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Piastri beats Verstappen in Jeddah to take the World Championship lead

Oscar Piastri is starting to get used to this winning thing, and in Saudi Arabia he proved it again. The young McLaren driver took his third win of the season in a race in which he played his cards with a cool head, taking advantage of a penalty for Max Verstappen and executing an impeccable strategy. The Australian not only took the trophy, but also moved to the top of the drivers' championship.

The Saudi Arabian GP got off to a turbulent start from the first set of lights. Verstappen, who started from pole position, was confronted by a warlike Piastri from the start. At turn 2, the Dutchman decided to cut loose - literally - and jumped the track to keep his position. The stewards were quick to punish the manoeuvre with a five-second penalty, which was to prove decisive.

Tension soon mounted in Jeddah. While Verstappen pushed hard to open up a gap and mitigate the penalty, Piastri stood firm, making no mistakes, waiting for his moment. And it came when the McLaren pitted to try the undercut. The stop was precise, the calculations perfect. Verstappen stayed on track for two more laps, but the lost time and the extra five seconds meant he came back behind the Australian. To make matters worse, he met Hamilton in the middle, which made the comeback even more difficult.

But it wasn't all down to two. Charles Leclerc also had his night. The Ferrari driver worked his magic on medium tyres, extending his stint until lap 30. When he stopped, he came back with fresh hard tyres, just enough to climb positions and get on the podium for the first time this season.

Lando Norris, on the other hand, had a comeback race that was just outside the top 3. He started tenth after a mistake in qualifying, opted for hard tyres from the start and pushed hard every lap waiting for a Safety Car that never came. Even so, his pace was enough to finish fourth, overtaking Russell and squeezing Leclerc at the end.

Norris also had a tense moment when he rejoined the race after his stop. He went a bit wide and crossed the pit lane, but the stewards decided not to penalise him, something that could have changed everything in the fight for the podium.

The race was not without incident. At the start, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda touched in the first corners. Gasly ended up in the wall and out of the race, while Tsunoda tried to continue, but had to retire after a pit stop. It was the first warning of what was to be an intense race.

With this result, Piastri is the new World Championship leader with 99 points, followed by Norris (89) and Verstappen (87). Not only is he the first Australian to lead the championship since Mark Webber in 2010, but he also sends a clear message: he is not here to make up the numbers.

In summary, a solid race from Piastri, a difficult day for Verstappen despite good pace, a resurrection for Ferrari and another warning that McLaren are in for serious things this season. If anyone doubted that World Championship 2025 was going to be entertaining, Saudi Arabia has made it clear that nobody is going to give anything away here.