Yesterday, pole position slipped away by just ten thousandths, but today Oscar Piastri took back what he couldn’t achieve on Saturday, winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and collecting 25 very valuable points for the world championship, which now puts him in the lead for the first time in his career.
The Saudi round couldn’t have ended better for Piastri, with a race that was essentially decided at the start, when the Australian managed to pull alongside poleman Max Verstappen into Turn 1, enough to claim the racing line into the first chicane.
After the race, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella described Piastri’s handling of Turn 1 as perfect, praising his ability to stay ahead long enough at the apex to set the trajectory in such a way that the Red Bull driver had no option but to cut the chicane, resulting in a penalty for gaining an unfair advantage.
“Once I got down the inside, I had no intention of coming out of Turn 1 in second place, so I gave it everything. Obviously, the stewards had to step in, but I felt I was clearly ahead,” said Piastri after the race, before also highlighting the work done with the team to improve starts — an area where McLaren was still slightly behind its rivals.
“In the end, that’s what won me the race, so I’m very, very happy with all the work we’ve done on starts. That’s what won us the race today,” Oscar added during interviews.
Aware of the penalty, Piastri only needed to stay within a couple of seconds of Verstappen during the first stint to take the lead at the pit stop, given how hard it is to overtake in Jeddah — especially since the pace difference with Verstappen wasn’t all that big.
In fact, toward the end of the first stint on the medium tyre, in trying to stay that close in dirty air, Piastri put stress on his tyres, pushing McLaren to pit him earlier than ideal just to rejoin with a safe enough gap to take the lead.
Once in front, Piastri managed the race with everything under control until the chequered flag, despite Verstappen managing to claw back a few tenths and finishing about three seconds behind, partly thanks to traffic slowing the McLaren driver.
“It was a really, really tough race. I’m very happy to have won and yes, I made the difference at the start by asserting my position at Turn 1 — that was enough,” Piastri said after the race.
“Today it was really hard to follow. I couldn’t keep pace with Max at the end of the first stint, I just wore the tyres too much. That’s why it was nice to be in clean air after the pit stop. We still need a bit more — I think Max was a little too close for our liking — but it was a great race and a great weekend.”
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