A costly near-miss and Ferrari radio strikes again - Things you might've missed from the Saudi Grand Prix

Alex Albon, Williams, Saudi Arabia, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Saudi Grand Prix

A costly near-miss and Ferrari radio strikes again - Things you might've missed from the Saudi Grand Prix

The Saudi Grand Prix threw up some unmissable moments...and some others

Chris Deeley

Monday 21 April 2025 10:57 Updated: 11:20

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Sunday's Saudi Grand Prix saw Oscar Piastri open up the biggest drivers' championship points gap of the season, winning his third race and second in a row.

Max Verstappen got an early penalty which was probably mattered less than it appeared on paper (if you can confidently say that he'd have passed Piastri if he'd just let him back through, then...hello Max, thanks for reading this) and finished a relatively narrow second.

But you know all this! You've read the race report, or watched the highlights, or maybe even watched the whole race while scrolling Twitter on your phone and looking enviously at people's Instagram stories of their Sunday roasts. Thing is, that sort of activity isn't conducive to spotting the little details.

The little details like...

Mind how Gabi Bortoleto nearly mangled his manager?

Article continues under video

Gabriel Bortoleto is one of the young drivers on the grid who Fernando Alonso's taken under his wing, becoming the Brazilian youngster's manager. That being said, Alonso wasn't hoping to be duking it out on track with his young charge this early in his career.

The veteran Spaniard was running just behind Bortoleto and Liam Lawson when the latter made a DRS-aided overtake, and tried to follow the Kiwi through heading into the braking zone.

Bortoleto wasn't ready for that at all, and drifted over to the right-hand side of the track where Alonso was arriving at speed. The pair were barely an inch from contact as the Spaniard squeezed through.

There were no hard feelings after the race though, with Alonso saying "It's our fault for having to fight with the Saubers," before joking that he might choose not to feed Bortoleto on their flight home.

If you're wondering, Bortoleto is young enough that Call On Me by Eric Prydz was the number one single in the UK when he was born. Alonso? Green Door by Shakin' Stevens. Wonder what their Spotify playlist for the plane looks like.

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

I dunno, drones or something

Can a little grumpiness be permitted here? Don't bother answering – this is a written medium, shouting at the screen doesn't actually get through to me and I don't read the comments. So, the grumpiness.

What is the point of those drone light shows? They seem like the kind of thing that people might've found cool and high-tech in the 80s. Nice one, you've put some lights in the sky.

If I had my grumpiest trousers on, I might meander on to making a point here about how it embodies the 'flashy, opulent spectacle over substance' approach that's more prevalent in F1 now than ever, and has led to cosying up to oil states and a socially-decaying USA at a time where those relationships should be examined closely. But I'm not. So I won't.

In the sky with drones before the #Saudi Arabian GP. How do they do it? pic.twitter.com/2k2Px3CSs0
— Jonathan McEvoy (@JonathanMcEvoy7) April 20, 2025

Williams have arrived (again)

Okay, positive trousers back on now. Is it obvious that I'm writing this in an H&M fitting room? Whatever. Let's talk about Williams and how they've finally joined the 2025 season.

Pre-season testing in Bahrain looked brilliant for the team which used to boast the likes of Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, and Alain Prost in the 90s, catapulting them into the 'possible Aston Martin 2023 candidate' spot.

That...hasn't happened. Australia was a nightmare for Carlos Sainz, Bahrain and Japan were tough weekends for the Spaniard...actually, yeah this season has not gone well for Sainz.

Positive trousers though, remember? The British team grabbed eighth and ninth place in Jeddah, their best results at a track where they'd never previously scored a single point. Plus, Sainz and Alex Albon both finished in the top nine for the first time as team-mates! Break out the confetti and sparklers!

"Are we still doing 'phrasing'?"

Just going to lay down this quote from Lando Norris' engineer to his driver on the way to the grid and leave it exactly where it is.

"Lando, tyre info, your fellow hard ons are Stroll, Hadjar and Hulkenberg. Everybody else starts on medium."

Ferrari radio, you've done it again

We've had a lot of fun with Ferrari team radio before, from ~~chimpan-A to chimpanzee~~ run plan A to run plan Z and through Charles Leclerc's 'NO!!! NO!!!!!!'

This weekend, Leclerc and engineer Bryan Bozzi delivered the exact opposite of that vibe, making a pass on George Russell before Bozzi delivered a deadpan 'well done, Charles'.

In response? A 'thank you, Bryan' which sounded like every word was being dragged out of him by force. A little peek behind the curtain? This was just down in my race notes as 'Charles and his engineer being weirdos'.

F1 HEADLINES: FIA make LATE CHANGE to Saudi GP order as special clause revealed

Max Verstappen Oscar Piastri Fernando Alonso Liam Lawson Sauber Gabriel Bortoleto