Aussie Piastri leads F1 championship
Oscar Piastri has won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, holding off Max Verstappen to take the lead in the drivers’ championship from McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
A brilliant opening manoeuvre from Oscar Piastri has won him the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the lead in the Formula One drivers’ championship.
It is the first time an Australian has led the drivers’ championship for 15 years, following his manager Mark Webber in 2010.
At turn one Piastri nipped inside Max Verstappen, who had begun the race on pole, resulting in the Dutchman driving off the road to reclaim the lead. He was subsequently given a five-second penalty, enabling Piastri to regain the lead when the Red Bull rider pitted, and hold onto it all the way to the chequered flag.
Verstappen was 2.843 seconds behind Piastri, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc coming in at third place.
Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris began in 10th after crashing in qualifying and came fourth.
Australian rookie Jack Doohan finished 17th in his Alpine.
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After a disappointing ninth place in the opening race in Melbourne, Piastri is in form, having won in Shanghai, Bahrain last week, and now Jeddah, and finished third in Suzuka.
“I am not bothered that I am leading the world championship but I am proud of the hard work we have done to get here,” Piastri said.
“I want to be leading the championship after round 24, not round five.”
Every previous race this season, including China’s sprint, had been won from pole but Piastri got a great launch off the line and moved to the inside of Verstappen.
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The stewards sided with Piastri as Verstappen received a five-second penalty. “Well that is f*****g lovely,” said Verstappen.
“Once I got on the inside I wasn’t coming out of turn one in second. In the end that’s what won us the race today,” said Piastri at the finish.
Subsequently, Verstappen said he could not share his true feelings as “people can’t handle the truth”.
“It is better not to talk about it,” he said. “Anything I say may get me into trouble. Sometimes your words can be twisted or interpreted in a different way.
“You can’t share your opinions because it’s not appreciated as it used to be.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Verstappen should not have been penalised.
“At the apex of the corner, we believe that Max is clearly ahead,” Horner said.
“I can’t see how they got to that conclusion. I don’t know what happened to ‘let them race’. That seems to have been abandoned.”
Piastri now has 99 points to Norris’s 89 and Verstappen’s 87. Champions McLaren stretched their lead over Mercedes in the constructors’ standings to 77 points.
The next race is in Miami on 4 May.
