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Oscar Piastri surges into F1 championship lead after Saudi Arabian Grand Prix win

Piastri, long-tipped as a future champion, is in his third season in F1
Piastri, long-tipped as a future champion, is in his third season in F1

Oscar Piastri moved ahead of Lando Norris and into the drivers' championship lead with victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen paid the price for a first-lap penalty.

Pole-sitter Verstappen was penalised for cutting the corner at turn one to stay ahead of Piastri, allowing the McLaren man to jump in front at the pit stops and he never looked back.

Piastri made it back-to-back wins and three for the season to move 10 points ahead of team-mate Norris at the top of the standings - the first Australian to lead since Mark Webber in 2010.

Norris labelled himself a "f*****g idiot" after crashing in qualifying and admitted he'd made life difficult for himself starting from 10th.

But he limited the damage with a strong race to finish fourth and is two points ahead of Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc claimed third for Ferrari with Mercedes' George Russell fifth.

Verstappen's Red Bull future dominated the pre-race build-up after a disappointing weekend in Bahrain sparked more speculation that he may wish to leave the team.

The four-time world champion banished that talk and issues with his car with a flawless lap to take pole on Saturday.

Every previous race this season, including China's sprint, had been won from pole but Piastri made an early bid to change that as he got a great launch off the line and moved to the inside of Verstappen.

The Dutchman dived across the run-off area and stayed ahead, with Piastri on the radio to say: "He needs to give that back, I was ahead."

Max Verstappen incurred a penalty as he went off the track to stay ahead of Oscar Piastri at the first corner of the race

Verstappen's view was: "He forced me off, there was no intention from him to make that corner."

The stewards sided with Piastri as Verstappen received a five-second penalty. "Well that is f*****g lovely," said Verstappen.

Further back, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly banged wheels and were both out - forcing a first-lap safety car.

Verstappen got the jump on Piastri at the restart as the McLaren was forced to defend from Russell.

Piastri pitted on lap 19, trailing by nearly three seconds, with Verstappen in two laps later. The Dutchman served his penalty and emerged three seconds behind.

On his out lap, Piastri completed a sensational overtake on Lewis Hamilton.

Once he gained clean air ahead of Verstappen, Piastri showcased the might of the McLaren to cruise to victory.

Norris had moved up two places courtesy of the first-lap crash and was soon up to seventh by passing Carlos Sainz but found Lewis Hamilton a tougher task.

For two laps running, Norris moved ahead only for Hamilton to hit back with DRS down the main straight.

On lap 15, Norris got the job done to claim sixth.

Norris and Leclerc both ran long first stints and the Ferrari man used his fresh rubber to pass Russell to take third with 13 laps remaining.

Russell was struggling and was soon reeled in by Norris, who blasted past at the start of lap 41 to secure fourth.

Hamilton came home where he started, taking seventh for Ferrari.

Alex Dunne was joint top of the standings after finishing third in Saturday's sprint race in Jeddah

In FIA Formula 2, the feeder series immediately below F1, Irish driver Alex Dunne is fourth in the drivers' standings after a weekend which saw him finish on the podium in Saturday's Saudi sprint race and then followed that up with an eighth-place finish in Sunday's main race.

Dunne crossed the line fourth in Saturday's sprint but a five-second penalty carried by current championship leader, Richard Verschoor, who took the chequered flag first, saw the Offaly native elevated to third behind Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad and second-placed Josep Marti.

However, Sunday's main race for the Rodin team driver, was not quite as fruitful as the 19-year-old McLaren junior finished eighth, the resulting four points meaning he leaves Jeddah with a haul of ten overall from the weekend.

Dunne, who made history last week in Bahrain by becoming the first Irishman to win an F2 race, is 18 points behind F2 leader Verschoor.

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