Having grabbed Ferrari’s first podium end of the 2025 F1 season, Charles Leclerc delivered an excellent efficiency with a daring offset technique to take his forty fourth podium end.
Max Verstappen began from pole place after having delivered an eye catching efficiency in Saturday’s qualifying session. The Dutchman launched off the road nicely, however so did Oscar Piastri, and the pair went wheel-to-wheel into the primary nook earlier than Verstappen lower throughout the apex.
The reigning champion managed to carry on to the lead, however the stewards judged that he left the observe and gained a long-lasting benefit by taking to the run-off space on the skin of the primary nook. The Dutchman acquired a five-second penalty for his manoeuvre.
The Dutchman led till the pit stops, serving that penalty costing him a spot to Piastri. From there, he couldn’t get shut sufficient to place Piastri beneath any vital strain. Nevertheless, contemplating McLaren’s tempo benefit throughout the apply session, it was an excellent effort from Verstappen to complete simply 2.8 seconds behind the Aussie regardless of his five-second time penalty.
Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari, scoring his forty fourth profession podium after a scintillating drive on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
As for the technique, the Jeddah race didn’t deliver any main surprises. Though Pirelli went a step softer for this yr’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix within the hope of spicing the methods up, it was nonetheless not sufficient to interrupt the dominance of one-stop methods.
The white-walled Onerous compound was so sturdy that Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was in a position to cowl 48 laps of the 50-lap race on the identical set whereas the mediums proved extraordinarily sturdy as nicely, with Leclerc overlaying 58 perc cent of the race distance on the identical set of yellow-banded tyres he began the race on.
There have been few surprises on the grid, with simply 4 drivers – Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg – selecting to run the Onerous for the primary stint with the opposite 16 all going for the Medium.
With Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly struggling a collision on the primary lap, the security automotive was deployed. Three drivers instantly took benefit of the interruption, with Jack Doohan, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto electing to change to the Onerous.
The methods chosen matched Pirelli’s pre-race expectations, each when it comes to the variety of stops and the timing of the pit cease home windows.
Of the highest groups, the one ones that attempted one thing completely different had been Leclerc, who went on his first stint on Mediums till Lap 29, whereas Norris who began on the Onerous, pitted on Lap 34.
By way of stint size, the longest stint on the medium was accomplished by Leclerc (29 laps) whereas Ocon went the longest on the mediums (49 laps).
Commenting on the race, Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola mentioned: “This Grand Prix matched our pre-race expectations when it comes to tyre efficiency and the way in which the methods labored.
“Regardless of bringing a softer trio of compounds in comparison with final yr, and with observe temperatures on common 7 °C larger, degradation on the C3 and C4 was very minimal. It meant that, given how evenly matched are the groups, the way in which the race performed out was the pure end result.
“We solely noticed a number of circumstances of blistering on the left entrance, however not sufficient to affect tyre efficiency in a big approach. As for overheating, some vehicles struggled a bit, nevertheless it was to be anticipated with these temperatures and on a observe the place the tyres by no means get an opportunity to “breathe”.
Forward of the primary US race in 2025, Isola provided his expectation: “Now we have now the primary likelihood to catch our breath earlier than heading for one more continent, as we put together to race within the USA for the primary time this season, in Miami.
“At a observe with very completely different traits to this one, we may have the identical number of dry tyre compounds as had been used right here in Jeddah, and but once more that might be a step softer than final yr’s race. It will likely be attention-grabbing to see how the groups take care of that, particularly as it is going to be the second Dash weekend of the yr.”
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