F1 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix LIVE RESULTS: Oscar Piastri WINS as Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly CRASH out – updates

Lap 21/50

Red Bull do the dummy and Verstappen carries on down the pit lane.

Meanwhile, Russell does come into the pits and feeds back out into P7.

Lap 20/50

Piastri pit but it is a slow stop.

Antonelli follows him in.

The Aussie will come out into traffic behind Hamilton, which is key to his race and for any chances of getting past Verstappen.

If Red Bull now respond next lap Verstappen will need to serve his five-second stop.

He has also been told to push.

Lap 19/50

Norris swoops past Antonelli on the pit straight.

Piastri is dipping into the pit, according to the Team Radio, but is it a dummy...

Lap 18/50

Verstappen has now punched another half a second ahead of Piastri.

The gap now stands at 2.5 seconds.

Norris is having a lot of joy on the hard compound tyres and now sits 1.5 seconds behind Antonelli.

Russell on the radio is saying his tyres are "toast". He is seven-seconds off of the race leaders.

Lap 16/50

Verstappen is now more than five seconds in front of Russell in P3.

He is showing some incredible pace in clean air, with Piastri now 1.8 behind him.

Further back, Norris has already taken almost a second out of Antonelli's lead over him.

Lap 15/50

This time Norris gets the job done.

He waits until getting to Turn 1 before flying past Hamilton to take P6.

Norris should now benefit from some clean air ahead of him, with Antonelli about three seconds up the road from him.

However, Norris is now 16 seconds behind the race leader, Verstappen.

Lap 14/50

Norris is very late on the brakes this time, but it's a carbon copy of the earlier lap.

Norris gets ahead of Hamilton but the seven-time champion is second to the detection line before getting into the slipstream and opening his DRS flap.

Lap 13/50

Norris manages to overtake his countryman Hamilton.

But Hamilton then uses DRS to whisk back past him on the pit straight.

That was reminiscent of Hamilton vs Verstappen 2021 when the two drivers made contact on the DRS detection line.

Lap 12/50

Drivers are starting to complain about brake temperatures already.

Dealing with it could be the difference here.

Albon tells his engineers he can't back off of Sainz due to Hadjar being right behind.

Lap 10/50

The drivers are settling in their spots now.

Piastri seems to have been biding his time behind Verstappen but is closing the gap in the DRS zones.

That five-second penalty gives the McLaren driver some breathing room to not have to push straight away.

Lap 8/50

Verstappen hit by another track limit warning.

The Dutchman now has one left.

Russell remains in P3 ahead of Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Norris, Sainz, Albon and Hadjar.

Lap 6/50

Verstappen strikes a sarcastic tone as he is told about his penalty: "Well that is bloody lovely."

Piastri has put in the fastest lap. He is closing in but is currently too far out of reach.

Meanwhile, Norris is up to P7 after overtaking Sainz in the Williams.

He is 1.9 seconds behind Hamilton.

Watch: Chaotic start to Saudi Arabia

Here is the chaotic start to today's F1 race that has forced two drivers to retire and given Verstappen a five-second penalty.

Lap 4/50

Verstappen is hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

However, Brundle is arguing the punishment does not do the job as Verstappen is benefiting from clear air.

The gap is just over a second as we end the lap.

Lap 3/50

Safety car in this lap.

The debris is gone, as Piastri and Verstappen continue arguing the toss over position.

The stewards are checking it.

Hamilton up to P6 and Norris up to P8.

Lap 2/50

An unfortunate racing incident to start the race.

Tsunoda simply ran out of room and could not help but hitting the rear tyre of Gasly's Alpine as he came round the corner.

Three drivers, Jack Doohan, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto come in early on to swap to hard compound tyres.]

Tsunoda is out of the race after a long pit stop and despite being able to drive away. It seems the damage was simply too much.

Meanwhile, Piastri is telling his team Verstappen needs to give the place back because he was ahead at Turn 1.

However, Verstappen is arguing he was pushed off.

One for the stewards to decide on it seems. Watch this space.

