The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is the fastest street circuit in Formula 1, which means teams run a low-wing setup for less downforce and lower drag on the long straight and fast corners.

McLaren didn’t run away with it, however, with an edge-of-your-seat qualifying session and a close race with Red Bull at the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Here are five points that stood out.

1. A turnaround in fortune (and speed) for Red Bull. Bahrain was a disastrous race for Red Bull, with Max Verstappen finishing in sixth and complaining the car just wasn’t fast enough.

While Saudi Arabia has been a good happy-hunting ground for Max and RBR in the previous years, it wasn’t clear the same would be the case this time, especially from the previous round. Well, the characteristic of the track and the resulting setup of its car suited the team just fine.

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Verstappen traded provisional quali laps toward the end of Q3, with the Dutchman edging his championship rival by just 0.01 of a second.

2. A cool Piastri in a hot race. Piastri, meanwhile, had a fantastic start to the race (on the dirty side of the track), arrived at the apex of the corner first and rightfully claimed it. Max being Max, he cut across the apex to still hold the lead, saying, “He just forced me off.”

Piastri kept his cool and ran close to Max, waiting till he pitted and served his five-second time penalty for the first-corner incident.

From there, it was smooth sailing for the Australian at the front, winning the race by 2.8 seconds from Verstappen.

His third win brings him to the top of the drivers’ standings—99 points with Lando Norris (McLaren) at 89 and Verstappen with 87.

3. Norris starting to show signs of cracks? In what was expected to be a fight for pole, Norris crashed at the start of Q3, ending up in 10th.

In the race, he was dicing with Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari). At the final turn heading to the start/finish straight, Norris overtook Hamilton. But with the Ferrari driver’s experience, he let the McLaren pass, knowing that with the DRS detection point (Zone 3) just around the corner, it would give him DRS, taking the place back. This happened for another lap, with Lewis braking earlier to anticipate the move and retake the place once more.

The third time of asking, Norris finally realized the technique—follow Hamilton to the final turn so he can have DRS instead.

Without those wasted laps, Norris could’ve battled with Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) for the podium. The Brit crossed the line in fourth, still a very positive result from a dreadful Q3.

4. Leclerc “maximized everything.” This is what Charles said during the top-three interview. He had a good first long stint, extending the medium compound for as long as possible (until Lap 30), and along with that, good race pace.

The Monégasque pursued George Russell (Mercedes), who was battling for third. The Ferrari driver eventually passed the Mercedes to claim the place, his first podium of the season.

5. Teamwork from the Williams duo resulted in double points finishes. At the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz (still with Ferrari then) purposely allowed Norris to run less than a second behind him so as to keep Norris in DRS so that the faster Mercedes drivers could not overtake the McLaren and, consequently, not Sainz’s Ferrari so he could win the race. He did. A very smart drive from him.

This race, Williams asked him a similar favor. Except this time around, it was teammate Alex Albon behind him. Sainz had to keep Albon within a second to protect him from the charging Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar.

They succeeded, finishing in eighth and ninth, respectively, and frustrating Hadjar in 10th.

Those six precious points add to Williams’s tally of 25, claiming fifth place back from Haas (which has 20 points).

The next race is the Miami Grand Prix (May 4), where McLaren started its title bid last year. Will it still have the edge this time around? Yeah, we think so.