F1 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Review (Undercutters Ep17 transcript)
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Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Qualifying 00m28s
While some races have been hit and miss, qualifying has almost always thrown up surprises this year. Saudi Arabia was no exception.The Aston Martin was not looking good, so Stroll being the fastest man eliminated in Q1 is not exactly unexpected. Also eliminated were Doohan, Hulkenberg, Ocon, and Bortoleto. Of those, Ocon was perhaps most surprising, although this circuit does not seem to suit the Haas especially well.
This was backed up by Bearman being slowest in Q2. At this stage we also lost Albon, Lawson, Alonso, and Hadjar. Slightly surprised to see Hadjar outqualified by Lawson. Sainz also reached Q3 whereas Albon did not, but this was less unexpected as the Spaniard seemed to finally get on terms with his car last time out and has continued that good form this weekend.
Heading into Q3 it was, once more, looking like McLaren’s to lose. And, once more, they lost it. Not just the front row lockout, but Norris brought out a red flag when he clocked the wall and started in 10th. The track is fast but there are chances to overtake, though it’s not quite as straightforward as Bahrain. Dirty air seems especially rough this year and Norris struggled in Bahrain, especially versus Leclerc who did very well to hold him up for so long.
Verstappen put in another great qualifying lap to get pole by one-hundredth of a second over Piastri. Both men are very much in the title fight, as is the driver in 3rd, George Russell, so I expected a tightly contested but also cagey start. None of them will want to sacrifice a chance to snatch the lead from Norris. We’ve not really seen Verstappen and Piastri go wheel-to-wheel this season, and we know Verstappen and Russell aren’t exactly best friends forever, so things could were looking very tasty.
Just as an aside, Verstappen was faster than Piastri in every qualifying session. Norris was faster than Piastri in Q1 and Q2, and pole was definitely on for the Briton.
Sharing the second row with Russell was Leclerc, who was two-tenths off Russell. The Monegasque did well but his car isn’t quite there. He’s two-tenths and one place ahead of Antonelli, who was a step behind Russell but did ok to put his Mercedes in 5th.
He shared the third row with Sainz, who did fantastically well to qualify so high up. Staying up there would be a challenge but the Spanish driver was in a solid position for good points.
Row four was Hamilton and Tsunoda, who were separated by just three-thousandths of a second. And rounding out the top 10 were Gasly and Norris. Gasly was slowest in Q3, of those who set a time, but given his team mate is starting eight places behind him it’s still a good performance by the Frenchman.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Race Review 3m47s
Before the 50 laps of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix began most had opted for the medium tyre. Exceptions were Norris, Hulkenberg, Hadjar, and Stroll, all of whom were on the hard tyre. While a one stop was deemed possible it was widely assumed most would go for two stops.Off the line Piastri had a better start and got alongside Verstappen. He had the inside line at the first corner, which Verstappen decided was optional, cutting across the runoff and claiming that Piastri pushed him wide. The team did not instruct Verstappen to give back the place, but the stewards saw through the nonsense and handed Verstappen a 5s penalty. Whether this needs to be sharpened up remains to be seen.
Further down the order, Tsunoda and Gasly had what might be called a classic lap one incident. Neither did anything wrong, it was just very close and both ended up going backwards into the wall. Tsunoda was able to get going but had to box and retire, while the safety car emerged to retrieve Gasly’s stricken Alpine. Rough for both men, as points were there to be had.
Not many dived into the pits so early, but Doohan, Ocon and Bortoleto did, slapping on some hard tyres.
At the restart it was formation flying, Verstappen retaining the lead on-track ahead of Piastri, Russell, and Leclerc. Piastri was able to stick very close to Verstappen, often within DRS, but was unable to pass. Russell and Leclerc found themselves falling back.
Meanwhile, Norris continued to make progress and by lap 13 was ahead of Hamilton and up into 6th. Only to immediately lose the place because Hamilton then got DRS into the first corner and retook the place. This nonsense continued for a couple of laps before Norris made it stick and went off down the road.
Verstappen, at the front, was stretching his legs, and built up a couple of seconds over Piastri. He was also more than 5s ahead of Russell and extending that advantage all the time. But he couldn’t shake the McLaren.
Lap 19 saw Norris pass Antonelli for 5th and on the next lap Piastri pitted with Russell doing the same on the following lap. Verstappen stayed out a little longer, serving his penalty at his pit stop on lap 22. When he emerged he was 5th on-track, behind Leclerc and Norris, neither of whom had not pitted, and Piastri and Hamilton (with the latter also not having pitted). Verstappen had, however, come out ahead of Russell so was on course for 2nd.
