McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took pole position for the 2025 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of George Russell and Charles Leclerc as Lando Norris made a costly mistake in the final moments of the session.
McLaren headed into the sessions that would determine the starting grid under the lights tipped as the team to beat having managed a clean sweep through practice.
However, Nico Hulkenberg was bound to be among the drivers on the back foot as the Sauber slowing to a halt in anti-stall mode during FP3 curtailed his programme.
The Aston Martin pair had also been struggling and accompanied Hulkenberg on track in the opening exchanges, Fernando Alonso heading that trio with a 1:32.362s.
Lance Stroll had gone slower than both his team-mate and Hulkenberg and that lap time was deleted as he was deemed to have violated track limits down at Turn 13.
Alonso’s run stood as the benchmark time over six minutes into Q1, but Max Verstappen was on course to eclipse it until he locked up and ran wide at the last corner.
Yuki Tsunoda in the second RB21 at least completed his run to leave a Red Bull on top, though Jack Doohan then propped up two-tenths quicker in the leading Alpine.
Lewis Hamilton was unable to beat Doohan’s time, but Leclerc in the sister Ferrari did to move top until the McLaren drivers slotted into first and second places again.
Unlike in FP3, Norris boasted an advantage over Piastri, a 1:31.107s to place him almost three tenths clear, with Charles Leclerc less than a tenth behind the second McLaren.
Red Bull surprise Q1 scare
The drop zone as the last laps approached contained Stroll, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and both Red Bull drivers, Tsunoda having had his previous lap invalidated.
Verstappen escaped danger with a measured lap to sit third on the timesheets, behind Norris and Hamilton, who managed a sizeable improvement on his second run.
Likewise, Tsunoda also got through, albeit as low as 14th place. But that was enough to condemn Alex Albon to a shock elimination as Carlos Sainz out-qualified him.
Alongside Albon, Liam Lawson exited in the Racing Bulls as his troubled beginning to this season continued. Bortoleto, Stroll and Oliver Bearman also didn’t progress.
Ocon crashes prompts stoppage
Having survived a late scare, it was unsurprising that Red Bull chose to send Tsunoda out as Q2 began, but his run was brought to a halt when Esteban Ocon crashed.
The Frenchman had planted the throttle to begin the ascent towards Turn 4 when he lost his Haas and spun into the barrier, causing substantial damage to the VF-25.
An eight-minute stoppage disrupted proceedings and, with no lap times on the board prior to Ocon’s incident, there was a queue in the pit lane awaiting a resumption.
The Mercedes drivers laid down the opening Q2 laps and it was Andrea Kimi Antonelli who had a two-tenth gap over Russell, who was then demoted to third as Sainz split the two.
Once again, though, McLaren’s pace came through as Norris and then Piastri went quickest, one tenth separating the duo, as Leclerc then placed his Ferrari into third.
Hamilton was teetering on the brink in 10th place without a time to his name; Verstappen and Tsunoda in the Red Bull cars were in a similar position in the drop zone.
Verstappen’s run was good enough to go seventh, behind Hamilton in sixth, while Tsunoda wound up ninth and was under threat as Sainz improved to progress to Q2.
But Doohan ended up 0.017s short to ensure Tsunoda made Q3 on his second Red Bull outing. The Australian exited along with Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Ocon.
But Hulkenberg saw his Q1 lap-time deleted well after Q2 concluded, demoting him to 16th and promoting Albon to 15th.
Piastri on pole
Verstappen was frustrated as he embarked on a run in Q3, complaining about his brakes as his competitors fought for provisional pole in the top-10 shootout.
It was Piastri who took provisional pole with a 1:30.233s lap time as Russell split him and McLaren team-mate Norris.
Russell pushed the pace further with his second attempt to 1:30.009s to snatch top spot, ahead of the McLarens making their final runs.
Piastri did the job to take pole with an assured performance, but Norris couldn’t do the same and failed to hook things up on his final attempt, slipping to sixth.
Wheelspin at Turn 1 proved costly for the Briton and allowed some surprise names to slip into the higher ecehlons of the timesheet.
So Russell clinched the second front row spot, ahead of Leclerc and Antonelli and an Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who put in a stunning effort to clinch fifth.
Behind sixth-placed Norris was Verstappen and Sainz, with Hamilton and Tsunoda rounding out the top-10.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri sets blistering pace as McLaren clean sweep practice in Bahrain
