2025 Saudi Arabian GP: Post Race Analysis

An exceptionally fast track with concrete walls just off the edge of the track which leaves little margin of error. A fun track to watch onboard and the race was okay but after 5 races it seems track position and clean air is vital this season. We may see some jockeying between 2nd and 6th, but rarely have we seen a true fight for 1st during the race.

McLaren scoop another win with Oscar Piastri, who takes the championship lead. He again proves his composure is going to be worth a ton to this championship battle. Lando has the speed but once again, cracked under pressure and made another costly mistake. A good recovery drive but we've seen a few mistakes from his side in only 5 races when the real pressure isn't on yet.

Red Bull still are the 4th best car at best. Verstappen got screwed. For years now we have talked about if a driver gets beside another car, front tires alongside each other, then space must be given. This rule typically gets talked about when a driver is attempting a pass on the outside and gets alongside in the braking zone. Max and Oscar were side by side from the start right to the corner. Both drivers earned their right to space. Oscar simply did not give any, he drove his car right to the edge of the curb like he was by himself and Max had nowhere to go. Any talk about Max should have backed off is crazy, especially going into the first corner of the race when it's common for the field to go through side by side. In fact, every one from Sainz and Hamilton back went through turn 1 and 2 side by side. We didn't hear them saying Lewis and everyone in that outside lane should have backed off to the inside car did we? Push a car off the track - 5 second penalty. Go off and gain an advantage - 5 second penalty. Penalties offset each other and since we always let some scrappy racing go on in the first lap and especially turn 1, that is a racing incident all day. Never the less Max was brilliant once again. Yuki pinched Gasly and caused the wreck, but lap 1 battle we call that a racing incident.

Ferrari grab a podium with a superb drive by Charles. He did a fabulous job on the medium tires to extend his stint longer than anyone. The car just didn't have the speed to move forward anymore. He got the maximum for sure. Hamilton looked particularly slow this weekend. Funny we saw him playing the brake check games to get himself DRS down the main straight. The difference was Lando had sense enough not to drive himself up Lewis' tailpipe.

Mercedes still showing they are very solid this year. However their front wing was flexing to extreme degrees and that amount of flex will be banned sooner than later, so we will see how that affects Mercedes' overall performance. Tire wear was worse for them than their competitors. George Russell babied his car home to protect his tire from blowing out. He was significantly faster than Kimi in the race though.

Williams a double point day. Great job by them, they deserve a good result. Carlos finally getting to grips with the car. Hard to say if they were fast enough to get points, at least double points without Gasly and Yuki retiring.

RB were in the fight for point. Hadjar definitely looked faster than Albon at the end, though there was a tire difference. It's good to see they consistently have been in the fight for a points all year.

Aston Martin is probably the second worst car on the grid and no signs of improvements. The fact Alonso finished 11th is pretty remarkable, but how frustrating it must be to drive beyond the means of the car and not even get a point out of it. Stroll, has done anything this season? He drives around but hasn't been in a single fight or made a single pass for position that I can think of. If he moves forward, it's because of cars in front crashing or making mistakes.

Haas didn't get things right this weekend. Is it a tire wear thing like we have seen before? Is it the car just isn't that great in high speed corners? Is it the car isn't great at tracks that have a lot of top speed? Hard to say but they struggled and really weren't in the fight. Bearman continues to impress though, once again beating Ocon pretty easily.

Sauber do the worst car. Hulkenberg has figured something out as he has picked up his performance a lot since the first race. Bortoleto looked strong early this season, but hasn't really looked very good as of late. Another tough day, last of the finishing cars.

Alpine lost all hope as soon as Gasly got wrecked. Such a shame, he's looked really good lately and probably would have been fighting for points. Doohan had made a case for worst driver of 2025. It's possible his seat will be at risk sooner than later.

Driver of the Day: Charles Leclerc. Was a tire whisperer on the soft tires, found pace on the hard tires and had no trouble keeping Lando behind despite the McLaren being much faster and also on fresher medium tires. Outstanding performance and a well deserved podium.

 

Wittich, who was the race director from 2022 until he was let go the previous season, explained to Sky Sports DE why Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty.
“For me, it's absolutely clear that Max must give back the position. We have discussed this topic for a long, long time – years ago already – with all the teams and the drivers,” the German began.
According to him, it's “always been absolutely clear that if you leave the track and thus essentially gain an advantage – and he did, because he kept the position – then that position must be returned.”

