Oscar Piastri qualifies second fastest for Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri will start the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on the front row of the grid – but things didn’t go quite so well for teammate Lando Norris, as their battle to be McLaren top dog took a twist.

Australian Formula One ace Oscar Piastri will start the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on the front row of the grid alongside Max Verstappen after championship leader Lando Norris labelled himself a “f..ing idiot” for crashing heavily during a dramatic qualifying session overnight.

In a massive boost to his chances of becoming the first Australian to lead the drivers’ standings in 15 years, Piastri qualified second fastest in his McLaren for Monday morning’s race.

Unlucky not to claim his third pole position of the season, Piastri crossed the line just 0.01 seconds slower than Verstappen in his Red Bull, while George Russell was third for Mercedes and Charles Leclerc fourth in a Ferrari.

Norris was relegated to 10th after slamming into a concrete wall before he had completed his first flying lap in the final round of qualifying.

“It’s tough around here,” Piastri said after first checking that his McLaren teammate was unhurt.

“Once you fall out of rhythm a little bit, it’s very hard to get back into it.

“You need to get all the corners right because if you don’t get one right, it means you don’t get about six in a row right. It’s a difficult track, for sure, but at night, with soft tyres, high grip, it’s one of the best tracks we go to.”

Oscar Piastri qualified second for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. Picture: Getty

While the first four rounds of the 2025 season have been won by the car starting from pole, Piastri still has a genuine crack at ending the sequence and taking the chequered flag from second spot because the McLaren has great race pace.

Although the high-speed street circuit in Jeddah typically offers few overtaking opportunities, the young Aussie is a natural-born racer with a fantastic conversion rate whenever he has started from the front row of the grid.

In the 10 previous times he’s qualified first or second, Piastri has gone on to record four wins, two seconds and a third.

“To be honest, I was pretty happy with it,” Piastri said.

“We were playing catch-up a little bit through the first part of qualifying and then that last lap felt more and less like the best I could’ve done.

“I think Max has done a good job. It’s another high-speed circuit where they seem to be having a little bit more success – but a good job again.

“Still all to play for. I think our pace is good. It’s going to be a tough race and the tyres are a bit softer than last year, so we’ll see if that plays to our advantage.”

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen claimed pole position in Jeddah. Picture: Getty

Currently second in the standings, three points behind Norris, a victory for Piastri in the Saudi kingdom will see him become the first Australian to lead the F1 championship since Mark Webber in 2010.

But Verstappen can also leapfrog both McLaren drivers to go top if he wins and his confidence has been boosted after breaking the track record in Jeddah to capture the 42nd pole position of his career.

“I’m very happy. I didn’t expect to be on pole here after FP3 (free practice) and looking at how the week was, but the car came alive in the night and we made some final changes and it was a lot more enjoyable to drive,” the Dutchman said.

“The grip was coming to me and around here the qualifying lap is extremely difficult because of all the walls and you need to try and nail it.

“It’s really satisfying to be here in first in qualifying and it’s the best position for tomorrow even though I think in the race it will be tough to keep them behind, but we’re going to give it a good go.

“We will do our best, so far I’m just very happy that again we had a solid qualifying, much better than in Bahrain, so let’s see what we can do.”

McLaren driver Lando Norris' car is lifted off the track after he crashed during qualifying. Picture: Getty

The only driver to finish on the podium in all four races this season, Norris has been showing signs of wilting under the strain of being anointed as the early championship favourite after winning the season-opening race in Australia.

He posted the fastest time in two of the three practice sessions in Saudi Arabia and also clocked the quickest lap in the second phase of qualifying before he clipped the kerb in Q3 and ripped the front left wheel off his car.

Describing himself as an “f...ing idiot”, the Englishman said he had little real hope of finishing on the podium starting from 10th.

“I’m just disappointed. I’ll go and see my engineers and we’ll look ahead to what we can do,” he said.

“We know the car is good, we know the car’s quick but we’re going to need a bit of luck.

“It’s so difficult, it’s almost impossible to overtake around here, so I’m not expecting anything magical, but we have a good car.

“If we can work our way up to the top five, six, I’ll be happy.”

Originally published as Oscar Piastri qualifies second fastest for Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen