Piastri on top of the world with a lot more winning to do

JEDDAH :Oscar Piastri put Australia on top of the Formula One world championship for the first time since 2010 on Sunday but the McLaren driver said he was still a long way from where he wanted to be despite his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix victory.

As he told reporters after the barrage of celebration fireworks had subsided over the Red Sea and the business of packing up had begun in the paddock, there was a lot more winning to do.

"I'm not that bothered by the fact that I'm leading the championship, but I'm proud of the work and the reasons behind why we're leading the championship," he explained with his usual calm.

"Melbourne wasn't a great start to the year in terms of results.

"But from the moment I've hit the track this season, I felt like I've been in a good place. Leading the championship is a result of all the hard work we've done in the off-season, the hard work I've done personally, the hard work the team's done.

"I'm more proud of all of those things than I am of the fact that I'm leading the championship because, ultimately, I want to be leading it after round 24, not round five."

Piastri, who started the season with ninth in his home race after spinning off, was already the first repeat winner of the season and Sunday's success made him the first to take back-to-back victories.

He has now won three of the five races and leads teammate Lando Norris by 10 points, after starting the evening three behind.

The last Australian to lead the championship was Mark Webber, now the 24-year-old Melburnian's manager, at Red Bull in 2010.

Four times world champion Max Verstappen, who started on pole and finished second for Red Bull after they went wheel to wheel into the first corner, was well aware what he is up against with that