Read ahead to know more about the key highlights from today's race.
Relive the key moments from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. [Credits: X/ Formula 1]
Saudi Arabian GP 2025 took place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Sunday from 8:00 PM track time. The race was 50 laps long with Max Verstappen starting on pole position, followed by Oscar Piastri and George Russell. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit and its 27 corners were ready to provide non-stop racing action with speeds more than 250 kmh on an average.
The Saudi Arabian GP was estimated to last only 1 hour and 17 minutes long according to the race commentators. It started with a lap 1 clash that led to an early safety car. Other than that, the race behaved incredibly well with no major incidents or crashes. There were many awe inducing and heart breaking moments in the race. Here’s a list of the moments which caught our attention throughout the race.
Saudi Arabian GP Key Takeaways- Winners
Below are the Saudi Arabian GP key takeaways about the five winners who capitalised the most out of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and the race weekend-
5. Williams Synergise Their Drivers
Williams started the weekend with a postitive note. Their star driver, Carlos Sainz started the race in top-10 yet again. He had a disappointing crash with Tsunoda in Bahrain which stripped him off some deserving points. This time, Williams was not going to let any team take away a points finish from their drivers. Williams surged through the last laps of the race to secure a double points finish for their drivers. It is their best weekend in Jeddah in the history of the race.
The best moment of the race was when Williams chained their drivers together to defend against Isack Hajdar. They asked Carlos Sainz to let Alex Albon use his DRS in order to give him the speed necessary to restrain Hajdar behind him.
4. Isack Hajdar Shines for Racing Bulls
Isack Hajdar was not in a good position after Saturday’s qualifying session. He was out of Q3 and started the race in 14th position. But not only did he manage to overtake his teammate and make moves through the field. In the final laps of the race Hajdar was flying through the track in an attempt to snatch points from the Williams duo. Hajdar’s performance earned him the praise of many experts and Red Bull management.
The regular and consistent speed he is displaying has put him in a strong position. Undoubtedly, Hajdar is among the better rookies this season with a less powerful machinery in his hand.
3. Lando Norris Makes Amazing Recovery
Lando Norris’s car looked like a lego after his crash, as Zak Brown claimed. Norris on the other hand was not going to let his engineers down at Jeddah. It was visible McLaren was the fast car on track at Jeddah. Norris put his foot down and kept overtaking drivers left and right to gain the maximum points possible for his team.
Lando Norris has been suffering from confidence issues and a lot of criticism. But in this particular weekend, none could debate the fact that the Papaya driver gave it his all and improved himself by a huge margin.
2. Piastri Brings it Home for McLaren
Oscar Piastri had an incredible reaction time as the lights went off. He went on to claim the first corner for himself forcing Verstappen off track in order to keep the lead. From that moment onwards, it was a matter of strategy call and enough gap for Piastri and Verstappen. The moment Verstappen pitted, it was all over for him.
Once again, Oscar Piastri lunged ahead of the entire grid maintaining enough gap between himself and the drivers behind him. As a result, Verstappen could not catch up to Piastri and lost the race to the Aussie. He is now leading the championship giving Australia their first championship leader after 15 years of racing in F1.
1. Leclerc Claims Ferrari’s First Podium
Charles Leclerc was not a part of the spotlight this weekend at first. He started the race in fourth and remained stuck in his position until his pitstop. But, it seems like Ferrari had already calculated the tyre management issues that Russell was facing. They made a lightning fast 2s pitstop when Leclerc came in to pit for hard tyres.
Leclerc drove out of the pits ahead of Kimi Antonelli and started hunting George Russell instantly. It did not take him a lot of time to overtake Russell as he brought himself into a potential podium finish. Leclerc defended valiantly and stopped Lando Norris from decreasing the gap between them in order to claim the first podium for Ferrari this season.
Also Read: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025 Results- Piastri Becomes the First Australian to Lead the Championship as Verstappen and Leclerc Clinch Podium in Jeddah!
Saudi Arabian GP Key Takeaways- Losers
These are the five drivers who could have had a better weekend under different circumstances as we go through the losing end of Saudi Arabian GP key takeaways-
5. George Russell Loses Out on Podium Finish
George Russell was elated to start the race. After all, he was the first driver to break the lap record during the Qualifying session and eyeing pole position. He started the race in third and was looking forward to a potential victory for his team. But, it seems like Jeddah had created different plans for him. Russell was not able to keep his tyres from dying out and losing grip and became prey to the drivers behind him.
He tried in vain to defend against Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc but to no avail. In the end, Russell finished fifth in the race to mark the end of a less than succesful weekend for Mercedes.
4. Lawson Gets Yet Another Penalty
Liam Lawson can’t seem to catch a break this season. The Kiwi is already facing a huge loss in confidence due to his demotion from Red Bull. The 2025 season started as a race between him and Yuki Tsunoda for the Red Bull seat. But now, Lawson can’t even compete against the inexperienced Isack Hajdar. Liam Lawson was penalised with a 10s penalty for gaining unfair advantage off track.
F1 experts noticed that Lawson showed a lot of speed this weekend, but its the results that matter in F1 ultimately. Liam Lawson needs to get his act together and reset himself in the upcoming break.
3. Tsunoda Crashes Out of Contention
Yuki Tsunoda had claimed points in Bahrain to give Red Bull their first double points finish since COTA in 2024. However, the Japanese driver could not repeat his performance in Jeddah. While Tsunoda started in Top-10 he immediately created a crash bringing out the safety car. Tsunoda was squeezed out during the first lap and ran into Pierre Gasly.
At first, it seemed like Tsunoda had suffered a crash but he could continue. When he came into the pits, Red Bull decide to retire his car. Yuki Tsunoda narrowly escaped a crash with Sainz in Bahrain. But Jeddah awarded him yet another DNF for his daring moves.
2. Racing Incident Ends Gasly’s Advances
Pierre Gasly was enjoying a great weekend. He showed clear signs of improvement in race pace from the free practice sessions. Gasly started the race in sixth and hoped to bring some crucial points for Alpine. But, the first lap claimed his race as Tsunoda struck him from behind spinning him out. Gasly smashed his car into the wall and retired out of the race.
Pierre Gasly was gentlemanly enough to not blame Yuki Tsunoda for a racing incident. But Alpine would have hope for better, considering, he has been their only hope at claiming points in 2025 so far.
1. Max Verstappen Succumbs To Faulty Strategy
Max Verstappen was the biggest loser of the race. He ended up finishing the Saudi Arabian GP in 2nd place. But, it should be noted that Verstappen was starting the race from pole on a track that Red Bull have not lost since 2021. Max Verstappen was caught off guard by Piastri’s reaction time at race start. He collected a 5s penalty instead of giving back track position to Piastri.
Initally, Red Bull though they would get ahead of Piastri while serving the penalty during a pitstop. Things did not go according to the plan for Verstappen and he was stuck behind Piastri in the later half of the race. Verstappen might believe that his penalty was undeserved but his team was unable to handle the penalty well.
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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.
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For me, online journalism was not something I expected. I am a Mechanical Engineer aiming to join Formula 1. At the same time, I am a poet, writer and my university’s Literary Club Lead. One day the dots connected together and I realised I could use my writing skills to convey my passion for Motorsports.
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