Oscar Piastri has secured his third victory of the season by winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. With this win, the Australian not only matches the number of victories of his teammate Lando Norris, five in total, but also takes the lead in the drivers’ championship.
The McLaren driver had a flying start, almost immediately overtaking polesitter Max Verstappen at the first corner. The Dutchman then went off the track, maintaining his lead. McLaren subsequently undercut Verstappen with Piastri, a strategy that paid off in lap 22. The Australian thus overtook the Dutchman and took the lead in the race.
“I’m mainly looking for a bench,” Piastri joked after the grueling race in Jeddah. “It was a tough race. I’m very happy to have won. I really made the difference at the start. I’ve already commented on turn 1. After that, it was hard to follow Max during the first stint, my tires were wearing out. The clean air after the pit stop was therefore very nice. Great race, we did everything we needed to do well, well. We need a little more, because Max was a bit too close.”
Battle with Verstappen
The only real moment Piastri provided some race action was at the start of the race during the battle with Verstappen. “Once I was on the inside of Max, I didn’t want to come out of the corner in second place. I did my best, the stewards had to be called in. But in the end, that’s how I got the lead. We will work on the starts.”
During the previous races, there were many problems with Piastri’s drinking system, but the Australian was glad it worked during the hot Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “That was good. I was able to drink during the race. But it’s one of the toughest races of my career.”
