F1 Preview: All Info You Need Before the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be the fifth race of the new Formula 1 season.

McLaren has taken three wins in the first four rounds and should be the favorite at the upcoming race, with Oscar Piastri perhaps in a better state of confidence than his teammate, championship leader Lando Norris.

Piastri will look to make it three wins in five races and take the championship lead from his teammate's hands, and it would not be a surprise.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Norris (77 points) has a three-point lead over the Australian and is also eight points ahead of the ever-threatening Max Verstappen, who struggled with his Red Bull in the last race at Bahrain.

Mercedes' George Russell is fourth, 14 points behind Norris and will look to keep his consistent run going, looking for his fourth podium in five races.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished a strong fourth in Bahrain in a race where the team looked threatening with both drivers in the middle stint, before the Safety Car ruined their strategic plans. The Monegasque is fifth in the championship with 32 points, ahead of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli (30 points) and his Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton (25 points).

Last year, Verstappen won for Red Bull in a 1-2 for the team, with Sergio Perez in second place. Leclerc finished third for Ferrari.

That win gave Verstappen his second triumph in Saudi Arabia, becoming the first driver to win more than once at the venue.

At this point in the season, every team has scored a championship point.

From McLaren's 151 points at the top of the constructors' tables to Alpine (Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan) and Sauber (Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto) -both with six points- rounding out the table, every team has scored multiple points this year.

The pecking order in Saudi Arabia should have McLaren at the front, but Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari could be a threat to join the podium fight. While McLaren looks stronger, the gaps get quite close in the most important sessions of the weekend (Q3 and the start of races).

Mercedes and Ferrari looked better in Bahrain, while Red Bull will need a quick turnaround from a dismal race at Sakhir, both in terms of track performance and operations in the pits.

2025 Saudi Arabian GP Facts & Figures

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - DECEMBER 05: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda and Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 battle for track position.

The 2025 edition will be the fifth of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Formula 1 history and the event will be another full-night race at the brand-new Jeddah Corniche Circuit. In its first edition, the event was celebrated near the end of the season in 2021, but it has been an earlier round since the 2022 F1 season.

The fast, twisty circuit is tremendously difficult and we've seen some big accidents in past editions of the Saudi Arabian round, both in the race and throughout the weekend. One thing to fix could be the DRS zones, which have been a bit too powerful in some instances in the past. Still, the DRS hasn't been bad, as many battles in straight-line speed have been solved in the braking zones, which seems ideal.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battled for victory in a controversial 2021 edition that included several ugly situations between the pair of drivers, with Verstappen ultimately penalized for brake-testing the British racer during the race.
Hamilton won the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while the Dutchman went on to win the 2022 race after a tremendous fight against the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, although both drivers even fought to be behind in the DRS detection line to enjoy the drag reduction in the main straight, which could be dangerous.

The Pole Positions at the venue have gone to Hamilton in 2021, Red Bull's Sergio Pérez in 2022 (his first career Pole) and 2023. From Pole Position, Verstappen won the race in 2024 in a dominant Red Bull 1-2.

The event has been under criticism due to accusations of 'sportswashing' human rights issues in the country through hosting international sporting events. Moreover, there was a missile strike at an Aramco facility around 10 miles away from the track and the situation was visible from the circuit during the first practice session of the 2022 weekend.

Despite lengthy meetings between drivers and F1's management, the event went ahead.

In another incident throughout the 2022 weekend at Jeddah, a marshal was fired by the FIA after tweeting that he hoped to see Lewis Hamilton suffering a fiery crash during the event. The marshal was set to work during the GP and indicated in the tweet that he wished Hamilton had a crash like Romain Grosjean's near-fatal accident at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Jeddah Corniche Circuit

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit made its debut in Formula 1 on 5 December 2021, and it was a big event at the time, as Max Verstappen had a chance to seal the 2021 title fight, but Hamilton and Mercedes kept it going after a crazy, ugly race. Verstappen won in 2022 with a late overtake on Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez gave Red Bull another win in 2023, before Verstappen repeated in 2024.

The track is a 6.174 km long circuit with 27 corners. It has been described as the fastest street circuit in the world, and it was stellar to see the 2021 cars flying around the track, but also scary. Since 2022, the circuit had some changes to improve the drivers' sensation in the circuit, after some racers complained about the risks of the track.

Saudi Motorsport Company, the race's promoter, announced changes to the circuit for the 2023 round and on. The main changes looked to address safety matters when cars went off track, kerbs, adjustments of fences to improve drivers' sightlines, and more details.

The race distance will be 308.45 km (50 laps).

The Lap Record during a race was set by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes W12 with a 1:30.734 min lap in the 2021 event.

The race will have three DRS zones, with three detection zones. One DRS zone will go from T19 to T22, with the other two zones located between the high-speed T25 and T27 (last corner) and on the main straight.

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Tyres

(Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)

The dry tyres for the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C5 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli explained their choice to go with the medium option with a statement in a press release:

"The first triple-header of the 2025 season is coming to an end on the shores of the Red Sea. Jeddah is a port city in Saudi Arabia and is regarded as the port of entry for pilgrims heading to Mecca, as well as being a major commercial centre and cultural hub, known for its modern waterfront and the historic Al-Balad district.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix first appeared on the calendar in December 2021, with the next three events taking place in March, and this year will be the first time it is run in April, when temperature, wind and humidity levels will be more similar to those experienced in summer, which could have an impact on track action this weekend.

The choice of compounds for the first four races of this season were the same as last year’s, but for round five, Pirelli has taken a softer step, with the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft being the trio available in Jeddah.
This is in line with the aim, shared with the FIA, F1 and the teams, to create more strategy choices for the race and therefore more exciting and unpredictable racing.

In the four previous editions of this Grand Prix, the one-stop has always dominated, both in terms of its effectiveness and team preference, even when a Safety Car mixed things up a bit more.The track surface is not very abrasive, with an average level of roughness, but the lateral forces exerted on the tyres are considerable, although not at the level to be found at Suzuka or Barcelona for example.

Graining can put in an appearance, especially in the first free practice sessions as the track is very dirty to start with, because it is rarely used for motor racing.

However, with several support categories also racing, track condition improves over the course of the weekend, so that this phenomenon diminishes. However, with a softer trio of compounds this year, it will be interesting to see what effect that has."

The minimum starting pressures for the tyres will be 25.5 PSI (front) and 21.5 PSI (rear).

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Weather Forecast

Thursday, April 18th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Clear and very warm
Max. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 0%

Friday, April 19th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Clear and very warm
Max. temperature: 30°C
Chance of rain: 1%

Saturday, April 20th - Race
Conditions: Clear and very warm
Max. temperature: 30°C
Chance of rain: 0%

Who will be on the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix podium?

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 09, 2024

The hot 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will definitely present many challenges to the Formula 1 grid of drivers.
The race should be interesting. Let us hope that Pirelli's softer choice of compounds for the race pays off and we see a strategic race with true on-track fights and differences in the approach of every team.

McLaren should be able to continue its current form, while this might be a make-or-break race for the Scuderia Ferrari. We're betting on a McLaren 1-2 and a Ferrari 3-4, but possibly with a four-way battle for the win.
The prediction for the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix podium is 1. Lando Norris, 2. Oscar Piastri, 3. Charles Leclerc.

✅ Check out more posts with related topics: