Oscar Piastri wins Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to take lead in Driver's Championship

Oscar Piastri overtook a desperate Max Verstappen and never looked back to win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, taking over the Formula 1 Driver's Championship lead.

Piastri finished ahead of reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who took the second podium place ahead of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc in third.

Piastri benefited from a penalty for Red Bull's Verstappen to take control of the race and secure his second win in a week.

Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for illegally keeping the lead from Piastri by going off the track at the first corner, but had more than enough pace to keep second place.

McLaren's Lando Norris recovered from 10th place on the grid after his crash in qualifying to finish fourth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Norris, on an off-set tyre strategy, was closing in on Leclerc as the race reached its closing stages but his medium tyres lost their edge of pace and the Ferrari driver was able to hold him back.

Piastri's third win in five races so far this season puts the Australian 10 points clear of Norris in the championship, with Verstappen just two points further adrift.

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris, who has had an incident-filled weekend, finished fourth.

For Piastri, it was his third win of the season in the McLaren. He said: "I’m looking for a couch, it was a pretty tough race."

"I’m very happy to have obviously won, I made the difference at the start and made my case into Turn One, and that was enough," he told the BBC.

"It was really tricky to follow out there, I couldn’t really stay with Max Verstappen at the end of the first stint, and I just chewed up my tyres. The clean air was nice after the pit stop, it was a clean race and we did the parts we needed to right."

"We still needed a bit more, Max [Verstappen] was a bit too close for our liking, but a great race and a great weekend," he added.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh, again failing to finish above his Ferrari colleague.

Verstappen's new teammate, Yuki Tsunoda failed to finish the race, to dampen Red Bull boss Christian Horner's mood, considering he chose Tsunoda over New Zealand-born driver Liam Lawson, who was binned by Red Bull following mistakes in the opening two Grands Prix in Australia and China.

Race results Saudi Arabia Grand Prix

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

4. Lando Norris (McLaren)

5. George Russell (Mercedes)

6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

7. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

8. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

9. Alex Albon (Williams)

10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

12. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

13. Ollie Bearman (Haas)

14. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

15. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

16. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

17. Jack Doohan (Alpine)

18. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

DNF. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

DNF. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)