The 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 5th round of the 2025 season taking place in Saudi Arabia between the 18th and the 20th of April.

The event timetable for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 16:30 local time - 13:30 GMT
2nd Practice 20:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 16:30 local time - 13:30 GMT
Qualifying 20:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 20:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

[cmlean]

FP1

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:29.239	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
2	1:29.246	Lando Norris	  McLaren
3	1:29.309	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
4	1:29.341	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
5	1:29.606	Alexander Albon	  Williams
6	1:29.618	George Russell	  Mercedes
7	1:29.779	Carlos Sainz	  Williams
8	1:29.815	Lewis Hamilton	  Ferrari
9	1:29.818	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
10	1:29.821	Yuki Tsunoda	  Red Bull Racing
11	1:29.907	Liam Lawson	  Racing Bulls
12	1:29.916	Nico Hulkenberg	  Sauber
13	1:29.934	Kimi Antonelli	  Mercedes
14	1:29.976	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
15	1:30.011	Isack Hadjar	  Racing Bulls
16	1:30.183	Jack Doohan	  Alpine
17	1:30.583	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
18	1:30.595	Oliver Bearman	  Haas
19	1:31.029	Esteban Ocon	  Haas
20	1:31.038	Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber

[cmlean]

The green lights came on and the teams took to the track. This high speed Jeddah circuit is a test for man and machine so track time is vital.
Drivers took their time familiarizing themselves by slowly increasing their speed and lowering their lap times. Minor setup changes were made to improve the driveability of their cars. Aside from cars missing the turn 1 apex and a couple of light scrapes on the wall, the session went without incident.

[cmlean]

FP2

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:28.267	Lando Norris	McLaren
2	1:28.430	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
3	1:28.547	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
4	1:28.749	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
5	1:28.942	Carlos Sainz	Williams
6	1:28.963	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing
7	1:28.973	George Russell	Mercedes
8	1:29.106	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
9	1:29.193	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber
10	1:29.220	Alexander Albon	Williams
11	1:29.242	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes
12	1:29.306	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls
13	1:29.371	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari
14	1:29.488	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls
15	1:29.662	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
16	1:29.754	Oliver Bearman	Haas
17	1:29.912	Jack Doohan	Alpine
18	1:30.007	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
19	1:30.019	Esteban Ocon	Haas

[cmlean]

Between sessions, Gabriel Bortoleto's Sauber was found to have had a fuel leak from the tank. The car had to be completely disassembled to rectify the problem and will require scrutineering tomorrow prior to FP3 to take to the track.
With conditions similar to what is expected for qualifying tomorrow, the remaining drivers took to the track again exploring the boundaries of both the circuit and machine.
Oscar Piastri aborted a lap following a touch to the wall while Alex Albon and Kimi Antonelli both had heavier touches exiting of the final turn. These drivers incurred no major damage as a result of their incidents.
The same couldn't be said for Yuki Tsunoda who, after solid sessions in FP1 and FP2, hit the inside barrier in the final turn. The damage to his left front broke the steering of his Red Bull and he hit the outside barrier hard. With just over 8 minutes left in the session, it looked like that would be it however the cleanup crews worked swiftly and most cars managed to make it out on track as the clock counted down to zero.

[cmlean]

FP3

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:27.489	Lando Norris	  McLaren
2	1:27.513	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
3	1:28.116	George Russell	  Mercedes
4	1:28.334	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
5	1:28.372	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
6	1:28.389	Alexander Albon	  Williams
7	1:28.570	Carlos Sainz	  Williams
8	1:28.625	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
9	1:28.670	Yuki Tsunoda	  Red Bull Racing
10	1:28.679	Kimi Antonelli	  Mercedes
11	1:28.769	Isack Hadjar	  Racing Bulls
12	1:28.780	Lewis Hamilton	  Ferrari
13	1:28.861	Liam Lawson	  Racing Bulls
14	1:28.888	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
15	1:28.898	Jack Doohan	  Alpine
16	1:28.989	Oliver Bearman	  Haas
17	1:29.220	Nico Hulkenberg	  Sauber
18	1:29.336	Esteban Ocon	  Haas
19	1:29.410	Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber
20	1:29.478	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin

[cmlean]

Another hot session which wouldn't be indicative of the qualifying and race conditions.
Drivers again explored the track limits with some clipping the barriers however none caused any substantial damage.

