Saudi Arabian GP: Oscar Piastri beats Max Verstappen to lead championship - ESPN

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Oscar Piastri moved into the lead of the drivers' championship for the first time in his career after securing his third victory of the season at Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver beat Max Verstappen to the race win after the reigning champion was penalised five seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while fighting with Piastri in the opening corner of the race.

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris, who crashed in qualifying on Saturday and started the race in tenth position, could only manage fourth place at the finish, meaning he dropped another 13 points to Piastri and is now 10 points adrift of the Australian in the standings.

Piastri said: «I am looking for a couch!» referring to the heat. «It was a tough race and I am very happy to have won. I made my case into Turn 1 and that was enough. The clean air was nice after the pit stops, we did what we needed to do right.

»We still need more but it was a great race and weekend, " he added.

Piastri's victory hinged on the first corner, with the McLaren driver getting a better start than Verstappen, who started on pole position, to get his nose ahead of the Red Bull at the apex of Turn 1.

Verstappen found himself on the inside of Turn 2, but as he attempted to repass the McLaren he was left with nowhere to go and had to cut the corner on the inside to avoid a collision.

Although Verstappen retained the lead, the stewards deemed that he had left the track and gained an advantage, and therefore penalised him five seconds at his first pit stop.

The penalty was enough for Piastri to emerge three seconds clear of Verstappen when both cars had made their one and only pit stop of the race. The new championship leader monitored