Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Christian Horner were left pondering what might have been after finishing second in the 2025 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. A contentious five-second time penalty proved the difference between victory and defeat.
The Dutchman had secured a sensational pole position in qualifying and made a good getaway at the start, but found himself involved in a side-by-side battle with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into Turn 1. Verstappen maintained the lead by going off track, a move that would ultimately prove costly.
Controversial penalty frustrates Horner during F1 Saudi Arabian GP
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner expressed his dismay at the stewards’ decision to hand Verstappen a five-second penalty for the first-lap incident, during the F1 Saudi Arabian GP. This incident ultimately dash their hopes of victory.
“I thought it was very harsh,” Horner said after the race. “We didn’t concede the position because we didn’t believe that he’d done anything wrong. You can quite clearly see at the apex of the corner, we believe that Max is clearly ahead.”
Horner went on to explain the team’s decision not to return the position to Piastri.
“If we had given it up, the problem is: You then obviously run in the dirty air as well. We could have dropped back behind. The problem is you then are at risk with George. The best thing to do was to at that point, we got the penalty, get your head down and keep going.”
Strong pace despite final results
Despite the penalty, Red Bull showed impressive race pace throughout the 50-lap F1 Saudi Arabian GP. Verstappen maintained a healthy gap to Piastri during the opening stint and was able to push hard after serving his penalty during his pit stop.
“I think what was a great shame today was that you can see our pace versus certainly the McLarens and all other cars in that first stint on the medium. We were in good shape,” Horner said. “We had to serve the five-second penalty. Thereafter, on the same basic stint as Oscar, he finished 2.6 seconds behind. Without that five-second penalty today, it would have been a win.”
Horner and Red Bull question Stewards’ decision during Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
When questioned about whether the team would seek a review of the decision, Horner revealed they had already spoken with the stewards after the race.
“Everything has to be objectively looked at in isolation and that’s a really marginal call. I think the stewards, we spoke to them after the race, they think it was a slam dunk,” Horner explained.
“The problem is if we’re to protest it, then they’re going to most likely hold their line. We’ll ask them to have a look at the on-board footage that wasn’t available at the time. I think that’s what it is.”
Horner also questioned the stewards’ interpretation of the racing rules, particularly on the first lap of the race.
“Perhaps these rules need a re-lookout. I don’t know what happened to let them race on the first lap. That just seems to have been a bad thing.”
Horner remains positive despite minor setback in Saudi Arabian GP
Despite the disappointment, Horner was keen to highlight the positives from the weekend, especially given the team’s pace compared to their rivals.
“Let’s focus on the positives. We qualified on pole, we finished second, and we had the pace which on Friday looked like McLaren had got 1.2 seconds on the whole field,” he said.
“So we’ll take encouragement out of this race, that on both medium and the hard tyres, I’m sure the analysis will show that we were quicker than them this weekend.”
