2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Around a fast and very physically demanding Jeddah track, Oscar Piastri put himself into the lead of the world championship for the first time with his third victory from the opening five races.

His McLaren took the lead only as first stint leader Max Verstappen was obliged to take a five-second penalty at his stop, this relating to him having driven his Red Bull off the track at Turn 1 in the race’s opening seconds.

Piastri had made the better start from P2 on the grid and wasn’t about to be intimidated out of using his greater momentum to stake his claim to the corner. Verstappen chose not to tuck in behind, instead getting far enough alongside that he could be ‘pushed off’ rather than making contact. He was simply gaming the system in the circumstances of that split second, such reactions hard-wired in. As Piastri later said, if the positions had been reversed, the exact same thing would have happened. Everyone knows how the game goes.