Oscar Piastri wins Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to lead drivers’ championship

Oscar Piastri moved ahead of Lando Norris and into the drivers’ championship lead with victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen paid the price for a first-lap penalty.

Pole-sitter Verstappen was penalised for cutting the corner at turn one to stay ahead of Piastri, allowing the McLaren man to jump in front at the pit stops and he never looked back.

Piastri made it back-to-back wins and three for the season to move 10 points ahead of team-mate Norris at the top of the standings – the first Australian to lead since Mark Webber in 2010.

Norris labelled himself a “f*****g idiot” after crashing in qualifying and admitted he’d made life difficult for himself starting from 10th.

But he limited the damage with a strong race to finish fourth and is two points ahead of Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc claimed third for Ferrari with Mercedes’ George Russell fifth.

Verstappen’s Red Bull future dominated the pre-race build-up after a disappointing weekend in Bahrain sparked more speculation that he may wish to leave the team.

The four-time world champion banished that talk and issues with his car with a flawless lap to take pole on Saturday.

Every previous race this season, including China’s sprint, had been won from pole but Piastri made an early bid to change that as he got a great launch off the line and moved to the inside of Verstappen.

A closer look at what happened at the start of the race