McLaren’s Oscar Piastri delivered a calm and dominant drive to win the Bahrain Grand Prix, narrowing the gap to teammate Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship.
The Australian led from pole and maintained control throughout, never under serious threat. Mercedes’ George Russell took second after a tense battle with Norris, who had charged up the field from sixth on the grid despite serving a five-second penalty for a false start.
Norris made a late push for second place and attempted a move on Russell at the start of the final lap but was unable to make it stick. Russell’s result could still be under review due to a possible rules breach involving the use of DRS, the overtaking aid.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth after being overtaken by Norris with eight laps remaining, while Lewis Hamilton ended up in a distant fifth place. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a quiet race and finished sixth after finally passing Alpine’s Pierre Gasly on the final lap, a sharp contrast to his dominant win in Japan the previous weekend.
This marked McLaren’s first win in Bahrain, the home country of their majority shareholders, and tightened the title race. Norris remains the points leader, now just three points ahead of Piastri, while Verstappen trails both by eight points.
Piastri, who started on pole, held the lead off the line and never looked back. Norris, meanwhile, quickly climbed to third on the first lap, trailing only Piastri and Russell, with Leclerc running fourth.
However, Norris was hit with a five-second penalty after it was found his car was slightly out of position on the grid. Despite the delay at his pit stop to serve the penalty, he managed to stay ahead of the chasing pack but eventually lost position to Leclerc, who was on a different tyre strategy.
Ferrari opted to start on medium tyres compared to the softs used by McLaren and Mercedes, allowing Leclerc to run a longer first stint and gain a grip advantage in the middle of the race. He used it to overtake Norris on lap 25.
The race dynamics shifted when a safety car was deployed on lap 32 to clear debris. Most of the field pitted, with Russell emerging on soft tyres, Leclerc on hards, and Norris on mediums.
Once the race resumed, Norris closed in on Leclerc again. After several attempts and some aggressive defending from the Ferrari driver, Norris got past and began chasing Russell.
A potential move for second seemed likely, but Norris’ half-attempt into Turn One on the final lap left him too far back to make another pass stick, allowing Russell to secure second place.
Norris later reflected, “A tough race. I made too many mistakes. A messy race from me. Disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren.”
Russell, meanwhile, battled more than just rivals on track—he had to manage an electrical fault that disrupted various systems in his car. The issue impacted his brake-by-wire system and energy recovery, forcing him to reset controls multiple times per lap. The confusion also led to a mistaken DRS activation, which could result in a penalty.
Behind the front-runners, Verstappen never found pace on a circuit that exposed Red Bull’s handling and tyre issues. Two slow pit stops, one due to a faulty traffic light and another involving a front wheel issue, added to his woes.
Gasly claimed Alpine’s first points of the season with a solid seventh place. Esteban Ocon delivered an impressive comeback drive from 15th to eighth in the Haas after a heavy crash in qualifying. Rookie Oliver Bearman secured another point for Haas in 10th, finishing just behind Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda.
