Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Prediction: McLaren's internal battle is heating up

We have barely started the season and are already at the fifth stop, ready for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Four races have been held in the first month of the season, and this weekend marks the end of a three-race series and a short break before heading to America. The Jeddah Corniche is the fastest track on this year’s calendar, and the race under the floodlights should bring a lot of excitement. Last weekend in Bahrain, McLaren became the first team with two wins in the championships. Their Oscar Piastri dominated the desert race and ignited a potential intra-team battle for the top spot. He was joined on the podium by teammate Lando Norris, but only on the lowest step, while Mercedes’ George Russell was placed between the two McLarens.

Saudi Arabia GP

All teams have collected points by Saudi Arabia, which indicates overall progress compared to last year. Namely, last season the worst-performing team was Kick Sauber, which collected only 4 points by the end of the entire season, and now, after four races, it has 6 points on its account. The biggest shortfall compared to last year, as things stand now, is in the Aston Martin team. Haas is doing quite well so far in the middle of the constructors' standings, while their Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon are doing a pretty good job. Bearman managed to score one point in Bahrain with a tenth-place finish. This early in the season, all teams have already won points, and the fight for the middle of the standings is quite tight. The fifth race of the season, which is being prepared at the Jeddah track, is also the fifth edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Jeddah track is the fastest and second-longest track on the calendar (only Spa is longer), and two-thirds of the lap on this track is driven at full throttle. The race is held in the evening, making the track lights even more impressive. However, the glitz and glamour of the Saudi race is overshadowed by the country's limited human rights record. Red Bull has by far the best record at the track, with three wins in four races. Max Verstappen has won twice, Sergio Perez once, and Lewis Hamilton has one more win, from 2021 when he was driving for Mercedes.

Verstappen takes second pole position of the season in Jeddah

In all Formula 1 races so far in 2025, the winner has been a driver who started from pole position. The man who will be hoping that this streak does not end this weekend is Max Verstappen. He was the fastest in his Red Bull in qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche circuit and, to everyone's surprise, took his second pole position of the season and the 42nd of his career. On the front row of the grid, alongside Verstappen's Red Bull, at the start of Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be Oscar Piastri in McLaren, while George Russell in Mercedes and Charles Leclerc in Ferrari have qualified on the second row. Kimi Antonelli achieved a very good result by winning fifth place, and Carlos Sainz can also be extremely pleased, who placed Williams in sixth place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Lando Norris was one of the favorites to win the best starting position, probably the main candidate for pole position, but in the final round of qualifying, he lost control of his McLaren and ended his performance by hitting the guardrail.

Mercedes seeks a chance behind McLaren – Russell: Tires are key

Ahead of the race on the fastest street circuit in Formula 1, George Russell highlights what has been repeated more and more often in recent seasons as the deciding factor - the tires. The Mercedes driver says that it is the management of the Pirelli sets that will decide whether anyone manages to threaten the currently dominant McLaren this weekend in Saudi Arabia. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished at the top of the standings on Friday, while Russell had to settle for seventh place in the second practice session, after being sixth in the first. However, the Briton believes that the pace in longer stints is still an unknown and that this could be where Mercedes' chance lies. Russell particularly commented on the final phase of practice, which was interrupted by a red flag after a crash by Yuki Tsunoda, which left Mercedes without full insight into the potential speed in the race simulations.

Expert Betting Tips

Max Verstappen is happy to have taken his second pole position of the season, which he did not expect at this track, but he is aware that it will be very difficult to keep all the drivers behind him in the race, as both Oscar Piastri and George Russell were very close behind. Verstappen experimented with the settings of his Red Bull RB21 in practice to find the best combination for qualifying and the race, and when qualifying started, it was clear that he was on the level of the fastest, with the fastest time in Q1 and the second fastest in Q2, 0.048 seconds behind Norris. In the final part of qualifying, Norris crashed and disrupted the rhythm of the others, who did not have time for the usual two attempts to enter the garage and refuel, so Red Bull decided to add enough fuel to Verstappen's car for two fast laps with a quick tire change without entering the garage. This allowed Verstappen to drive a slightly safer first lap and take more risks in the second, which was 0.010 seconds faster than Piastri's and gave him his second pole position this season in five weekends. “It's really nice, but it was unexpected to take pole today,” said Verstappen. I expect another spectacular race, but I think that Max has enough speed, experience, and arrogance to keep the first place and win for a second time in a row this season.

OUR PREDICTION: Max Verstappen to win