Oscar Ascending - Recap: 2024 Saudia Arabia GP
Oscar Piastri overcame Max Verstappen to win his third race of the season and take a ten point lead in the driver’s championship.
Fight at the Front
Max started P1 after another highly competitive qualifying session, but Oscar got the jump on him at the start from P2.
The two went side by side and Oscar seemed to inch ahead down the inside of Turn 1, then Max went off track on the inside of Turn 2 as Oscar slammed the door and sped ahead into the lead.
Oscar complained that Max kept the place off track. Max complained that Oscar pushed him off track. Ultimately, race officials handed Max a five second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
With Max’s penalty confirmed, Oscar stayed close but did not seem to push to hard to overtake Max in the first stint. Then McLaren pitted the young Australian early in what proved to be a smart undercut. Oscar came out in mostly clean air, then completed a tidy and expedient overtake on Lewis Hamilton to make up ground.
Oscar took P1 after Max made his pit stop and never relinquished it. He takes the lead looking calm and consistent as his older and more experienced teammate seems to be struggling behind.
Max finished P2 even after his penalty and continues to hang around the championship fight.
Charles Leclerc grabbed the final podium place by outdueling George Russell and Lando Norris for a P3 finish.
George qualified P3 in another great showing, but Charles overtook him in the middle phase of the race and managed to build a nice gap.
Lando crashed in the final section of qualifying at started P10, but sliced and diced his way up the field to challenge both George and Charles late.
Lando needed two attempts to pass George, then spent the final few laps closing a five second gap to Charles. He couldn’t catch him and steal the podium in the end, but P4 is an impressive finish from a P10 start.
Oscar Piastri takes a ten point lead in the championship with this victory and has an eerily calm confidence about him. It’s hard to imagine that Oscar nearly raced for Alpine before controversially taking control of his own destiny.
Down the Grid
George and teammate Kimi Antonelli finished P5 and P6 in another workmanlike performance from Mercedes. Mercedes has lacked top line pace since 2022, but they’ve been consistent. They are second in the team standings and George is P4 in the driver’s.
Lewis finished P7 and continues to score points despite clearly lacking command of his new Ferrari car.
Williams turned in their strongest entry yet in their campaign for “best of the rest” (fastest team outside the top four), scoring double points in P8 and P9. Perhaps most encouraging is Carlos Sainz finishing P8 and outperforming Alex Albon for the first time this year.
Isaac Hadjar grabbed the final point in P10 with another impressive outing. Antonelli, Hadjar, and Oliver Bearman are all having impressive rookie campaigns so far.
Yuki Tsunoda qualified in the top ten, but failed to score points after colliding with former teammate Pierre Gasly on lap one. Both drivers hit the wall and had to retire in what was judged a racing incident without fault.
