Christian Horner, Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing in the garage during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 18, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Ahead of Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this Formula 1 season is looking like McLaren vs. McLaren. Still, defending champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull says he hasn’t lost hope.

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are the only ones to consistently have the pace through the first four rounds of the championship.

That was true again in practice Friday, although Norris was surprisingly beaten to top spot by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Norris has a three-point lead but admits he isn’t at his best, while Piastri is the driver with momentum after winning in Bahrain last week.

Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes have all had their moments, but none has been a consistent challenger, as McLaren’s 58-point constructors’ championship lead shows.

Gasly was just .007 of a second faster than Norris in a tight first practice session Friday at the high-speed Jeddah track, where drivers speed between concrete walls either side of the course.

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was .07 off Gasly in third and Piastri fourth, barely a tenth of a second off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton was eighth fastest in the other Ferrari, just ahead of the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda. Verstappen told his team the car felt “very loose” in high-speed corners.

Verstappen is the only non-McLaren driver to win a Grand Prix this season, but in Bahrain he was struggling so much that Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said he was concerned the Dutch star might consider his future.

Verstappen said this week he wasn’t considering the championship picture this early in the season.

“I’m not thinking about that. I just go race by race,” he said. “I think at the moment, of course, we are not the quickest. So then naturally, it’s very tough to fight for a championship, but it’s still a very long road … I’m hopeful that we can still improve things and we’ll see what we get.”

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso dampened speculation Verstappen could seek to join his team, Aston Martin, after Red Bull car designer Adrian Newey made that move last year.

Asked if he’d welcome being Verstappen’s teammate, Alonso said Thursday: “Yes, but it’s unlikely to happen. Very unlikely.”

Alonso’s current teammate is Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll.

Jeddah hosts the fifth race in six weeks in a hectic start to the season, which stays at a record 24 races. There’s a little respite after Saudi Arabia, with two weeks till the next event in Miami.

“I think it’s on the upper end of the limit. It feels like race 10 already,” said Williams driver Alex Albon, adding it’s especially tough on mechanics and other crew members.

“As drivers, we travel better than everyone else in the paddock. We stay in better hotels than everyone else in the paddock — it’s just a function of being in a privileged position. With mechanics … these are people with families. These are the people that really struggle.”

The rookies are still enjoying their first taste of F1, though.

“It’s just the beginning of my career, so I just want to keep racing and keep driving,” said Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto. “I’m learning new things every single weekend, so for me, if I could have another race next weekend, I would be very happy as well.”

PBKS Nehal Wadhera, and RCB’s Virat Kohli, during the IPL 2025 match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS), at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru on April 18, 2025.
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Royal Challenger Bengaluru’s home woes continued as the side slipped to a five-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings in the IPL here on Friday. RCB did put up a brave fight in defence of a 96-run target, but could not prevent a third straight loss at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

In a rain affected outing, RCB was on the back foot right from the start, having lost a crucial toss. Batting first proved to be tough ask on a sticky pitch, and the home team did itself no favours by making an odd change to the playing eleven. Southpaw batter Devdutt Padikkal was dropped in favour of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, even though it was RCB which took first strike.

The move proved to be disastrous, as RCB crawled to 95 for nine in the reduced 14 overs.

In the chase, PBKS suffered a tremor when Shreyas Iyer and Josh Inglis were sent back in quick succession. Hopes of an RCB comeback, however, was dashed by a composed Nehal Wadhera (33 n.o., 19b, 3×4, 3×6).

After persistent rain delayed the start of play by over two hours, RCB openers Phil Salt and Virat Kohli finally made their way out to take strike. The sticky pitch made strokeplay near impossible, but the RCB batters were unprepared to change their gameplan. Salt, Kohli and Liam Livingstone tried to force the pace and paid the price. Length deliveries were skied high without timing, resulting in catching practise. The PBKS fielders were up to the task, with Marco Jansen and Priyansh Arya pulling off fine grabs to dismiss Kohli and Livingstone respectively.

RCB continued to lose wickets in a heap, a result of more reckless shots. When Impact Player and local lad Manoj Bhandage was removed by Jansen, RCB fell into a deep hole at 42 for seven.

The lowest T20 score recorded at this venue — 82 by RCB in the first ever IPL game, in 2008 — loomed perilously close. It took a fighting unbeaten 50 from Tim David to keep RCB afloat, even if the ship would eventually sink.

In what was an evening for the bowlers, it was a batter whose resolute display made the difference in the end at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. All of Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harpreet Brar took two wickets for Punjab Kings. In the second essay, Josh Hazlewood picked three while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets.
But it was Nehal Wadhera‘s unbeaten 33 from 19 balls that made the difference as PBKS beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru and inflicted the third home defeat on the Rajat Patidar-led side.
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There were valuable runs in the first innings too. Tim David, the Player of the Match, struck an unbeaten fifty, his first in the IPL, as RCB reached a respectable 95/9 in the rain-affected match that was reduced to 14 overs.
But Wadhera’s tide-turning show, hitting three fours and three sixes, came against the run of play. As Hazlewood breathed fire and took two wickets in an over, PBKS desperately needed someone to stand up and face the onslaught.
The 24-year-old left-hander pummelled leg-spinner Suyash Sharma for a couple of sixes to allay his team’s worries.

A composed Wadhera played a big hand as Punjab Kings eventually crossed the line, swelling their tally to 10 points to move up to second place on the points table behind leaders Delhi Capitals.
The job was half done by the PBKS in the first innings. Clever bowling restricted RCB to a disappointing total after Shreyas Iyer opted to bowl first.
The decision proved right as his bowlers plucked three wickets in the power play segment.
Phil Salt perished in the first over itself, trying to hammer Arshdeep Singh (2/23) out of the park and stumper Inglis completed a good catch.

Virat Kohli did not last long either, as Marco Jansen peddled 20 metres back to pull off a terrific catch off Arshdeep.
The Royal Challengers’ power play phase score read a sorry 26 for three as Liam Livngstone too departed without making any effect.
Yuzvendra Chahal (2/11) made his return to his one-time IPL home Chinnaswamy Stadium memorable with the wicket of Jitesh Sharma.
Amidst the ruins around him, skipper Rajat Patidar played some handsome shots, and none better than a pick-up off his pads off Bartlett that soared over mid-wicket for a six.
But RCB soon received a body blow as Patidar (23, 18b) could not clear Bartlett at sweeper cover off Chahal, who teased the batters with those tossed up, fuller deliveries.
Jansen (2/10), who used short-pitched balls to good effect, had his own moments as he jettisoned Krunal Pandya and Impact Sub Manoj Bhandage as RCB innings unravelled.
It was despite a few big blows by Player of the Match David that included three sixes in a row off left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar, who also had a share in RCB’s spoils with two wickets.