Formula 1 Grand Prix Saudi Arabia 2025: Who Will Win?

Formula 1 Grand Prix Saudi Arabia: What You’ll Learn

• Insights into driver performances and historical results at the Grand Prix Saudi Arabia, highlighting Charles Leclerc’s progress and Yuki Tsunoda’s potential in a competitive Red Bull car.

• An overview of the current competitive landscape in Formula 1, including detailed analysis of team performances and predictions for the McLaren and Mercedes teams.

• The significance of the Jeddah track characteristics, including its history of safety car appearances which can drastically alter race outcomes.

• Key challenges and opportunities faced by teams and drivers in the current Formula 1 season leading up to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

• The potential impact of strategic incidents like safety cars or red flags, and how they could influence the chances of different teams, particularly those in the midfield like Williams and Aston Martin.

The STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, taking place between April 18 and April 20, is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2025. Located in Jeddah at the 6.174-kilometre Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the track boasts a circuit length of 6.2km and is dubbed by race organizers the ‘world’s fastest street track’ as drivers repeatedly hit speeds of up to 250km/h.

Since the track’s creation, Red Bull Racing has been the constructor with the most wins. Its current driver, Max Verstappen, won two out of the four races in 2022 and 2024, while Sergio Perez won for Red Bull in 2023.

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When driving for Mercedes-AMG, Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural race at Jeddah, finishing 21 seconds ahead of Verstappen, who finished the race second and 27 seconds ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas in third.

For 2025, McLaren seems to be the favorite heading into the race weekend, pinning its hopes on championship leader Lando Norris to bring home the win, despite the constructor’s drivers finishing 4th and 8th in 2024 and out of the points in 2023.

In contrast, the reigning winners, Red Bull Racing, look likely to have a less dominant performance over the weekend as the team restructures following the departure of legend F1 engineer Adrian Newey and constant driver reshuffles for the team’s second seat.

Top Formula 1 Grand Prix Saudi Arabia Contenders & Odds

Formula 1 racing is slightly different for bettors as the sport doesn’t have as open a field as other sports. Car performance plays a strong role in dictating where racers will finish. However, the concentration required for racing, plus external factors like strategy and weather, can make each race unpredictable.

Still, looking at the top contenders with bettors is a good idea before deciding who you want to back. We’ve listed some of the drivers with the highest odds below. All odds are taken from the experts at BetMGM.

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Lando Norris – 6/4 to Win

McLaren driver Norris is the current favorite to win the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. Winning the opening race in Australia, the British-born racing driver has excelled this season.

Norris joined the Woking-based team in 2019, partnering with Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr. He entered Formula 1 after his Formula 2 campaign, in which he came second. At the end of his first season, Norris finished P11 with 49 championship points, with McLaren coming P4 in the Constructors.

He scored his maiden podium at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, finishing third, and gained his first pole position the following season at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. Since then, Norris has had 130 race starts, five wins, and 28 podiums.

2024 was the British driver’s most successful Formula 1 season, finishing second in the Drivers’ Championship and first in the Constructors’ Championship. Norris achieved his maiden win at the Miami Grand Prix, winning three more races that season.

Lando and McLaren look to continue that 2024 success. So far, the car seems to be the most competitive of the ten teams, and McLaren’s championship-winning hopes seem to be getting stronger each day.

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Oscar Piastri – 6/4 to Win

McLaren’s second Formula 1 driver, the Australian-born Oscar Piastri, is another hopeful to win the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. The China Grand Prix marked Piastri’s third win in the sport, following his maiden victory at the 2024 Hungary Grand Prix and subsequent 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

On his journey into Formula 1, Piastri won consecutive titles in Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019, Formula 3 in 2020, and Formula 2 in 2021. In 2020, Piastri joined the Renault Junior Academy – now Alpine – becoming the team’s reserve driver in 2022.

However, controversy arose after two-time world champion Fernando Alonso departed from the Enstone team, prompting Alpine to announce Piastri’s promotion. The Australian responded with a now-viral tweet that he had not signed a contract with Alpine. Instead, Piastri would join McLaren, replacing fellow Aussie F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Piastri finished his rookie season ninth in the Drivers’ Championship with 97 points and two podiums – taking his maiden podium at the 2023 Japan Grand Prix and his maiden sprint win at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. Piastri finished fourth in the standings in his second year with 292 points.

Oscar looks eager to prove himself with the Woking team. His recent contract extension keeps him at McLaren until 2028.

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Max Verstappen – 10/1 to Win

So far, 2025 has not been that great of a season for Red Bull Racing. The Milton Keynes-based F1 team is pinning its hopes on defending world champion Verstappen to bring home points this season after Racing Bull’s driver Yuki Tsunoda replaced Red Bull rookie driver Liam Lawson after two races.

