After a close battle with reigning champion Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, his third win from the five Grands Prix this year. F1Technical's lead journalist Balazs Szabo delivers teams' and drivers' reaction after the Jeddah round.

McLaren

“Very, very happy to have won, that was a tough race! We’ve put a lot of work into our starts recently, and in the end, that’s played a big part in the victory. It was really tricky out there at times, chewing up the tyres, but once we got into clean air it was nice. The team did a great job executing the strategy and we did all the parts right that we needed to.

“We’ve still got work to do, it’s very close at the front, but it’s been a great weekend. We can now turn our attention to working hard at the factory next week before heading to Miami.”

“A good day overall with a strong recovery. Well done to Oscar and the rest of the team for getting the win, we've come away from the weekend with more important points.

“On my side, we had a good strategy, and we optimised it to gain valuable positions. It's a shame I didn’t finish with a podium but otherwise I'm happy with the comeback and my drive today. I’ll now go away from the triple header to reset and work with my engineers to make positive steps forward.”

Red Bull

“Overall, it was a very promising race. We were a bit unfortunate with the penalty, but besides that the car was strong. We had a lot of difficulties on Friday with our tyre management, so to have such a positive Saturday and Sunday meant that we really improved the car a lot. I was positively surprised to see how competitive we were on the mediums.

"I, of course had to try and open up a gap, but to actually pull away from the cars behind was nice. Afterwards on the hards, it took a bit of time before I felt fully comfortable and we were getting a bit of understeer in the car. Despite everything in the race, getting P2 quite close behind Oscar was overall a positive weekend for us.

"Of course, on tracks with higher degradation we still have more work to do, but we did well today with the set up, the car went well and we had really good race pace. Especially after Bahrain, this was a good weekend to finish off the triple header and we just need to keep working and be as consistent as possible. It really has been a good and positive race and it is promising for the races ahead."

“It was really unfortunate to be involved in a racing incident so early in the race today. I was fully in control before the incident, Carlos was also right in front of me, and there was just nowhere for me to go as it happened at the tightest corner on this track. I did as much as I could to avoid any incidents, but then I unfortunately had rear wing damage and I couldn’t continue safely in the race.

"It’s painful to collide with anyone, especially Pierre as we are friends, and this was not ideal for either of us as at the end of the day we are fighting for points and success, and my goal is to achieve as much as possible every weekend. Every lap is very important to me and to learn something and to experience the car more, a shame that something like this happened at an early stage of the race.

"The positive from the weekend is that I feel like we have made progress, being in Q3 again, and I feel like my confidence is building more and more. Next we have some testing in the RB19 before Miami, and then I am excited to go again with the Team and hopefully have a better result and bring home some points."

Ferrari

"We absolutely maximised everything this weekend. We executed the race perfectly, both in terms of strategy and the pit stop. Our mechanics have worked very hard to arrive at this level and I'm really proud of the job our team did today. We made the most of it. Looking forward, we have to focus on qualifying.

"Sector one was our main weakness in qualifying here, while it may have been our best sector in the race, so we will work on finding the right balance there and push to make another step forward."

"It was a challenging weekend with a lack of pace and consistency across the three days. The start of the Grand Prix was solid, but I had to manage the front tyres in the first stint.

"The second half showed some improvement, closing the gap to Kimi (Antonelli). I’m focused on working with the team and seeing what we can bring to Miami. Huge congratulations to Charles and the team for a well-deserved podium."

Mercedes

"Tonight was all about the tyres and unfortunately, ours were suffering from overheating. I was pushing to stay with Verstappen at the start of the second stint, but it quickly became clear that we weren’t going to be able to hang on. I tried to manage the tyres a little more but, with the tyre age offset they had built, Leclerc and Norris were able to move ahead.

"After that, my tyres dropped off the cliff and it was all about just bringing the car home in P5. Ultimately, we didn’t have the pace today. Even if we had managed more at different points, that was the maximum available to us this evening.

"We will take the positives we can from this weekend. We know that tyre overheating is a weakness of our car at the moment. Everyone is focused on improving that. We will have to accept coming home fifth on a bad day but we all want to make steps in that area, and quickly."

"It was a tough race but overall, I’m satisfied to come home P6. I struggled with understeer on the Medium tyre in the first stint. The front tyres started to degrade early on, so our pace wasn’t strong in the early stages. I felt better on the Hard compound after our pit stop though and our speed in the final 10 laps was competitive. I still had to manage though as we were suffering from overheating on the tyres throughout the race.

"Today’s race was still good learning for me. It has been an intense triple-header; there’s lots for me to look at and work on, but I’m also looking forward to some recovery time and to coming back stronger in Miami. We will keep pushing as a team to improve and build on our start to the season."

Williams

"We played a great team game today and maximised the result to bring home some good points. We were quite comfortable managing Hadjar behind, holding a DRS train to the end of the race so he couldn’t gain the advantage.

"It was a scenario we had prepared for ahead of the race, and we worked well together to make it happen. We came back really strong today, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made as a team."

"Solid day! We’ve been strong throughout the race, first on the Medium tyre and then coming through the field on the Hard tyre with good overtakes until the checkered flag. Towards the end of the race the team identified that Hadjar was going to be a threat for Alex, so with 12-13 laps to go I was asked to give him DRS.

