F1 Results Today: Penalty sinks Max Verstappen as championship lead changes

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Saudi Arabia, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Saudi Arabia Grand Prix

F1 Results Today: Penalty sinks Max Verstappen as championship lead changes

All the times from the Saudi Grand Prix

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Sunday 20 April 2025 20:43

Max Verstappen saw an early penalty sink his hopes of a race win at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri taking victory to lead the Formula 1 drivers' championship for the first time in his career.

The Australian leapfrogged team-mate Lando Norris with the result, handed to him when Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for using the run-off area to avoid being overtaken into the first corner.

Norris made a good effort to limit the damage caused by his qualifying crash on Saturday, making it up from 10th to fourth place and only being kept off the podium by a great finish from Charles Leclerc, who became the first Ferrari driver to finish on the podium in a grand prix this season.

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A first lap collision between Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly kept up the circuit's 100% record of having a safety car deployed, sending the pair out of the race and allowing for some strategic shenanigans for a few bold teams in the bottom half of the order.

F1 Results: Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 2025

Who is the current F1 world champion?

Max Verstappen is the reigning F1 champion, won his fourth drivers' championship last year.

2025 rule change removes fastest lap point

Fastest lap points have been banished for 2025. Since 2019, drivers have picked up an extra point if they finish in the top 10 and achieve the fastest lap.

However, it did lead to some drivers abandoning their races to pit and fit a set of new tyres at the end in order to claim the fastest lap point, or to stop a rival from getting the extra point.

The most famous example of this in 2024 came during Daniel Ricciardo's final F1 race, when the Australian finished last but claimed the fastest lap on the final lap of the Singapore GP, taking the extra point away from Lando Norris and helping Max Verstappen's title bid.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen Ferrari McLaren Lando Norris Charles Leclerc