Verstappen became the youngest F1 driver to start a Grand Prix. At 17, he partnered with fellow Red Bull Junior driver Sainz Jr. at Toro Rosso. Verstappen was then promoted to Red Bull’s primary team in 2016, becoming the youngest driver to win a race at the Spanish Grand Prix.

In 2023, Red Bull and Verstappen completely dominated, with Red Bull winning 21 out of 22 races. The streak was only broken by ex-Red Bull Academy driver Sainz Jr., who won for Ferrari at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

Since driving for Red Bull, Max Verstappen has been crowned world champion four times, equaling former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel’s record.

Even though Red Bull isn’t looking as competitive this season as in previous seasons, Saudi Arabia is a strong track for the Austrian team, so Verstappen will look to continue his winning streak in Jeddah.

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George Russell – 12/1 to Win

George Russell has had a great start to the season, finishing third in the opening two races. Russell has three wins in F1 so far, with his maiden win coming at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix, where Mercedes finished 1-2.

The British driver began his Formula 1 career at Williams Racing, coming off the back of an F2 Championship victory. Russell drove for Williams for three years, partnering with Nicolas Latifi before he replaced Valterri Bottas at Mercedes in 2022. Since then, Russell has garnered 17 podiums and five pole positions. 

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Lewis Hamilton 20/1 to Win

One of the most successful Formula 1 drivers of all time, Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE, is currently tied with Michael Schumacher at seven championship titles. Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was greatly anticipated throughout the motorsport world, as he left Mercedes after 12 years to replace Sainz Jr. at Ferrari.

So far, Ferrari hasn’t had the best start to the 2025 season. Hamilton came tenth in the opening race in Australia and was disqualified from the China Grand Prix with teammate Charles Leclerc. However, he won a sprint race that weekend, his first win with the Italian team.

Hamilton is eager to win again, looking to make up for Ferrari’s disappointing start to the season and make history with the prancing horses. The British driver already has one win at the Jeddah track, and it’s safe to say that another one could be on the cards.

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Charles Leclerc 12/1 to Win

Loved by Tifosi worldwide, the Monegasque racing driver joined Ferrari in 20291 after a brief stint with Sauber. Leclerc hasn’t had the best start to the season, mirroring his 2023 campaign, but has his eyes set on the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, where he has placed on the podium twice since the race began in 2021.

Leclerc’s highest finish at the Saudi Arabia track was second, just 0.5 seconds behind Max Verstappen in 2022.

So far, Leclerc has eight wins, 43 podiums, and 26 pole positions, scoring nine poles in 2022 alone. 2019 saw the Monegasque win Ferrari’s home race at Monza, becoming the first Ferrari diver to do so in nine years, and a week after he scored his maiden win in Belgium.

Leclerc won at Monza again in 2024 and in Monaco, his home race, becoming the first Monegasque driver to win at Monte-Carlo in 93 years.

Despite being disqualified from the China Grand Prix with teammate Hamilton and leaving Ferrari fifth in the championship behind the Albon-Sainz William’s duo in fourth, Leclerc will be keen to achieve a more favorable result in Jeddah.

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Yuki Tsunoda – 150/1

A bit of an outlier, Yuki Tsunoda has never scored points at the Jeddah race track, finishing 13th in 2021, 11th in 2023, and 14th in 2024. He didn’t finish the race in 2022. However, Tsunoda has switched from Racing Bulls to Red Bull Racing, giving him his most competitive car in his F1 career.

So far, the second Red Bull seat is letting the team down performance-wise. Liam Lawson has not been able to score any points in his first two races, and Sergio Perez’s lack of performance in 2024 saw him depart from the team.

Still, Tsunoda has potential. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has praised Tsunoda for his promising lap times during testing. The Japanese driver has reached Q3 in qualifying in the season’s first two races, out-qualifying Lawson in the second Red Bull seat both times. 

After encouraging performances during his time with Racing Bull, Yuki Tsunoda can score big time at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Victory on the World’s Fastest Street Track

Saudi Arabia is an exciting track for Formula 1 fans. With a 100% safety car appearance rate since the track opened in 2021, anything can happen. McLaren is the favorite in Jeddah, with both drivers hungry for the win. Yet fans can’t rule out a late charge from either Verstappen, who is looking for a back-to-back win, or Russell, who looks confident in the Mercedes.

Ferrari may yet prove themselves this season with a win at Jeddah. Hamilton has previously won at the track, and Leclerc has two podium finishes.

Still, everything is to play for. A safety car or red flag can level the playing field, and with Williams and Aston Martin leading the midfield, either team can make it to the podium.

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