Oscar Piastri puts the heat on teammate Lando Norris as McLarens set to battle for pole position in Saudi Arabia
Following his Bahrain loss to teammate and Aussie Oscar Piastri, McLaren’s Lando Norris has responded with the fastest time in practice for the Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix.
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Oscar Piastri is once again applying the blowtorch on his under-pressure teammate Lando Norris at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with the two McLarens set to duke it out for pole position.
On the verge of becoming the first Australian in 15 years to lead the Formula One drivers’ championship, Piastri has laid down another huge challenge to his older British teammate, who started the season as the clear title favourite.
Struggling for confidence despite holding a narrow lead in the standings, Norris responded to Piastri’s win in Bahrain last weekend by posting the fastest time in Friday’s practice sessions.
But the margin to Piastri was minuscule – just one-tenth of a second – setting the stage for an epic battle for the all-important pole position in the fifth round of 2025.
“It was a decent day. I think the pace has been good and I’ve felt reasonably comfortable,” said Piastri, a master of understatement.
“There’s a few corners that I need to try and do a bit of a better job at, but all in all it’s felt like a good day.”
One of the keys to Piastri’s rapid improvement this season is his ability to produce his best when it matters.
So while he rarely sets the quickest lap times in practice, the ice-cool Aussie has claimed pole in two of the last three Grands Prix and gone on to the race each time, and is well placed to start near the front of the grid again at the high-speed street circuit in Jeddah.
“There’s still some things to iron out, it’s not been perfect, but I’m still feeling good,” he said.
“There’s a bit more pace to find but so far everything’s been going reasonably well, so very comfortable.”
Norris was feeling a little better after admitting to struggling with his car in the last two races but said there was no room for any complacency even though he topped the timesheets.
“A pretty decent first day. It always feels chaotic around here because it’s so fast, a lot of walls, a lot of near-misses,” Norris said.
“At the minute, I would say we feel confident but the others are not far behind.
“I was probably hoping we got a bigger gap than we had today. We know we’re fast. We know we have a great car. Not as comfortable as we would like.”
Max Verstappen was third fastest in his Red Bull but still not convinced he can match the two McLarens even though he beat them both to win in Japan a month ago.
“It is still clear that we want to be faster,” the four-time world champion said.
“It is difficult to say how competitive we will be, the McLarens look really competitive. There is still a bit of work to do and things to understand, so we will see.”
Verstappen’s new teammate Yuki Tsunoda reminded everyone just how difficult the Red Bull car is to drive when he crashed into the barriers nearing the end of the second session.
“I just turned in too much and clipped the wall and inside wheel. I had damage after that and just had no control,” he said.
Charles Leclerc was fourth overall for Ferrari while Mercedes driver George Russell was seventh on the soft compound tyres after being quickest on the mediums.
Australia’s Jack Doohan also struggled to get the best out of his soft tyres in the baking temperatures, placing 17th in practice, but confident of an improved showing in Sunday morning’s qualifying shootout.
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Originally published as Oscar Piastri puts the heat on teammate Lando Norris as McLarens set to battle for pole position in Saudi Arabia
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