Jeddah Grand Prix: an exciting race once more
After the past two races that have honestly been a bit of a snoozer (Japan, we’re looking at you), the Formula 1 circus finally gets an exciting race to watch in the form of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Oscar Piastri takes the lead, literally
With the driver’s championship bouncing back and forth between the likes of Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Lando Norris (McLaren), and his Australian teammate, Oscar Piastri, this season is heating up to be a three-way battle, with Piastri now taking the lead.
This was an excellent race for him, as the Australian remained calm, cool, and collected throughout.
Despite missing out to Max Verstappen for pole position by 0.010s and a skirmish at the start of the race, he managed to hold his position, even scoring a ballsy high-speed overtake on Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) while clawing his way back up post-pit stop to ultimately finish on top and take the lead in the World Driver’s Championship, ahead of his teammate, Lando Norris by 10 points.
As for Norris, despite a crash in Q3 that brought him back to P10 on the grid, he had a great recovery drive that brought him back up to P4 on the grid.
A revitalized Red Bull falls short
The past few races has shown that the cars at Red Bull were off their usual world-championship winning pace, with the newly promoted Yuki Tsunoda still getting into grips with the car and Max Verstappen not haing his usual stellar performances. But with upgrades to the car aiding Verstappen’s performance, he managed to pull off the fastest lap on the track during qualifying– 1:27.294.
Due to a five-second penalty that Verstappen had to serve during his pitstop, he lost the lead to Piastri and wasn’t able to catch up. The McLaren finished 2.9 seconds away from him.
Charles Leclerc finally gets a break
Ferrari fans always have this saying of “next year will be our year” as the Scuderia often falls flat in their F1 escapades (compared to the likes of WEC), due to a bad car, bad strategy, or sometimes a combination of both. Even their drivers, like seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, said he “needs a brain transplant” to get to grips with the car.
However, it seems that things are looking up for the team as Charles Leclerc managed to snatch P3, making it his first podium of the season, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in a decent P7.
Chaos returns
Clean racing is always a good thing for the drivers, but not so much for the fans watching the race. This is why the moment there was a Lap 1 crash between Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Tsunoda happened, fans knew that they were in for one heck of a race.
There was a close call betwen Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and his manager, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) on the straightaway where he almost got squeezed into the wall, and who could forget the penalties handed to Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls).
The next race will take place on May 5, 2025, 4:00am (Philippine Standard Time) at the Miami International Autodrome.
