Oscar Piastri takes F1 championship lead with Saudi Arabian GP win
20th April 2025McLaren’s Oscar Piastri has taken the lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings championship after he secured the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix win.
Feature image credit: McLaren Racing
Piastri has secured back-to-back wins, which catapulted the Australian to the top of the standings with a 10-point deficit over his teammate, Lando Norris.
The championship leader was pipped to pole position by the narrowest of margins on Saturday night. However, he still started on the front row alongside Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. He looked to snatch the early lead, but he went wheel-to-wheel into the opening corner with Verstappen. The latter cut turn one and retained the race lead.
However, this lead was negated as both Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly made contact and crashed out at turn five, prompting the safety car. Following an investigation, for the turn one incident, Verstappen was given a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage.
Following the pit stop sequence, Piastri secured the race lead and never looked to be under threat as he went to secure his fifth career win and third of the season, following his victory in Bahrain last weekend. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc secured the team’s first podium of the season with a third-place finish, as Norris finished the race in fourth.
As a result, it means Piastri takes over as the drivers’ championship leader with 99 points to his name, 10 more than Norris, who will sit on 89 points.
Read more Formula 1 here:
- What does the F1 grid look like at the Saudi Arabian GP
- Verstappen pips Piastri to Saudi Arabian GP pole as Norris crashes
- Lando Norris leads McLaren in final practice at F1 Saudi Arabian GP
- Hamilton avoids punishment with Albon in Saudi Arabian GP practice
- Gasly pips Norris to fastest time in Saudi Arabian GP FP1
- Verstappen tells Sky F1 commentator to ‘focus on commentating’ at Saudi Arabian GP
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
