Live Action: Formula one Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Race)
Leaders-Mena magazine provided a live coverage for Sunday’s Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix top 10 drivers:
- Oscar Piastri
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- Lando Norris
- George Russell
- Kimi Antonelli
- Lewis Hamilton
- Carlos Sainz
- Alex Albon
- Isack Hadjar
*Max Verstappen in second, Charles Leclerc gets his Ferrari on the podium, as Lando Norris takes fourth and George Russell fifth
*Oscar Piastri has done it again! His third win of the season grabs him the Championship lead for the first time in his career as well.
Lap 50/50: Oscar Piastri on track for the win, his fifth in F1 and second in a row. Charles Leclerc in third is 1.3 seconds ahead of Lando Norris
Lap 49/50: Having charged his battery, Norris takes half a second out of Leclerc. The gap is 1.3s, and Norris needs a mighty lap here to get DRS on the very last lap. Up front, Piastri remains 3.2s ahead of Verstappen and cruising for victory as he comes up behind Hulkenberg, one last hurdle to lap.
Lap 48/50: This will be McLaren’s first win at Jeddah if there are no issues. Red Bull have three and Mercedes have one.
Lap 48/50: Oscar Piastri has swept past that traffic and can breathe easy again.
Lap 46/50: Oscar Piastri has hit some backmarkers and there’s not much room to get by. This could be a late issue.
Top 5 drivers after 45 laps:
- Oscar Piastri
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- Lando Norris
- George Russell
Lap 45/50: Lewis Hamilton is plugging away in seventh place in his Ferrari, he’s still not too happy with the red dream machine.
Lap 44/50: Sainz has dropped back to keep Albon in his DRS as Albon fights to hold off a fresher-shod Hadjar, while Kick Sauber has swapped their drivers in P15 and P16. Meanwhile, good news for McLaren fans: no further investigation for Norris!
Lap 43/50: Lando Norris was close to crossing a white line he should not have when he left his pits, so we could get some more late drama after all!
Lap 42/50: Piastri leads by over four seconds still. But the battles behind are the ones to watch. Norris is the fastest man out there right now, and he is 3.9s behind Leclerc and closing by half a second a lap.
Lap 41/50: Norris now has a 4.2 second gap to Leclerc with 10 laps remaining. But he needs to up his pace to close in and stand a chance of rescuing a podium from today.
Top 5 drivers after 40 laps:
- Oscar Piastri
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- Lando Norris
- George Russell
Lap 40/50: Lando Norris guns his McLaren past George Russell to move into fourth. His best finish in Saudi Arabia is seventh before today.
Lap 39/50: This is already the second time this year we have seen multiple cars crash out on the first lap (also Australia). The last time we saw this happen in two of the first five races of the year was in 2018 (Azerbaijan and Spain)
Lap 38/50: Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson has been handed a 10 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Lap 37/50: The gap between the front two has been stable pretty much since the pit stops. Piastri pulled it out to a 4.6 lead, and then held it there as he begins to manage his tyres and temperatures. Leclerc is about to have DRS in his fight with Russell for third.
Lap 36/50: Piastri leads by 4.5s from Verstappen, Russell is a further 6s behind but has Leclerc for company.
Norris has to make up 5.6s to get back to the Ferrari and beyond.
Top 5 drivers after 35 laps:
- Oscar Piastri
- Max Verstappen
- George Russell
- Charles Leclerc
- Lando Norris
Lap 34/50: Norris is brought in for a 2.6s stop. He comes out in fifth, behind Russell and Leclerc, Can he get those two? That is going to be worth watching for the rest of the race here.
Lap 34/50: Piastri is now 2.3s behind Norris, and is told his team mate is extending his stint. What odes that mean? It means Piastri is now in the dirty air, and this will hurt his tyres. Which could have ramifications later.
Lap 33/50: McLaren will be watching this closely – Leclerc is now the man who is flying, his tyres now up to temperature. He is 2.4s behind Russell, and those two will be in Norris’ race as and when he pits, assuming no Safety Car.
Lap 32/50: Ooofff, Kimi Antonelli scuffs his right front against the wall at well north of 100mph. He keeps his Mercedes in just about a straight line but that’s the perils of a street circuit.
Lap 31/50: Lando Norris could be in with a real chance of a podium here. Some effort having qualified 10th.
Top 5 drivers after 30 laps:
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Max Verstappen
- George Russell
- Charles Leclerc
Lap 30/50: Charles Leclerc is into the pits! The leader is in and out in double quick time, so Lando Norris is the new leader on track.
Lap 29/50: Still top two Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris stay out. How long can they avoid a pit stop?
Lap 28/50: Sainz has DRS on Hulkenberg, as he tries to recover back to the points after his pit stop. That is the battle for P10, there are some entertaining battles further back too – Doohan and Lawson slugging it out for P14.
Lap 27/50: Hadjar has yet to pit, and is running well in P6 on his original hard tyres. Antonelli, who has pitted, is 1.5s behind but not making much progress. Stroll and Hulkenberg are also in the top 10, both starting on the hards and yet to pit.
Lap 26/50: A Safety Car would be handy for the Ferrari right now. Leclerc’s mediums are holding on well, he is lapping in around the same times as Norris. Piastri is 5.3s behind his team mate, Verstappen a further 4.3s adrift.
Lap 25/50: That is so close as Gabriel Bortoleto moves out right without checking his mirrors and nearly collects Fernando Alonso who was on the outside and making a move. Almost a big shunt on such a narrow track, as Alonso somehow avoids the wall
Lap 24/50: Verstappen passes Hamilton at the final corner before the Ferrari driver dives into the pits to make his pit stop. The gap between Piastri and Verstappen is 3.8s.
