Piastri Wins in Jeddah, Becomes First Time Championship Leader

With another commanding performance, McLaren's Oscar Piastri took his third win of the season and the championship lead. Red Bull's Max Verstappen found himself unhappy in P2, while Charles Leclerc celebrated Ferrari's first podium of the season, finishing in P3.

Lap 1, Turn 1, P1

Starting from pole position after putting in one of his career-best qualifying performances, Max Verstappen got off the line quickly - but not quite quickly enough. Piastri's blistering start put him ahead of Verstappen heading into Turn 1. Verstappen, trying to fend off the Australian on the outside line, bailed out of turn one, claiming Piastri didn't leave him any room – room Verstappen was not entitled to, as they were not in a wheel-to-wheel situation. Verstappen managed to stay ahead by cutting the Turn 1 / Turn 2 complex. After failing to hand back the position, Verstappen was handed a 5-second time penalty, which he served at his pit stop, putting him out of contention for the race win. Verstappen took this decision very sourly, which also tied back to his general contempt for the FIA's strict enforcement of regulations like the no-swearing rule.

Battle for the Podium

Behind the leading pair, there was a lively fight for the podium. Piastri's teammate Lando Norris made his way through the field after his P10 start resulting from his crash in Q3 on Saturday. While he was making progress, it was not quick enough relative to his car's capabilities and saw him getting stuck behind the slower Lewis Hamilton for a few laps. Norris' biggest weakness of the season so far, his unimpressive racecraft, was again on display here when he stepped into the same DRS trap set by Hamilton multiple times.

Charles Leclerc delivered his and Ferrari's best performance of the season, staying out 29 laps on his set of medium tyres - longer than any other driver. After his stop, he was still flying on the hards and managed to stay ahead of Norris' faster McLaren.

Mercedes and Williams solid, Charging Bulls

While not being able to compete on pace, Mercedes once again leveraged the reliability of their machine and drivers to collect a good haul of points, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli coming in 5th and 6th respectively. Williams saw both Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon driving into the points for the first time this season, elevating the team to 5th in the constructors' championship and culminating in Williams' best start to a season since 2016.

While Max Verstappen once again was able to extract 100% pace from his car, Yuki Tsunoda's race ended just seconds after it started. Verstappen's team mate crashed out after making contact with the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, bringing out the only safety car of the race. Both Racing Bull drivers Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson showed impressive performances charging through the field from their respective starting positions of P14 and P12, with Hadjar managing to score a point in P10 while Lawson finished P12 after having been handed a 10-second penalty for a reckless move on Alpine driver Jack Doohan.