[cmlean]

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:27.294	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:27.304	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
3	1:27.407	George Russell	  Mercedes
4	1:27.670	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
5	1:27.866	Kimi Antonelli	  Mercedes
6	1:28.164	Carlos Sainz	  Williams
7	1:28.201	Lewis Hamilton	  Ferrari
8	1:28.204	Yuki Tsunoda	  Red Bull Racing
9	1:28.367	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
10	No Time		Lando Norris	  McLaren
___________________________________________________
11	1:28.109	Alexander Albon	  Williams
12	1:28.191	Liam Lawson	  Racing Bulls
13	1:28.303	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
14	1:28.418	Isack Hadjar	  Racing Bulls
15	1:28.648	Oliver Bearman	  Haas
___________________________________________________
16	1:28.645	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
17	1:28.739	Jack Doohan	  Alpine
18	1:28.782	Nico Hulkenberg	  Sauber
19	1:29.092	Esteban Ocon	  Haas
20	1:29.462	Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber

[cmlean]

The end of Q2 and Alex Albon took a gamble of setting an early time for his second run. This came back to bite him and as he was knocked out of a probable Q3 start in by Yuki Tsunoda. Yuki was the final car to complete his lap in the stage of qualifying.
Q3 commenced with Oscar Piastri leading the pack onto the track for their preparation laps. Lando Norris hit the barriers in the turn 4 and 5 complex bringing out a yellow. This became a red however Piastri just managed to cross the timing line before it was enacted to be the only driver to post a time. Due to the time stopping during the red flag period, both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz managed to still get 2 runs in but with the penalty of having to carry additional fuel on their first runs.
Max again came to the fore beating Piastri's first run by a mere 1/1000th of a second. Second runs and George Russell set a new lap record only to be surpassed by Oscar Piastri moments later. The nex contender for pole was Max Verstappen and he didn't disappoint taking pole by a mere 1/100th of a second. Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line last but improved his to to a creditable 6th position for his Williams team.

[cmlean]

Race

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
2	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
3	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
4	Lando Norris	  McLaren
5	George Russell	  Mercedes
6	Kimi Antonelli	  Mercedes
7	Lewis Hamilton	  Ferrari
8	Carlos Sainz	  Williams
9	Alexander Albon	  Williams
10	Isack Hadjar	  Racing Bulls
11	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
12	Liam Lawson	  Racing Bulls
13	Oliver Bearman	  Haas
14	Esteban Ocon	  Haas
15	Nico Hulkenberg	  Sauber
16	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
17	Jack Doohan	  Alpine
18	Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber
DNF	Yuki Tsunoda	  Red Bull Racing
DNF	Pierre Gasly	Alpine

Next: Round of Miami '25
Date: 02-04 May 2025

[cmlean]

The race was basically won at the start. Oscar Piastri got the jump and was level with Max Verstappen at the turn into turn 1. Max took to the run off area and resumed his position at the front of the field. The stewards got involved and handed Max a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Both drivers had their complaints. Max saying that he wasn't given room and Oscar saying that Max needed to give the place back. In turn 4, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda came together with Gasly coming off worst with a hard hit into the barrier. Tsunoda also went in rear wing first and sustained enough damage to the right rear corner to retire the car.
Piastri followed Max for the next 20 laps around 1 second behind. Running in dirty air, the tyres suffered and he was the first of the leaders to pit. Max pushed and managed to get just under 3 seconds ahead however, with the undercut, Piastri took the lead and was never headed.
My driver of the day would have to go to Lando Norris who started from P10 on the grid and made it up to P4 at the flag pushing Charles Leclerc over the final laps.
A word for the Williams team whose drivers played the team game in giving DRS to the second car to allow it to defend against a faster car behind them. Sainz 8th, Albon 9th and Hadjar 10th.