Lap 23/50: Leclerc and Norris are currently the top two and showing no signs of pitting.
Lap 22/50: Verstappen finally pits, two laps after Piastri. The Red Bull driver has served his 5s penalty and rejoins fifth on track, with Hamilton splitting him and third-placed Piastri, who has the net lead. The Red Bull driver trails the McLaren by three-seconds.
Lap 21/50: Verstappen is now told to push ahead of his pitstop. Piastri’s slightly tardy stop is opening the door for him.
Lap 20/50: Many more drivers are coming into the pitlane now. That includes Piastri, who has rejoined in sixth on the hard rubber after McLaren was a little slow fitting his tyres.
Lap 19/50: Haas rookie Oliver Bearman is the first driver to pit, while Piastri has been called in by McLaren. Red Bull is deciding to keep Verstappen out with the world champion showing strong pace, having built up a 2.8s advantage.
Lap 19/50: Norris gains another place and moves into the top five by dispatching Antonelli’s Mercedes.
Lap 18/50: Norris and Hadjar are both on the hards – and both looking quick. The hard tyre might take a lap or two to warm up, but then it looks a good race compound.
Lap 17/50: A measured drive from Piastri so far, keeping within two-seconds of Verstappen in front.
Lap 16/50: Max Verstappen now has a six-second cushion to George Russell in third — remember he will have a five-second penalty when he pits. So he should be in second place after the stops.
Lap 15/50: Finally, having perhaps wasted a couple of laps, Norris overtakes Hamilton for good after passing the Ferrari down the pit straight. The gap to Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead is three seconds.
Lap 14/50: Same again next lap as Lando Norris dances past the Ferrari at 200mph, only for Lewis Hamilton to engage DRS straight away and fly past. What a duel this is!
Lap 13/50: Norris dives past Hamilton at the final corner, but Hamilton regains the place immediately by using DRS to sweep around the outside of the McLaren on the run to Turn 1.
Lap 12/50: Norris is within DRS range of Hamilton’s Ferrari as he sets his sets on sixth place.
Lap 11/50: The on-track battles are few and far between at the moment, with Verstappen keeping a steady 1s gap to Piastri. Elsewhere, Albon provided a snappy response to his team over radio having been asked to manage the gap to Sainz in front to not overheat his tyres. He reminded his race engineer, James Urwin, that Hadjar is not far behind in 10th
Lap 10/50: Vertsappen and Piastri are pulling away as a few drivers are already being told that their cars are overheating. It’s a long race for man and machine here!
Lap 9/50: Max Verstappen’s lead is under a second, him and Piastri are running a different race to the rest just now.
Lap 8/50: Another lap of Piastri trying to close in on Verstappen. Unless he is debating minding his tyres – we don’t know yet if the undercut is potent here.
Russell is now 2.2s adrift, but nearly two seconds clear of Leclerc who still has his wing mirrors full of the silver of Antonelli.
Lap 7/50: Hamilton made a good start and overtook Sainz’s Williams to move himself up to P6.
The seven-time world champion is running directly behind his Mercedes replacement Antonelli and Ferrari teammate Leclerc.
Lap 6/50:: The tight confines of the street circuit amplify the speed of these cars, making for a wild ride. Overtaking appears to be extremely challenging..
Lap 5/50:: Max Verstappen has pulled a lead of just over a second from Piastri. That was a great restart from the champ. Down the field, Lando Norris is up to eighth.
Lap 4/50:: Max Verstappen has been handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track at turn one. But he still has the lead after a rapid restart.
Lap 3/50: The safety car is in and they have got rid of that stricken Alpine very quickly indeed. Away we go!
Lap 2/50:: Yuki Tsunoda pulls into the pits, Red Bull are giving the car a good look and Yuki Tsunoda switches it off. Race over.
Lap 1/50:: It didn’t take long for a collision, as just moments after Verstappen used the run-off at the Turn 1-2 chicane, Tsunoda and Gasly making contact and collide. Safety car deployed due to an accident.
Lap1: Verstappen has kept his lead, but he went off at Turn 2 to avoid a collision with Piastri.
Race kicks off
20:05 Lights Out. Here we go.
18:00 The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will take place in Jeddah until 2027, with the Qiddiya track under construction during this period. After its completion, Saudi Arabia might host two separate Formula One events, utilizing both the Jeddah and Qiddiya circuits.
17:00 Full starting grid:
1- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3- George Russell (Mercedes)
4- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
6- Carlos Sainz (Williams)
7- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
8- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing)
9- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10- Lando Norris (McLaren)
11- Alex Albon (Williams)
12- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
13- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
14- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
15- Oliver Bearman (Haas)
16- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
17- Jack Doohan (Alpine)
18- Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber)
19- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
20- Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber)
16:00 Dutch Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, a four-time world champion, claimed pole position for the Saudi Arabian GP after a nail-biting qualifying session qualifying session on Saturday, edging out McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, winner of the Bahrain GP, by a mere one-hundredth of a second
15:00 British driver Lewis Hamilton, then with Mercedes, claimed victory at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (2021), followed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (2022), teammate Sergio Pérez (2023), and Verstappen again (2024).
14:00 Saudi Arabia’s 50-lap Grand Prix debuted in 2021 as the season’s penultimate race before transitioning to an early-season calendar slot starting in 2022.
13:00 Saudi Arabia gears up to host this Sunday’s Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Track: Corniche Circuit (Jeddah)
