Oscar Piastri claimed his third victory in five Grand Prix races after forcing Max Verstappen into an error at the second turn. The Australian takes the lead in the Championship for the first time in his career. And this could be a lasting change.
The 2025 Championship has a new leader. Young and fragile, as Oscar Piastri’s 10-point lead doesn’t weigh much with 19 Grand Prix and five sprint races still to go. But this season, with such tiny margins (a hundredth of a second between poleman Max Verstappen and his runner-up Piastri in Saturday’s qualifiers, barely nine seconds between the top four yesterday), may already have its boss. Equally young (24 years old), but incredibly solid.
The way Piastri won, a week after his demonstration in the neighboring desert of Bahrain, allows him to assert himself once again as the strong man of this early season, and perhaps beyond. “Being at the top of the Championship doesn’t change anything for me. What makes me particularly proud is the work we did this winter to get here,” he commented modestly at the finish.
Perfect in his take-off, which he knew was the key to the Grand Prix in this Championship where the poleman had always won so far, the Australian managed to get the nose of his McLaren ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull at the first turn, thereby taking the four-time world champion at his own game, who has so often delayed his braking to the extreme to force his rivals to widen their trajectory to avoid contact.
The Penalty That Changed Everything
“Once I managed to take the inside, there was no way I was coming out second and I did everything to ensure that,” Piastri confidently recounted. Unusually, it was the Dutchman who gave in. Which is not in his nature. Forced to cut turn 2, Verstappen returned to the track in front but should logically have slowed down to give Piastri the position, as Kimi Antonelli did in an identical situation against Charles Leclerc just behind.
Certain he was in the right, or too proud to admit that a kid three years his junior had just taught him a lesson, the Red Bull driver decided to stay in front. His team didn’t ask him to do otherwise. The stewards didn’t either, as they couldn’t judge the action before the end of the neutralization following the Gasly-Tsunoda clash on the first lap. The race was therefore restarted in this order, while each party had advanced their arguments on the radio, in a “it’s not me, it’s the other” fashion.
“The logical sanction came shortly after: a five-second penalty for Verstappen. “I thought I was far enough ahead and the stewards agreed with me,” Piastri appreciated, while his rival wisely refrained from commenting on the situation at the finish line to avoid further tarnishing his record with the FIA, with whom he has a strained relationship. “Everyone will form their own opinion,” Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, sagely advised his driver during the victory lap.
While waiting for his rival to serve his penalty during his pit stop, Piastri played it like a seasoned pro during this first stint, avoiding staying too long in the aerodynamic disturbances of the Red Bull and in the stale Arabian air that could have ruined his tires, while intermittently taking advantage of the DRS to steadily increase the gap on George Russell‘s Mercedes. Just as he had changed his tires and Verstappen was making a phenomenal effort to extend his lead beyond the necessary five seconds before his own penalty pit stop, Piastri found himself in the wake of Lewis Hamilton.
Piastri: “One of the toughest races on the calendar”
Aware that he could not afford to lose a tenth of a second, the McLaren driver overtook the Ferrari on the outside, against the rail and in the dust. It was a bold and decisive move because, two laps later, Verstappen remained stuck for half a lap behind the same Hamilton.
The 2.8 seconds that separated the two men at the finish line were probably as much due to this as to the penalty. “It was tighter than I expected, I didn’t think Max would be that close,” the Australian assured at the finish, with perhaps a bit of bluff as he seemed to master his subject, even signing the fastest lap in the race on his final lap.
To become world champion, Piastri will therefore have to overcome this stubborn Verstappen, who will always seek more than his Red Bull is worth. But Mark Webber’s protégé will also have to get rid of the one who drives the same car as him, Lando Norris, his runner-up in the Championship. It will surely be a mental game, and Piastri took a mischievous pleasure yesterday in specifying “there was no need to take reckless risks” at the end of the race, twenty-four hours after his teammate had foolishly (by his own admission) crashed in qualifying.
Gasly: “A costly contact”
If Norris, who was twice fooled by Hamilton in the use of DRS zones, still has things to learn to grow, Piastri, for his part, seems ready. Even Verstappen, who has never done worse than second in five races on this ledge, is ready to acknowledge it. “He is very solid, very calm in his approach, he attacks when he needs to and makes few mistakes. And that’s what you need to do when you want to fight for a title.” Words from another master of Jeddah.”
