2025 Saudi Arabian GP results - Piastri wins as Verstappen is penalised

Oscar Piastri moved into the 2025 Formula 1 championship lead after taking victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen.

McLaren‘s Piastri beat his Red Bull rival by 2.8 seconds after the Red Bull driver was handed a five-second time penalty for an incident at the start of the race.

Piastri made a better start than Verstappen and arrived at Turn 1 on the inside, the Red Bull driver going off and cutting through Turn 2 to emerge on the lead.

But the incident was investigated quickly and Verstappen was handed a time penalty for gaining an advantage.

“He was never going to make that corner regardless of whether I was there or not,” Piastri told McLaren on the radio.

When Verstappen was informed about the penalty by his race engineer, he replied: “That’s f***ing lovely.”

Verstappen kept the lead until the first and only round of pitstops, but his gap didn’t prove enough.

Piastri pitted on lap 20, two laps before leader Verstappen, who returned to the track behind the Australian after making his stop and serving his penalty.

The Red Bull driver was unable to catch Piastri, who took a comfortable victory to move into first place in the standings after team-mate Lando Norris finished in fourth after his qualifying accident.

Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari‘s first podium of the season with third place, while Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were fifth and sixth.

Lewis Hamilton wound up a distant seventh in the second Ferrari. Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, and Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar completed the top 10.

Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly retired on the opening lap after making contact as they went side-by-side at Turn 4, both men spinning as a result.

Gasly was worse off as he impacted the wall heavily and destroyed his car, while Tsunoda – who also made lighter contact with the wall – was able to drive back to the pits, where Red Bull mechanics checked the car and decided to retire it.

Pirelli’s attempt to produce more varied strategies by bringing softer tyre compounds didn’t work out, as all drivers opted for a one-stop strategy and the softs weren’t used.

2025 Saudi Arabian GP results