frankly made no sense and in a race that was largely devoid of any major talking points [that’s another issue for another day], F1 has instead become a vehicle of hate between fanbases because of nonsensical rules, and not for the first time.
