Formula 1 News: 2025 GP of Saudi Arabia Post-Race Quotes

All ten Formula 1 teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided quotes after the 2025 GP of Saudi Arabia around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. See also: Post-Race Press Conference.

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Oscar Piastri (1st): “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 tires, 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.”

Lando Norris (4th): “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 optimized 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.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: “On Oscar’s side, he drove an excellent race, and was able to convert his front-row start into a win, thanks to some smart and calm driving. This was a well-deserved win for Oscar. Meanwhile, Lando was able to put a difficult Qualifying behind him and showed his resilience as he fought his way back through the field, scoring important points. We’ll now take some time to regroup with the team in Woking as we prepare to head to Miami for the next round of what is proving to be an extremely competitive and exciting season of Formula 1.”

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (2nd): “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. 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 tire 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.”

Yuki Tsunoda (Damage): “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. 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.”

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “It was our most competitive race to date this season in terms of raw pace, but it wasn’t to be. Firstly, congrats to Oscar on the win. Arguably without that penalty we would have won today, so there are a lot of positives to take, a lot of lessons and we know where we have to improve. We believed Max was clearly ahead on the first lap and it was a very harsh decision but at that point it was best to concede, serve the penalty, get your head down and keep going. What was a great shame today was that you can see our pace was very similar to the McLaren and after the first stint on the medium we were in good shape. We pulled a gap to Oscar on the first stint and the pace was really there for Max, he was getting the most out of the car, let’s not forget on Friday McLaren had 1.2 seconds on everybody. It was our most competitive race to date this season in terms of raw pace, but it wasn’t to be. Ultimately, they were good, important points today and we are only 12 points off the lead of the Drivers’ Championship and took a few points out of Lando, so we have everything to play for. It was a huge shame for Yuki because he was up there on the grid and likely to score good points for us, he’s missed out on valuable time in the car, but there was really nothing more he could do and around here there is always the risk of an incident. Overall, we feel in a positive place heading to Miami.”

Scuderia Ferrari HP

Charles Leclerc (3rd): “We absolutely maximized 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.”

Lewis Hamilton (7th): “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 tires 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.”

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: “It was a good race especially with Charles of course, who took a well deserved third place. He was a bit conservative at the beginning, since he was in dirty air and our strategy was to extend the stint. His management was very good and he was able to increase his pace from lap 10 onwards, doing a wonderful job especially when he was in free air. In some parts of the race he was even faster than Piastri and Verstappen and this proves we are improving, at least in race trim, while we need to keep working on our form in qualifying. Lewis struggled more with his pace in general and was not helped by the fact that he was often in dirty air. We need to stay focused and work flat out and I’m sure the results will come. From tomorrow we start preparing for Miami, and we will continue to deal with this season race by race. Focusing on ourselves. It’s the same approach and attitude we had last year and we plan to stick with it.”

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

George Russell (5th): “Tonight was all about the tires 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 tires a little more but, with the tire age offset they had built, Leclerc and Norris were able to move ahead. After that, my tires 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 tire 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.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (6th): “It was a tough race but overall, I’m satisfied to come home P6. I struggled with understeer on the Medium tire in the first stint. The front tires 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 tires 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.”

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: “That was our worst performance of the year so far. The pace dropped away as our tires overheated and that was frustrating. We came into the race hoping we could compete for the podium but, with the limitations we had with the tires, P5 and P6 was the maximum for us. We need to analyze our performance, work out why that was the case, and quickly find improvements. The next race in Miami is another race on a hot track surface so we will need to be better than we were today if we want to avoid a repeat performance. Both drivers fought hard with the limitations they were facing. Even with greater management at different stages of the race, George was always going to be unable to stop Leclerc and Norris coming past. Kimi continued his development to take P6 and hold off Lewis (Hamilton). That has helped us limit the damage to our direct competitors in the Constructors’ Championship, but we don’t leave Saudi Arabia satisfied with that.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: “That was our toughest race of the year so far. Starting P3 and P5, we were hopeful of being in the fight for the podium. Ultimately though, our pace was limited by overheating on both the Medium and Hard compounds. Both drivers managed early on in each stint but, when required to push the tire harder, both axles suffered, and we couldn’t extract the pace of our competitors. George was powerless to hold off Leclerc and Norris in the closing stages, who used their fresher tires to good effect. Kimi meanwhile did a good job to stave off Lewis (Hamilton) but P5 and P6 are not results we are ever going to be satisfied with. We know that managing the tires is an area we need to improve in, and the factory is focused on doing that. Despite the tough evening, we have done well so far at collecting solid points over the first five races of the season. That is encouraging, but we need to build on that and do more. We have several hot races coming up and we need to get on top of our tire management issues if we want to compete consistently at the front. We have the opportunity to do so starting in Miami in two weeks’ time.”

