Oscar Piastri disputes Lando Norris’ Red Bull claim after Saudi Arabian GP win

Oscar Piastri disagrees with McLaren teammate Lando Norris that Red Bull had the quicker car during the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Piastri stormed to his third victory of the 2025 F1 season to take the lead in the drivers’ championship for the first time in his career.

Norris endured another tricky weekend after shunting his McLaren in Q3, which left him 10th on the grid for the race.

While Norris recovered to fourth, it was a blow to his F1 title chances.

After the race, Norris hit out at ‘people for talking cr*p’ about McLaren’s advantage over the rest of the field.

Norris feels that McLaren’s dominance is overblown and that Max Verstappen would have won the race without his penalty.

Norris told Sky Sports: “They’re just as quick in quali as in most sessions, they’re as quick as us in the race. People just because we’re quick in practice people just keep coming out with all this crap.

“They can keep saying what they want. We don’t believe we’re much ahead as shown. I think Max was probably the quickest out there today if he didn’t have that five-second penalty. We have work to do.”

Piastri was asked about his teammate’s claim in the FIA press conference after the race.

“No. I think our car was still quicker,” Piastri said. “I think it was difficult to be in dirty air. Max was quicker than I expected for sure in the race. I thought over one lap it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Max quick, but in the race, I wasn’t expecting to struggle so much at the end of the medium stint, that’s for sure.

“So clearly we’ve got some work to do. I think our car is still very good, but when you look at the layout here compared to Suzuka, it’s the most similar so far, and it’s been the two where Max and Red Bull have been closer.

“I think we still have an advantage. I don’t think it’s as big on surfaces like this and layouts like this, but we still have a very strong car at the moment.”

Piastri on F1 championship lead

Piastri is the first Australian to lead the F1 drivers’ championship since Mark Webber - his manager - at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix.

Despite his point lead, Piastri isn’t getting carried away yet.

“No. I still want to go out and try and win every race I can,” Piastri explained.

“I was saying before, I’m not that bothered by the fact that I’m leading the championship, but I’m proud of the work and the reasons behind why we’re leading the championship. Melbourne wasn’t a great start to the year in terms of results.

“But from the moment I’ve hit the track this season, I felt like I’ve been in a good place. Leading the championship is a result of all the hard work we’ve done in the off-season, the hard work I’ve done personally, the hard work the team’s done.

“I’m more proud of all of those things than I am of the fact that I’m leading the championship because, ultimately, I want to be leading it after round 24, not round five.”