Honestly, the saudi arabian grand prix results from 2025 still feel a bit surreal if you look back at how that weekend started. It wasn't just a race; it was a total momentum shift for McLaren and a rare moment of vulnerability for Max Verstappen. We all went into Jeddah thinking it would be another Red Bull masterclass, especially after Max snagged pole position with a lap that literally broke the record. But the street circuit had other plans.
Oscar Piastri won. That’s the headline. But the way he won—taking advantage of a Max Verstappen penalty and keeping his cool while the walls of Jeddah loomed over him—is what people are still talking about in 2026.
The Turn 1 Drama That Changed Everything
The race basically turned on its head before the first lap was even finished. Max started on pole, but he didn't get that "launch out of a cannon" start he usually does. Piastri, sitting in second, saw the gap and lunged for the inside of Turn 1.
Max went wide. He cut the second corner to keep the lead, but the stewards were on him in seconds.
Basically, the FIA decided he’d gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track. A five-second penalty was handed down almost immediately. You could hear the frustration on the radio. Max called the decision "f***ing lovely" with enough sarcasm to melt a radiator. It was a rare crack in the Red Bull armor, and Piastri knew it.
The young Aussie just sat there, three seconds back, knowing he didn't even have to pass Max on track to win. He just had to stay close.
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Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Results: The Final Top 10
When the dust—or rather, the sea spray—settled under the floodlights, the leaderboard looked significantly different from what we'd seen in the first few rounds of the season.
Oscar Piastri took the top step. Max Verstappen had to settle for second after his penalty was applied at the pit stop. Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium, which was actually Ferrari's first podium of that entire 2025 season.
The full points finishers were:
- 1st: Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- 2nd: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- 3rd: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- 4th: Lando Norris (McLaren)
- 5th: George Russell (Mercedes)
- 6th: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- 7th: Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- 8th: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams)
- 9th: Alex Albon (Williams)
- 10th: Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
Why Lando Norris’s 4th Place Was the Real Story
You’ve gotta feel for Lando Norris. He entered Jeddah leading the championship, but a massive crash in Q3 left him starting P10. Most drivers would have just tried to salvage a few points and move on.
Not Lando.
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He ran a marathon opening stint on the hard tires, actually leading the race for a while because everyone else had pitted. By the time he finally swapped for fresh mediums on lap 34, he was a man possessed. He chased down Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, picking them off with clinical precision.
He finished fourth, less than two seconds behind Leclerc. If the race had been 52 laps instead of 50, McLaren might have had a double podium. This recovery drive is why the saudi arabian grand prix results were so significant; it proved the McLaren was the fastest car on the grid in 2025, even if they didn't always start at the front.
Chaos in the Midfield
Jeddah is tight. It’s fast. It's mean.
Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly found that out the hard way on the very first lap. They went side-by-side into Turn 4, which is basically asking for a disaster. They touched, they spun, and Gasly’s Alpine ended up looking like a discarded soda can against the wall. Tsunoda tried to limp back to the pits, but the damage was terminal.
Double DNF for the "Red Bull family" drivers (if you count Alpine's Renault power as the outlier).
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Then you had Isack Hadjar. The rookie in the Racing Bulls car drove the race of his life. He overtook Fernando Alonso—a guy who was winning titles before Hadjar could walk—at the end of lap 4. Holding onto P10 and a point in Jeddah is like surviving a cage match.
Strategy and the "One-Stop" Trap
Pirelli brought softer tires to Saudi Arabia in 2025, hoping to force teams into a two-stop race. It didn't work. Everyone stayed stubborn.
Basically, the entire grid realized that track position is king in Jeddah. If you stop twice, you come out in traffic, and passing in the middle sector is a suicide mission.
Most of the leaders pitted between lap 20 and 23. Verstappen served his five-second penalty during his stop, which dropped him behind Piastri. He spent the next 25 laps trying to reel the McLaren in, but the dirty air was too much. Piastri was managing his tires perfectly, despite complaining about a "red flashing light" on a balcony that he thought was a red flag. Talk about being in the zone.
Takeaways from Jeddah
If you’re looking at these saudi arabian grand prix results to predict future seasons, here is the reality:
- McLaren is the new benchmark. Their ability to manage tires while maintaining high-speed cornering is currently better than Red Bull.
- Max is human. When he's under pressure from a car that's actually faster, he makes uncharacteristic errors (like the Turn 1 incident).
- The Ferrari resurgence is slow. Leclerc’s podium was great, but they were still eight seconds off the win.
To truly understand the 2025 season, you need to watch the telemetry from Piastri's final ten laps. He wasn't just driving; he was managing a gap with the precision of a Swiss watch.
If you're following the current season, keep an eye on the tire degradation stats for the next high-speed street circuit. The McLaren "anti-dive" suspension setup that worked so well in Jeddah is likely to be the deciding factor in races like Baku or Singapore. You should also check out the updated driver standings, as this race was the moment Piastri took the lead of the world championship for the first time in his career.