Why McLaren pair saw Verstappen as the quickest in Saudi Arabian GP

Oscar Piastri opened up a 10-point lead at the top of the drivers’ championship with his third victory of the Formula 1 season, but perhaps McLaren’s advantage is deceptive.

More to the point, could it be that Red Bull is not as far off the pace as it has been presented?

Much has been made of McLaren’s impressive resurgence, and the Woking team has built upon its excellent 2024 season where its finished as constructors’ champion.

Between them, Piastri and Lando Norris have won four of the opening five races for McLaren to see the team take a commanding lead in the championship.

However, while McLaren have been basking in the glory and adulation, Red Bull has become embroiled in talk of a crisis while uncomfortable question marks over Max Verstappen’s future have resurfaced.

Meanwhile, in Jeddah, it was the Dutchman who ran Piastri closest. He had also won in Japan, giving rise to the theory that perhaps Red Bull is not as far off as first perceived.

Piastri spoke of his relief at crossing the line first in Jeddah, having benefitted from Verstappen’s five-second time penalty that left the Red Bull driver biting his tongue.

The Australian was asked about his feeling of satisfaction at winning and said: “The fact that I crossed the line first, to be honest. It wasn’t the easiest of wins. The start was tough, the first stint was tough behind Max. And then once I had some clean air, it was a bit easier to manage.

“But I still couldn’t afford to take my foot off the gas. It was a difficult race, and Max was quick behind me, so I had to keep pushing. I could control it reasonably well, but it was a little bit tighter than I would have liked.”

Just before, Norris had revealed that McLaren did not have the pace advantage people believe. The Briton, who had finished fourth in Saudi Arabia, said: “Red Bull are just as quick in qualifying. They’re just as quick as us in the race. Just because we’re quick in practice, people just keep coming up with all this this crap.

“We don’t believe we’re [as] much ahead as it shows. I think probably Max was the quickest out there today, so we have work to do.

“People keep saying that we’re the best, we’re the quickest, blah blah blah, but it’s just because we show a bit more pace in practice.”

While Piastri admits that McLaren still has the quicker car on the whole, he concedes that his team has its work cut out after being caught out by Verstappen’s pace.

He added: “Max was quicker than I expected in the race. I thought over one lap it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Max quick, but in the race, I wasn’t expecting to struggle so much at the end of the medium stint, that’s for sure.

“So clearly we’ve got some work to do. I think our car is still very good, but when you look at the layout here compared to Suzuka, it’s the most similar so far, and it’s been the two where Max and Red Bull have been closer.

“I think we still have an advantage. I don’t think it’s as big on [track] surfaces like this and layouts like this, but we still have a very strong car at the moment.”