Oscar Piastri wins the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, becoming the first Australian Driver to lead the Driver’s championship in over 15 years!

Lights out:

Lights out started with chaos as Max Verstappen made an attempt to lead the race but ended up going off track before he rejoined the track. Oscar Piastri quickly shared his thoughts over the radio by saying: “He needs to give that back. I was ahead.”

The chaos continue as Yuki Tsunoda had clipped tyres with Pierre Gasly’s rears which led to the two drivers colliding with the barriers which then brought out the Safety Car. Tsunoda was able to get away from the situation and headed to the pits for repairs before his engine died which ended his race early alongside Gasly.

Lap 3:

Lap 3 saw the Safety car being called back into the pits which then allowed the race to continue. Verstappen later on the lap was handed a five second time penalty for leaving the track to gain an advantage at the race start.

Verstappen was made aware of the penalty over his radio:

“Information, you have been you have been given a 5 second time penalty for the incident at Turn 1. Head down.” – Gianpiero

“Well, that is ***** lovely!” – Verstappen

“Yep, no comment thank you.” – Gianpiero

Lap 13:

The battle between Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton begun as Norris dove down the inside of Hamilton for P6 but Hamilton in a swift move with DRS had claimed the position back.

Lap 14:

The battle between the two British drivers continued as Norris breezed past Hamilton to end the battle as he claimed P6.

Lap 19:

Norris continued his desperation to claim positions after his P10 qualifying as he squeezed past Kimi Antonelli for P5.

Lap 21:

On Lap 21, Verstappen finally made his pit stop where he served his five second time penalty before he re-joined the race P5.

Lap 25:

Gabriel Bortoleto made an attempt to overtake Liam Lawson without realising Fernando Alonso, Bortoleto’s manager, had made a dive along the inside which Bortoleto was late on his braking which saw Bortoleto and Alonso clipping wheels. Alonso quickly shared his thoughts on the radio: “Wow! He moved under braking. Woah, that was close. Bwoah. So close. Check the car.”

Lap 34:

Charles Leclerc squeezed past George Russell as they went through Turn 2 as Leclerc claimed P3 from Russell.

Lap 42:

Lap 42 saw a strange radio message from Piastri about a confusion of a red flashing light from a balcony near the track: “There’s like a red flashing light on a balcony into turn 10. It’s really annoying, looks identical to a red flag.” – Piastri

“Copy, we’ll report.” – Stallard

Lap 50:

Piastri after a strong weekend claimed the win at the Saudi Arabian track with Verstappen followed behind in P2 and Leclerc in P3.

The victory for the McLaren Driver makes him the first Australian driver to lead the Drivers’ Championship since Mark Webber, who is Piastri’s manager, in 2010.

NEXT UP: The long awaited Miami Grand Prix is up next! 2nd – 4th of May!