2025 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: As it happened

It's a carbon copy of the lap before as Norris gets past at the final corner, only for Hamilton to retake Norris once again on the run to Turn 1. 

Norris dives past Hamilton at the final corner, but Hamilton regains the place immediately by using DRS to sweep around the outside of the McLaren on the run to Turn 1. 

Norris is within DRS range of Hamilton's Ferrari as he sets his sets on sixth place. Can he find a way past the seven-time world champion? 

Piastri has edged into DRS range of Verstappen's Red Bull.

Norris overtakes Sainz down the main straight to put his McLaren seventh. 

He's gained three places early on - two of which were due to Gasly and Tsunoda's collision. 

Hamilton made a good start and overtook Sainz's Williams to move himself up to P6. 

The seven-time world champion is running directly behind his Mercedes replacement Antonelli and Ferrari teammate Leclerc.

The incident between Verstappen and Piastri at Turn 1 is being looked at by the stewards...

Tsunoda made it back to the pits but Red Bull have decided to retire his damaged RB21. An awful end to an otherwise promising weekend for the Japanese racer. 

Verstappen leads the field away for the formation lap and we are just moments away from the start...

Everyone is starting on mediums except Norris, Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg - all of whom have hards on. 

McLaren boss Zak Brown tells Sky Sports F1: "I think Oscar [Piastri] will definitely take it to Max [Verstappen], it's a long race so I think if there's an opportunity into Turn One I'm sure he will.

"I don't think coming out of P2 will be a bad thing because I think we've got a good race car underneath us and Lando [Norris] just needs to come forward, he's got the car to do it and the talent to do it."

Brown adds a podium is "not out of reach" for Norris.

Just 10 minutes to go before lights out in Jeddah. It's almost time to go racing...

Piastri, lining up second, is eyeing his third victory in five races which would see him take over at the top of the world championship from McLaren teammate Norris. 

"The best place [to make your move] would be Turn One but it's a short run so we will see. Our car is going to be quick and we're going to have our opportunities later in the race as well," Piastri told Sky Sports F1 ahead of the race. 

"There's not going to be just one moment to try and win the race, there's going to be a few to choose from hopefully.

"The Red Bull and Max [Verstappen] look quite quick but we will wait and see. I'm confident we've got a strong car underneath us, tyre degradation seems to be one of our strengths at the moment so hopefully we can continue to use that.

"I think they [Red Bull] found a lot from Friday to Saturday so I'm not expecting them to be slow that's for sure, but hopefully we've still got an edge."

The pit lane is open and cars are heading out for their reconnaissance laps before lining up on the grid. 

It was a bruising night for Norris, who made a costly mistake and suffered a heavy crash in Q3. 

Norris brutally labelled himself a “f****** idiot” for his driving error, knowing that he had a car underneath him that should have been on the front row of the grid. 

The Briton now faces a huge task to try and recover on Sunday around a high-speed, narrow venue where overtaking does not come easy. 

Norris has set himself a goal of finishing inside the top-five, but that would not be enough to preserve his three-point advantage at the top of the world championship standings. 

He has led the drivers' standings since the start of the season, but will tonight be the first time he is usurped in 2025?

After topping a thrilling qualifying, it is Red Bull's Max Verstappen who starts on pole position in Jeddah. 

The four-time world champion produced another sublime lap to pip McLaren's Oscar Piastri to pole by just 0.010s on Saturday night. 

Meanwhile, F1 championship leader Lando Norris starts down in 10th after crashing on his first flying lap of Q3. 

Good evening and welcome to Crash.net's live text commentary of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, round five of the 2025 F1 season. 

We are building up to the race in Jeddah, with lights out in one hour's time at 6pm UK time!