Lights out and away we go

And we're off in the Middle East, Piastri gets an excellent start as Verstappen goes off the track.

But it's a safety car as Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly crash out and hit the barrier.

Formation lap underway

The formation lap is now underway in Jeddah.

This lap is all about getting the tyres up to temperature to have the best possible start to the race.

Everyone is on medium compound tyres to start, aside from Norris, Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg, who are all trying alternative strategies.

EXCL: F1 engineer’s girlfriend’s sex toy confiscated at airport before Saudi GP as women subjected to ‘uncomfortable’ searches

Women travelling to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix have had their vibrators confiscated at the airport.

Under Islamic law, sex toys are deemed “pornographic materials” and are banned in the Middle Eastern country.

One F1 engineer’s girlfriend in the paddock was stopped and searched at the airport in Jeddah and had her vibrator taken off her, having not known they were banned in the country.

Meanwhile another female employee in the paddock was buzzing to get to the F1 but also had her “massage wand” investigated by security after touching down in Jeddah.

The unnamed employee, 27, said: “I went through passport control and got my luggage but was stopped by security who said my bag needed extra searching.

“They put it through the scanner and told me my ‘massage wand’ and Lipton ice tea drinks in my suitcase needed searching."

'UNCOMFORTABLE'

Women travelling to Saudi Grand Prix have vibrators confiscated at airport

Fans call for ban on 'attention-seeking celebs' after Usher ignore Martin Brundle

F1 fans have been left fuming after pop star Usher ignored Martin Brundle on the grid walk of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

One fan on social media said: "Usher ignoring Martin Brundle on the grid walk. Ban the attention-seeking celebs from the grid."

A second said: "These people, Usher, so-called celebs, who don’t want to speak to Martin Brundle on the grid really p*** me off. If you don’t want to be interviewed, stay at home and watch the race….you ain’t that important you clown."

A third said: "starting a petition to ban all vips not willing to talk to Martin Brundle on the grid walk… another."

Another said: "Worst part of F1 is f***wit celebs like
Usher wandering around the grid. If you're on the grid you talk to Martin Brundle."

A fifth said: "It was disappointing that Usher wasn’t able to speak to the legend Martin Brundle on his gridwalk."

'You fired me once' - Martin Brundle

During his pre-race gridwalk, Martin Brundle found his old team boss Flavio Briatore.

Briatore was the team principal at Brundle's old F1 team, Benetton.

Speaking on the grid ahead of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, Brundle joked: "Hello Flavio, Martin Brundle. You fired me once."

Briatore, who is an executive advisor for Alpine, said: "That was a mistake."

Norris and Brown on podium chances

Norris has said he is not hopeful of getting on the podium.

The Brit said: "I don't think it's going to be an easy one because I don't think it's very easy to overtake around here.

"We have a strong car but clearly not as good as we would like because Max is on pole and George is only 0.1secs behind, so it's not like things are plain sailing at the minute.

"[I've got] a big job to try and do."

However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown told Martin Brundle on Sky Sports F1 that he believes Norris can make the podium, saying he has the "talent and car to do it".

Brown also adds he believes Piastri can take the race to Verstappen.

Norris changes today

Norris has brought a long list of changes to his car following yesterday's crash.

The changes include a new gearbox assembly, a new front wing, a new steering column, and suspension and brake duct assembly changes.

Verstappen vs Piastri

Here is how the two cars on the front row were separated on track with F1's "Ghost Car" technology.

WELCOME TO JEDDAH

Good evening motorsport fans and welcome to SunSport's live blog of the Formula One Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen lines up on pole ahead of Oscar Piastri after beating the McLaren star by just 0.010 seconds.

The Red Bull ace comes into the weekend off the back of a poor result in Bahrain, but will be hoping to match his result at the Japanese Grand Prix to close the gap on Championship leader Lando Norris.

Norris' hopes of taking control of the Drivers Standings took a major blow on Saturday after he crashed out of qualifying, ensuring he would start P10 at best.

He sits three points ahead of team-mate Piastri, who will be desperate to score his third race win of the season.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton had another disappointing qualifying session as he qualified P7.