While the pit stops were happening, Piastri had a fantastic overtake on Hamilton, who held up Verstappen for a while despite the Dutchman being all over the back of him. Although we didn’t really see Piastri and Verstappen wheel-to-wheel except for the very first corner this does highlight just how good the Aussie is.
On lap 25 Bortoleto almost hit Alonso as the Spanish driver was passing him. That would’ve been awkward, as Alonso is Bortoleto’s manager, but luckily it was a near miss.
Like Leclerc and Norris, Hadjar stayed out long, having started on the hard tyre. Lap 30 finally saw Leclerc pit, and he came out behind Russell, in 5th. Norris inherited the lead and was motoring along nicely on his hard tyres. Not enough to be a contender for the win, but certainly enough to have a crack at a podium. Norris boxed on lap 35, putting on medium tyres and coming out in 5th behind Leclerc.
This meant we had a true running order, with Piastri leading Verstappen and Russell. Leclerc was closing on the Mercedes rapidly and had Norris only a few seconds behind him. It took only three laps for Leclerc to not only catch but pass Russell, whose pace had looked surprisingly weak all race long. Russell would not only fall prey to Norris, he was very worried about a band opening up on his tyre and whether his tyres would reach the chequered flag. In the end, they were fine for that but he did lose an awful lot of pace, and was a second a lap slower than Antonelli by the end.
Norris, who passed Russell on lap 41, set off in pursuit of Leclerc but, despite getting closer, he was unable to really challenge for the podium. Instead, late race action came from the lower points positions, with Williams asking Sainz to give Albon DRS to help fend off Hadjar. These three were running 8th to 10th but Hadjar was on fresh medium tyres versus older hard tyres for the Williams. The team game worked perfectly, and although Albon slipped out of DRS by the last lap or two he was able to hold position.
But at the front it was Oscar Piastri who once again took the win. This makes it three from five races, and puts him top of the driver standings on 99 points. He drove well throughout, and was right that Verstappen was playing games by deliberately going off to retain track position and try to pretend he was pushed off. Not a surprise but also not great to see.
Behind them was Leclerc, whose Ferrari was not only miles faster than Russell’s Mercedes but also Hamilton, who looked very much off the pace and finished in 7th. Good stuff from Leclerc, who was able to keep Norris at bay to the extent there was no real overtaking attempt.
Norris finishing 4th was a solid recovery drive, however, given he started in 10th. He’s lost the lead in the title battle for the first time this season, but was quick throughout and better at passing than in Bahrain. While this is a setback he is still very much in this title battle.
Russell ended up 5th, with Antonelli 6th. The British driver had built up enough of an advantage that he was still 7s ahead at the end but was losing time hand over fist. Even without that tyre problem in the second stint, and his tyres being shot at the end of the first stint, the Mercedes looked the fourth fastest car in this race on a high speed, low degradation circuit. Antonelli had a good but unremarkable race, neither challenging those ahead nor at risk from Hamilton behind.
Behind, as already covered, we had Sainz and Albon for a great double points finish for Williams, and Hadjar scoring the last point for Racing Bulls.
Alonso continues to be cursed. He finished 11th. From the five races so far he’s had two DNFs and two 11th places.
Highlights and Lowlights 10m50s
Saudi Arabia was very ok. It was better than Suzuka but certainly wasn’t as good as Bahrain this year.
A problem with it being a one rather than two stop race is that it promoted a more conservative strategic approach from almost everyone. This put drivers on the same tyres at the same time and that, coupled with dirty air, reduced on-track action a lot. A more abrasive surface and softer tyres would be a good thing. Also, gravel at turn 1 so you can’t just keep a place by going off-track and pretending you were forced off.
The question of whether a 5s penalty is enough, and whether this should be combined with handing the place back, is worth asking. Verstappen wasn’t able to drive away from Piastri but if he had then the penalty would amount to nothing whatsoever. By going off-track to keep the lead he got himself clean air and forced Piastri into dirty air, potentially causing overheating. If someone has to swap a place back then that destroys whatever lead they’ve built up and puts them in dirty air. Add a 5s penalty to that and there might be a better incentive to avoid trying to get an advantage unfairly.
Verstappen being a tinker when it comes to the rules is not too surprising, but more remarkable was Racing Bulls making a good strategy call. Starting on the hard tyre worked for Hadjar, and if the Williams had not been next to each other on track he might well have passed at least Albon. Got to say I remain impressed with how well the French driver is performing.
