Did Hamilton stop Norris from beating Leclerc? Jeddah race data analysed

After recovering six places to finish fourth at Jeddah, Lando Norris said he didn’t think he could have finished any higher.

But he took the chequered flag just over a second behind Charles Leclerc’s third-placed Ferrari – tantalisingly close to being within DRS range. Leclerc should have been grateful to his team mate Lewis Hamilton, who delayed Norris’s progress for several laps earlier in the race.

Did Hamilton – inadvertently or otherwise – help buy his team mate enough time over Norris to ensure his third place would be safe? Or to put it another way, had Norris not been re-passed twice by Hamilton on consecutive laps, would he have caught Leclerc soon enough to attack him?

Norris was only four-and-a-half seconds behind Leclerc on lap 11, when he first started trying to pass Hamilton. Norris was actually ahead at the start/finish line on the next two laps, but each time Hamilton was in the process of re-passing him. Finally, on lap 14, Hamilton made it to the finishing line first, but Norris came by as they reached turn one, and the position was his.

It came at a cost, however, as Leclerc was now 6.2 seconds up the road. Norris never quite got within a second of Leclerc at the start/finish line, but with an extra 1.7 seconds in his hand he might have done so with three laps to go.

So it’s highly likely Norris would have caught Leclerc sooner, but as the aphorism goes, ‘catching is one thing, passing another’. Norris and Leclerc both passed Russell with little difficulty in their second stints, but both were comfortably quicker than the Mercedes.

Norris, on his fresher medium rubber, was consistently quicker than Leclerc until he began to get within DRS range. They nearly matched lap times several times over the final tours.

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The DRS effect was very powerful around Jeddah, however, so had Norris actually been able to get close enough to use it, there’s a decent chance he could have passed the Ferrari. At the very least, he might have done as he did to Hamilton on laps 12 and 13, and beaten Leclerc to the finishing line, which on the last lap would have been sufficient.

Leclerc therefore should feel a little grateful towards Hamilton. And his pit crew, who helped him to the fastest complete pit stop time of the race.

None of that is to underestimate the quality of Leclerc’s drive. Once again he pulled off a superb long stint, showing the Ferrari can look after its tyres very nicely indeed, which on the right day is surely going to pay off handsomely.

Three drivers tried the extreme strategy of pitting at the end of lap one to switch from the medium rubber to hards. Two of them exchanged the last two places in the running order on the final lap of the race: Gabriel Bortoleto, who toughed it out to the flag lost 17th to Jack Doohan, the only two-stopper. Esteban Ocon, meanwhile, was the last unlapped driver after a very slow final tour.

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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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