'Oscar Piastri will DOMINATE the 2025 world championship' - Saudi Grand Prix Hot Takes

McLaren Formula 1 star Oscar Piastri may have become the bookie's favourite of late but the Aussie racer has now officially toppled team-mate Lando Norris off the top spot in the drivers' championship after winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Not only that but heading into the anniversary of Norris' maiden F1 win, the papaya duo are now tied on five career victories in the pinnacle of motorsport... could this be the turning point in the narrative of Andrea Stella's lead driver?

Norris could only manage a P4 finish in Jeddah despite flirting with the podium, but even a five-second penalty for Max Verstappen didn't hand the British racer a top-three finish in the fifth round of 2025.

Here are the GPFans team's hot takes from the drama that unfolded at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

F1 RESULTS TODAY: Max Verstappen PENALTY hands title rival Saudi Grand Prix victory

GPFans' Saudi Grand Prix Hot Takes

Dan Ripley - GPFans Deputy Editor

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were expected to be the main two challengers for the F1 championship at the start of the season but from under the radar emerges an Oscar Piastri to take the world championship lead.

Pre-season the suggestion was how Verstappen would be hoping to take points off a squabbling McLaren pair in the hope of keeping a perhaps inferior Red Bull in play for the drivers' title.

But given Piastri's blistering form and Norris's faltering displays of late, the Brit may find a closer team-mate in Verstappen to work against his actual team-mate to aid his chances in future grands prix while he tries to regain some of his form that has deserted him of late. That obviously would not please McLaren too much but F1 can work in mysterious ways.

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

If Max Verstappen is supposedly among the greatest drivers in the sport's history then why does he suffer from a laughable lack of self-awareness? For someone so straight-talking, so no-nonsense, so blunt, he really can be stubborn.

Of course there is more to a champion's race strategy than his personal opinions, he has a tight-knit championship-winning team behind him, yet when Verstappen met his match heading into Turn 1 in Jeddah this weekend, he lost his cool.

We've seen time and time again that the Dutchman can outperform anyone on the grid, his 'aggressive' driving style consistently remains a controversial topic, yet when a driver like Piastri races like him, Verstappen can't take the heat.

To use the Dutchman's own words against him, Piastri's championship campaign is shaping up to 'f****** lovely' and if he perhaps swallowed his pride and gave the place back to McLaren after Sunday's incident, it may have been Verstappen on the podium.

Sam Cook - F1 Journalist

Oscar Piastri will win the 2025 world championship by a country mile. The young Australian is handling the intricacies of the dominant McLaren car much better than his more experienced team-mate Lando Norris, and could fill his boots with race victories this year.

He’s got three already, to Norris’ one, and has left all his other rivals in his dust, with not even the great Max Verstappen having an answer to McLaren’s pace.

IF Norris can stop making stupid mistakes and perform consistently every weekend, then he may start to challenge for regular race wins, but the Australian is now 10 points clear, and that’s with a ninth-place Australian GP finish.

Norris’ victory in that particular race seems a long long time ago…

Chris Deeley - F1 Journalist

On Wrestlemania weekend, the Saudi Grand Prix played out pretty much according to the script, as babyface Oscar Piastri took the win and – for now – the belt as the best driver in F1.

Max Verstappen's run as the hottest heel in the sport continues, picking up a penalty which cost him the race while refusing to admit his mistake, coming on the radio to bitch and moan about the decision.

Liam Lawson was also there.

There's not really a question that the title battle is between the two McLaren drivers now, as good as Verstappen's been. The papaya cars are just too good, too consistent, too…well, too 2023 Red Bull. Within that battle? Cracks are starting to show for Lando Norris…

Ronan Murphy - Social Media Editor

Sport in 2025 is all about money. Formula 1 is even worse than most sports, given the fact that your father can buy you a spot on the grid.

But nothing sings sport and money louder than events in Saudi Arabia. They have bought the FIFA World Cup in 2034, have a whole host of football's geriatric superstars, and paid golfers more than they ever dreamed they'd earn otherwise.

For the past five years, they've also held the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In five years, there has been a safety car, and that's the only thing that ever makes it interesting.

But money can't buy the exact timing of that safety car, and this time it was on lap one, exposing the race for what it is: terrible and simply a money-making machine.

Give the fans real racing and real tracks. The only people who want this are the ones with the big chequebooks.

READ MORE: Verstappen controversy at Saudi Grand Prix as Red Bull crash brings out safety car

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