"It wasn’t easy, as in this track, with three DRS zones, the slightest of mistakes can be very costly. However, we managed it perfectly and secured an important double points finish for the team. I’m very happy after putting together a good weekend and I can’t wait for Miami!"

Racing Bulls

"It was a solid race from us and I am really happy. We had a good start this time, strategy was good and that was the goal. We were on the alternative strategy with the aim to extend and that is what we did. I didn’t know points were possible, but we had really good pace and we managed to do it.

"The two Williams were ahead of me after the pit stop and then they played the team game, Alex didn’t make any mistakes and if they were not team mates we could have finished P8. It was definitely tough and I struggled, even though we made a few mistakes it was a well executed race, it’s the racing I want to do.

"We will go away and find out why our Qualifying pace wasn’t strong, Miami is going to be interesting as it’s a sprint weekend, with only one session before sprint Qualifying, I believe we can do it.”

“Today was tough and while we had very good pace throughout the race, we spent the majority of it with traffic no matter what we did. The penalty obviously didn't help and it's a shame as this weekend has been the most comfortable I've felt in the car. We're doing all the right things and it all needs to come together now to get some points.

"Isack made the most of his clean first stint and it's great for the team to grab another point this weekend. It's very close in the midfield at the moment and we'll try and work on improving this for Miami. It's a track I haven't driven but am excited for. We'll keep pushing.”

Aston Martin

"It was a very difficult race here in Jeddah and it was like 50 Qualifying laps for us, but sadly we come away from this weekend with no points. We tried to keep in the DRS of those in front of us and we capitalised on a few mistakes by others. We need to make improvements to the car, but we are all working hard to improve our situation. We won’t give up and we will keep on pushing with Miami up next."

"We went long on the first stint, hoping for a Safety Car window – unfortunately that didn’t work out for us. Our strategy was the only chance for us to hope for an opportunity and make up positions as we didn’t have anything to lose starting from P16. We’re far from where we want to be and just got to keep pushing to find more performance, we want to be a lot more competitive, and the season is still young."

Haas

“I think if we take the average of this triple, we’ve managed to pull the pieces together in Bahrain on my side, in Suzuka on Ollie’s side as well, but here, we struggled. We tried something with strategy to be inside the points if something happened but unfortunately that wasn’t enough today. It’s one more race with good knowledge and hopefully that will serve us for the next one. We will get to work and hopefully come back well in Miami.”

“We were struggling a little bit, especially in that first stint with balance, so I wasn’t able to do much out there today. It was close with RB but we couldn’t quite match their pace and I had to get off that medium tyre early, plus it’s very tough to overtake and to follow in sector one.

"Overall, the triple-header has been positive as we’ve been fighting for the points there or thereabouts for three races now, and on three very different tracks so that’s positive.”

Kick Sauber

“This was the most demanding race of the season so far. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a clean and uneventful Sunday for everyone – I didn’t see a single yellow flag after the first lap. We simply didn't have the pace to make up more positions or challenge for points. The balance of my car wasn’t ideal, which led to increase tyre wear.

"There’s no doubt that we’ve got some work to do. On the positive side, we had a clean race on this demanding street circuit and collected plenty of data to analyse. After an intense start to the season and a tough triple header, it’s good for the whole team to have a short break before we reset and go again in Miami.“

“This weekend has been a big learning experience – from how we prepare, to managing setbacks, and understanding just how important every session is. At the same time, it’s been a really tough one from start to finish. The race itself was frustrating: not much happened on our side.

"We chose to switch to hard tyres during the Safety Car at the start, but by the final 15 laps, they were completely gone and I was just focused on bringing the car home. Now it’s time to rest, recover, and reset – both mentally and physically. I would like to thank the team, both trackside and back in the factory, for their unwavering support so far: they always have my back, and they help me growing as a driver race after race.

"I’ll take the lessons from this weekend and head to Miami ready to fight, in a better place and determined to make the most of everything I’ve learned so far in my first five races.”

Alpine

“It’s never a nice feeling to end the race on Lap 1 after an incident. It has been a long time since I had a situation like this and it is a disappointing one for all of us at the team to take. I had a good line into Turn 4, I was aware that Yuki [Tsunoda] was there on the inside and I left enough space while keeping the car inside the white lines. It is an unfortunate outcome with the contact with him but that is racing and just the way it goes sometimes.

"There are many positives for us to take from the weekend. We know this track, on paper, is not our strongest but we managed to still be competitive and well in the mix for points. That gives us good confidence and we can build on these positives going into the next few races.”

“It was a difficult day today and we faced various challenges throughout the race which meant we were not able to progress forward. We took a bold strategy to pit for the Hard tyres under the Safety Car on Lap 1, with the aim to stay out through to the end. Although the car felt comfortable in the corners, we were unable to overtake the cars in front and once we backed off to regroup, we were caught by those behind us once they pitted for fresh tyres on a different strategy.

"Ultimately, as a result the one stop proved difficult, and we pitted again to reach the end. We have a week off to rest and debrief ahead of Miami. We will spend some time in the simulator in the coming days and work together with the engineers to learn as much as we can from the weekend to continue to unlock more potential from the car.”