 

You probably need to go read the rules as well as RL

FFS you lot, last year Max pushed everyone off the track and he goes "they should know the rules", well this time he got done, like Lando at Monza last year.

Did Max leave the track AND gain an advantage ?

Looked like it to anyone with EYES

 

It's BS when any driver pushes another off the track. The manipulation by the FIA/F1 seem to pick and choose who gets a penalty when and where as long as it's fitting to keeping their championship worth watching until the last race.

Is it a penalty if a driver pushes another driver off the track? YES.

Since Oscar forced Max off, he deserved a 5 second penalty. Since Max gained an advantage, he deserves a 5 second penalty. It's a wash especially going into the first corner of the race so we don't give either a penalty. Ideally in that 2 wrongs situation, Max would have let Oscar get along side wheel to wheel into the next brake zone, but that's never going to happen and it wouldn't count anyways. The only resolve to the public jury or the fools in F1 for this "unfair advantage" is if Max let Oscar by and that is completely unfair.

 

and then there was Mexico last yr

 

Lap 1 incident Verstappen versus Piastri: FIA stepping in early this year with manipulating race results.
It seems that after 4 years of Verstappen it is absolutely essential that there must be a new WDC this year (after Norris failed miserably in 2024).

 

It's yet again abundantly clear that the rules for racing have to be changed: Always leave a cars width. So long that's not being done, we continue to have these race by race incidents with different results, and the typical arguments.


I'm not butthurt about the result, quite frankly I've given up making sense of the FIA rules on a race by race basis a long time ago. I'm happy Piastri won, good guy. Happy Max came second and Leclerc completing the podium sums it up nicely.

 

And now you guys understand why some of us old farts stopped paying much attention to F1 20-25 years ago.

The races are not decided on the track, they are decided in the wind tunnels, the computer labs, the FIA and by the race 'stewards'.

 

Crybabies, rules are fine when Max does it but let's have a cry when it gets done to him

He pushed Lando off the track at COTA , Lando gets a penalty, Max says "he should know the rules" , well he got his own BS back and now you ****ing crybabies are up in arms FFS

If he didn't get a penalty Oscar would have passed him, the McLunken is just faster

Horner is the one that gives me the shjts, whining bastard stirs the pot at every chance

 

I'm 71 , been watching (and crying over Ferrari) for 50+ years

F1 is manipulated but what else do you want to watch ?

 

Why would I tell you what else I watch?
All you will do is tear it up/compare it to F1/make fun of it/say something negative about it.

I also don't care too much about any one team, I just want to see good races where you
don't have to worry about if someone will get DQ'd over something stupid 4 hours after the race.

I'm also not far behind you in age.

 

There seems to be at least one crybaby in this thread.

 

Not the winner

 

I could give a rat's what you watch

I love F1 even if it is manipulated

Love racing my 355ch on track, even if not very well, it's the thrill

Loved it when Max won his first WDC

 

Reality matters.

Max went to the outside when he realized he lost the corner. Didn't break and made zero attempt to make the corner - if he did, he'd be behind.

Max played, failed, and got penalized.

 

Explain Max’s first penalty at Mexico last yr. Exact opposite of what we saw today, we’ll except that Max got a penalty both times.

 

Nope, never leave a car's width. If you think more rules is the solution to inconsistencies you're in for a surprise.
Never worked, never will.

 

Lando tried to make the corner.

Max went directly into the scenery.

 

Max got screwed - more gaslighting not possible.

 

Recent president seems to let them get through turn 1 and with the curb you had to go left or right. I think we have seen many times it goes down as racing - no further action!

Also, I think the case can be made that Ferrari is slowly improving despite the negativity here. Charles' driving seems to be his best ever so far.

Their weak link is still real-time strategy and I don't see their AI partners (Palntir, AWS, IBM) providing any noticeable improvement.

 

Racing room or not, Max was never going to make the corner..

 

In real time, it looked like Verstappen wasn't going to make the corner. In hindsight, they were pretty side-by-side, but he did get an advantage cutting the track. The real issue continues to be the inconsistency of the rules.

Regardless, nice to see Piastri win again and another awesome drive from Leclerc. Haggardton continues to look over the hill and it's only a matter of time now before Italy turns on him.

 

The angry red mist descends on the anti Max crowd -- apoplexy and hysteria reigns

which includes MBS and his skewed FIA....no wonder Max says little

it'll be interesting to see the in car Horner is touting

For comic relief we go to Miami and fake water and fake boats besides the usual fake T.tz, hope everyone recovers in time!