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Fernando Alonso (11th): “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 capitalized 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.”

Lance Stroll (16th): “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.”

Andy Cowell, CEO & Team Principal: “It was a straightforward race, which was largely without incident providing little opportunity to make progress. Both drivers performed well this evening – giving everything lap after lap – as we split the strategies. Fernando started on Mediums, while Lance went very long on Hards in case a Safety Car came into play. It was a very intense, flat-out all the way race in hot conditions, which made it very demanding on all the drivers. It was a well-managed race all round, but ultimately, we just missed out on the points. After an intense triple-header, we have a week back at base to regroup and understand how to improve in all areas and unlock more performance from the car.”

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Jack Doohan (17th): “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 tires 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 tires 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.”

Pierre Gasly (Damage): “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.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal: “It is disappointing to leave Jeddah without any points, especially with a first lap incident for Pierre given how competitive he has looked all weekend. We took the opportunity to pit Jack on Lap 1 once the Safety Car was deployed and run long. From there we could potentially look at a one stop and run Jack to the end. Ultimately, Jack did not have pace on the Hard tires, which made it a difficult afternoon. There are positives to take away from the triple-header, particularly with picking up the first points for the team and the performance of the car has been encouraging. We must continue improving and are already looking forward to the next race in Miami.”

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Oliver Bearman (13th): “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 tire 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.”

Esteban Ocon (14th): “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.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: “I think we did the best we could today, but ultimately we just didn’t have the pace to score points. I think our result is a fair one. I think everyone has done their best, so we got the most out of what we have – but on this circuit with high-speed corners, sadly our performance wasn’t good enough. We’re working on improving the car and understanding how to get performance out of the soft tire, as we need to look at that for Miami. All in all, through this grueling triple-header, I’m happy with how the team is performing. We achieved a great result in Suzuka and Bahrain, so I think we have to look at the bigger picture. Let’s reset and go again in Miami.”

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team

Isack Hadjar (10th): “We had a good start this time, strategy was good and that was the goal. 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.”

Liam Lawson (12th): “We’re doing all the right things and it all needs to come together now to get some points. 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.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: “We had a good race pace and came away with a point that we fought very hard for. A positive weekend here for us in Jeddah. We had a good race pace and came away with a point that we fought very hard for. It’s a tricky track here with high-speed corners and the walls are very close. Both Liam and Isack did a very good job, despite neither of them having raced on this track in an F1 car before. They were only a few hundredths away from Q3 yesterday and we went into this race not knowing whether we were going to have enough race pace to fight with those in front of us, but you can see we gave it a good go. Both of them have been very close in performance this weekend, pushing each other, which is exactly what we need for the future. We know we have a lot more work to do and will always be pushing for more in Faenza, Milton Keynes and at the race track. We go again in two weeks and will try our hardest once again in Miami.”

Williams Racing

Carlos Sainz (8th): “Solid day! We’ve been strong throughout the race, first on the Medium tire and then coming through the field on the Hard tire 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!”

Alexander Albon (9th): “We played a great team game today and maximized 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.”

James Vowles, Team Principal: “Really great work by the team. This was a well-earned, proper points finish, putting us fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. We are so fortunate to have two world-class drivers at the top of their game, and today you saw how that pays off. Today was about the team, not an individual, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg (15th): “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 tire 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 analyze. 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.”

Gabriel Bortoleto (18th): “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 tires 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.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “Another long, hard weekend for the team. We started the race with the drivers on different strategies. We boxed Gabriel under the lap 1 Safety Car, and he drove a 48-lap stint on the hard tires, delivering exactly what we asked of him. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the pace to stay ahead of Doohan at the end of the race and was just overtaken on the line. For Nico, we got the most we could out of the package today with a P15 finish. We find ourselves coming out of the weekend with no damage, an excellent pit stop for Nico, and in a good position to focus the development direction for the C45. It has been a grueling triple-header for the team, but we will regroup, refocus, and get ourselves in the best shape for Miami in two weeks’ time.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“This Grand Prix matched our pre-race expectations in terms of tire performance and the way the strategies worked. Despite bringing a softer trio of compounds compared to last year, and with track temperatures on average 7 °C higher, degradation on the C3 and C4 was very minimal. It meant that, given how evenly matched are the teams, the way the race played out was the natural outcome.

“We only saw a few cases of blistering on the left front, but not enough to impact tire performance in a significant way. As for overheating, some cars struggled a bit, but it was to be expected with these temperatures and on a track where the tires never get a chance to “breathe”.

“Now we have the first chance to catch our breath before heading for another continent, as we prepare to race in the USA for the first time this season, in Miami. At a track with very different characteristics to this one, we will have the same selection of dry tire compounds as were used here in Jeddah, and yet again that will be a step softer than last year’s race. It will be interesting to see how the teams deal with that, especially as it will be the second Sprint weekend of the year.”