While I was surprised by how poor Russell and Mercedes were, it remains the case that McLaren are top dog. They’re not just fast, they’re versatile and seem to be fast everywhere. Mercedes was poor this weekend, Red Bull were weak in Bahrain. Everywhere we’ve been so far, the McLaren has been capable of pole and the win.
Speaking of which, McLaren are now on 188 points to Mercedes on 111, Red Bull on 89 and Ferrari on 78. While the papaya team should have the Constructors’ title sewn up, it’s looking much tighter behind them. Tsunoda didn’t score today but was slightly unlucky. We could have a good battle for 2nd.
Williams retook best of the rest from Haas, and now stand on 25 points to 20 for Haas thanks to their double points finish. Behind them, Aston Martin stay on 10 points. Hadjar’s finish increases Racing Bulls’ tally to 8 points, while Alpine and Sauber have 6 each. Alpine could’ve easily scored more today, but Gasly’s DNF put paid to that. Doohan finished all the way down in 17th, incidentally.
Piastri is up to 99 points, leading the title race from Norris, who is on 89 points. Assuming the McLaren stays competitive, I do expect Norris to bounce back and for this to be quite the contest with Verstappen. The Dutchman is on 87 points. Russell is on 73 points, and needs a few good results or he’s going to end up languishing in 4th or being passed by Leclerc, currently 5th on 47 points.
Is Piastri the favourite for the title? Yes. He’s driving very well and has the best car. He also looks psychologically bulletproof, in stark contrast to the more emotive Norris. But we’re only 5 races into a 24 race season. There’s time for cars to develop well or poorly, for pressure to build on the Australian driver, and for luck to play a role here and there.
One significant moment will be the Spanish Grand Prix at the start of June, when we’ll see how the flexi-wing ban affects teams. This could be relatively minor or more substantial.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Predictions Assessment 15m07s
How were my predictions for this race?
Well, I thought Norris would get pole and he instead of crashed out in Q3, so that prediction was very red indeed.
But I did get Piastri winning despite not getting pole correct, with the Aussie racking up yet another win to put him in prime position for the title race.
I had Norris in 2nd, but his recovery drive was not good enough for that, with Verstappen ending up in that place. I had also Russell in 3rd, which was wrong as Leclerc got Ferrari’s first podium of the season.
But both of my midfield points calls came off, with Sainz and Hadjar scoring. This was slightly lucky for Hadjar due to the Tsunoda and Gasly incident, but Sainz would’ve scored either way.
My extra prediction on Antonelli to be top 5 was based on Mercedes being rather better here, but ending up 6th means this was only slightly wrong.
F1 News 16m03s
F1 news… is pretty thin this time around. Lots of vague rumours. One of the most interesting is that Doohan might actually have more races. There was a lot of murmuring he’d be replaced after about half a dozen races, and we’ve just had the fifth. If he is replaced that’s a bit rough but not unexpected given Colapinto has a multi-year contract and you don’t sign one of those because you love being a reserve driver. But if he is not, then Colapinto’s backers, including sponsors, are going to be less than happy. This wouldn’t be the first time Alpine have botched a driver situation (remember Piastri was meant to be with them but they failed to lock him down and now he’s doing rather well at McLaren).Another, sillier, rumour is that Verstappen could leave Red Bull if he’s not top 3 in the standings, even this year. Impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes. He’s driving very well and has had two of the last three pole positions and finished on the podium three times in five races.
Moving from speculation to confirmed information: Adrian Newey is entirely focused on the 2026 car, which is bad news for those wanting him to help upgrade the car this year. However, it’s pretty good news for those dreaming of a 2026 Alonso title run, which is plausible.
It’ll be worth watching how well Aston Martin develop this year. Previously they used Mercedes’ wind tunnel and that (until quite recently) had a poor correlation to the real world, meaning updates didn’t work as intended. If Aston Martin develop well in 2025 it’ll mean their own wind tunnel, which is new, is providing an accurate picture of how updates work. In turn, this means Newey’s cunning designs will work in the real world. If the team continues to develop poorly it will suggest there’s a disconnect between their wind tunnel or other testing facilities and real world performance. Should this prove the case then it will make a 2026 title challenge very unlikely.
Next up, we have the Miami Grand Prix, including a sprint race. Red Bull are bringing some upgrades there, but as it’s a sprint weekend they’ll only have an hour of practice to get everything working well and decide whether to run the updates or not.
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