2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
Apr 17
4 min read

We Need to Talk about Lando Norris!

Lando Norris is having such a weird season so far, to the point where I want to talk about it! Lando leads the World Drivers’ Championship which is a massive win for him, and he’s also the only driver to appear on the Podium every weekend too, so again, that’s another win for him! However, Norris is not happy with his car, he can’t seem to get the maximum out of it, and he currently seems to be lacking a little bit of performance when it comes to teammate Oscar Piastri! Again, Lando leads the Standings, but only by 3 points, and that’s not a big gap considering he was 23 points ahead of Piastri after Melbourne! To say that the pace isn’t there would be wrong, Lando Norris is a super quick driver, one of the best on the Grid, but he’s going to into a weekend on the backfoot heading to a track that his record isn’t particularly strong! Whether Lando can deliver the goods this weekend is something we’re all just going to have to wait and see!

Aston Martin Are a Mess!

I can’t believe it’s took me 5 Rounds to use this as a headline! On paper, Aston Martin started the season well, with Lance Stroll scoring points in both Australia and China, but I think that made everyone ignore the fact that their pace compared to their Rivals isn’t very good! The only positive about Japan was the fact that Fernando Alonso finally finished a Race, but Bahrain was an absolute shambles, with Aston arguably being the worst team of that whole weekend! Currently, Aston Martin are 7th in the Constructors’, 10 points behind their usual 5th spot, and I’d say the Standings is actually flattering them because there’s teams below them with better pace! I mean, Fernando Alonso is still yet to score a point this season, and I can’t see that changing for a while which tells you everything you need to know about this team!

The Consistency of Oliver Bearman

Oliver Bearman came into Formula 1 with an awful lot of hype following both a strong Junior Career and great substitute appearances last year, and whilst Australia didn’t go to plan, Ollie has been on form since then! Bearman managed to come home P8 in China, P10 in Japan, and he managed to go from last to 10th in last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix to make it 3 points-scoring finishes in a row! For a young driver in a midfield team, you can’t really get much better than that! Yes, Ollie Bearman would love to beat his teammate, but his teammate is really good so it’s not a bad look to be behind Esteban Ocon so early into his Formula 1 career! Also, I think we all remember that Oliver Bearman made his Formula 1 debut in Saudi Arabia last year, coming in as a surprise replacement for Carlos Sainz as the Brit came home with a brilliant P7! Given how Ollie and Haas have looked so far this year, predicting Bearman to finish in the points yet again this weekend would be a safe bet!

Kick Sauber Are Last Again!

Aw, sad times! After a shocking 2024, the expectations surrounding Kick Sauber weren’t very high, with many people expecting them to run at the back in 2025 too! However, Australia was a pretty special weekend for them, with Nico Hulkenberg finish 7th on debut to give the team more points than they’d gotten in their entire 2024 campaign! After Australia, Sauber were 6th in the Championship, ahead of Ferrari, and everyone was having a good time! However, since then, Sauber have very much gone back to being at the back of the field, with neither Nico Hulkenberg nor Gabriel Bortoleto really able to do much with the car. Also, the teams that were below them have started to score points meaning Kick Sauber are back at the bottom of the Constructors’ Standings, and there’s a good chance they might stay there for the entire rest of the year (which is kind of sad)!

Can Charles Leclerc Return to the Podium?

2025 has not been the year that Charles Leclerc and Ferrari envisioned, they were meant to be Title Contenders, they were meant to have already got a win on the board, and yet after 4 Rounds, the team is still yet to appear on the Podium! Now, Lewis Hamilton did deliver a Sprint Win in China so at least he has that, but Charles doesn’t have anything to his name right now. Leclerc is 5th in the Championship, he’s as close to his former teammate Carlos Sainz (points-wise) than he is to George Russell in front of him, and he’s yet to even appear on the Podium! I will say that that doesn’t mean that Charles hasn’t been driving well, I was impressed with him in both Japan and Bahrain, but you know something is wrong when finished 4th is seen as impressive! The positive for Charles Leclerc is he has a very good record at Saudi Arabia, he’s very good around there, so he might be in with a shot of finally appearing in the Top 3 come Sunday!