McLaren Racing’s Oscar Piastri has taken the lead in the championship after a dominant race performance in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. The Australian started the race from second on the grid alongside Max Verstappen.
Speaking following the race, Piastri commented saying:
Very, very happy to have won, that was a tough race! We’ve put a lot of work into our starts recently, and in the end, that’s played a big part in the victory. It was really tricky out there at times, chewing up the tyres, but once we got into clean air it was nice. The team did a great job executing the strategy and we did all the parts right that we needed to.
“We’ve still got work to do, it’s very close at the front, but it’s been a great weekend. We can now turn our attention to working hard at the factory next week before heading to Miami.
The Dutch driver came home in second place, with Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc coming home third. Lando Norris, who crashed in qualifying, came home in fourth place after starting the race from tenth place. George Russell was fifth while his teammate Kimi Antonelli was sixth. It was a difficult race for Lewis Hamilton who finished the race in seventh place.
It was an excellent race for Atlassian Williams Racing’s Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon,, who ended the night in eighth and ninth place respectively,, while Isack Hadjar rounded out the top ten.
Piastri’s victory sees the Australian take the lead in the championship on 99 points, ten ahead of his teammate Lando Norris,, while McLaren Racing lead the championship by 77 points.
Fernando Alonso was just outside the top ten in 11th place just ahead of Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman. Esteban Ocon was 14th just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll.
Jack Doogan was 17th just ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto. There were two retirements with Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly coming together on the opening lap of the race.