McLaren‘s Oscar Piastri was cool, calm and collected as he clinched victory from pole position at the 2025 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ George Russell combated late-race technical gremlins to clinch second as Piastri’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris recovered from qualifying disappointment to take third.
Piastri had been the frontrunning man all weekend and lined up on pole position at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Lining up alongside him was Ferrari’s Leclerc, who inherited a front row spot following Russell’s one-place grid penalty.
The same penalty for Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli meant Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was poised to pick up his team’s first points of the year from fourth.
So where was Norris?
Well, admitting he was “clueless” with the MCL39, the Briton was starting from sixth after a disappointing qualifying performance, giving himself work to do to challenge his pole-sitting team-mate.
Russell envisaged Norris would be one to watch, saying pre-race, “Lando will be the interesting one – I’m confident he is going to come back through and be in our race at some point.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown added, “A 1-2 is the plan, but we will have to execute well. It’s going to be a fun race.”
Unlike Japan last time out, Bahrain’s abrasive circuit, hot temperatures and multiple DRS zones set the stage for some overtaking and movement in the pecking order.
Track temperatures started off at 32.6 degrees and dropping with five drivers opting to start on the Medium tyre: Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton (starting ninth), Fernando Alonso (starting 13th), Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto (starting 17th and 18th).
The rest of the field set out on the Soft Pirellis.
Lights out in Bahrain – Piastri claims the holeshot
At lights out, Piastri got a solid launch to lead into Turn 1 as Russell surged forward to leap past Leclerc, although he locked up, almost hitting the race leader.
Norris had an incredible start, rising to fourth by Turn 1 and pipping Leclerc for third by the exit of Turn 3.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz was another strong starter, rising to sixth at the expense of Antonelli and Max Verstappen as Hamilton and Yui Tsunoda rounded out the top-10 to complete the first lap of 57.
Norris, circulating in third, had an investigation looming over him as race control noted him for a false start, incorrectly placed beyond his grid box.
Piastri, meanwhile, led Russell comfortably by over a second, free from any DRS attacks.
Down the other end of the top-10, Hamilton complained over the radio that the grip on the Mediums was “poor,” but there was a likelihood Ferrari could enjoy a tyre advantage by switching to Softs when the track got cooler.
In the middle of the top-10, Anotnelli reclaimed some ground, forcing Sainz wide to clinch fifth into Turn 1 on Lap 5, and Verstappen followed suit within half a lap.
Right at the back, Nico Hülkenberg was the first to pit, on Lap 6, putting on the Medium tyre, but such a move was inconsequential to the main picture on Sunday.
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar followed suit a lap later, with backmarkers struggling with deg on the Softs early.
Meanwhile, Piastri stretched his advantage over Russell to over 2.3s, as Leclerc, observed by Gasly close behind, was struggling on the Mediums.
Norris’ penalty was then confirmed by Lap 8, a five-second consequence for his false start and his engineer Will Joseph urged him to clear Russell, adamant the McLaren driver could recover the ground lost from the penalisation.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon was next to shed the Softs, pitting from 12th on Lap 9 as Hamilton danced to the inside of Sainz at Turn 4, only for the Williams driver to retaliate in the exit to hold dearly onto eighth.
The scuffle gave Tsunoda a close watching seat as Hamilton eventually made the move stick at Turn 11 on Sainz, who quickly lost ground to the Japanese Red Bull driver as well.
The front runners make their first stops
Alpine’s Jack Doohan pitting on Lap 10, showed that the window was well and truly open for Soft runners as Antonelli passed the Aussie’s team-mate Gasly at Turn 1 to take fifth.
True enough, Norris, Gasly and Verstappen pit from third, sixth and seventh respectively on Lap 11 as Hamilton was told by Riccardo Adami that those on Softs were starting to suffer.
Norris was able to come out ahead of Gasly despite his penalty, both on the Mediums, Verstappen exited on the Hards, losing some ground to the Alpine as Oliver Bearman’s Haas slot in the way of the Dutchman.
Tsunoda pitted a lap later, opting for new Mediums, and he found himself undercut by Doohan and Hadjar.
Lap 13 saw Antonelli pit for Mediums, and the young Italian came out just behind Verstappen in 15th, a place lost via strategy.
That was enough to prompt Russell to pit on Lap 14, just squeezing out ahead of Norris.
McLaren had to cover off that move with Piastri, who enjoyed a rough four-second margin over Russell before the Mercedes driver stopped a lap earlier.
A routine stop meant Piastri emerged in third with Alex Albon, yet to pit, a handy little buffer between the McLaren and Russell.
The Medium-shod Ferraris inherited the lead at this point, Leclerc leading Hamilton by 9.4s.
Aston Martin’s Alonso, also on Mediums, was of course yet to pit at this stage and circled the track in seventh.
Alonso was the first of that trio to stop, in tandem with the soft-shod Albon on Lap 17, and both returned to action in 17th and 16th respectively, the former on Hards, the latter on another set of Mediums.
Leclerc was then told, much to his anguish, to pit for another set of Mediums on Lap 18 and Ferrari double-stacked, giving Hamilton the same treatment.
The decision dropped them to fifth and 11th respectively as Verstappen, running in seventh on the Hards, complained of “no grip.”
Into the middle phase
With everyone having pit, Piastri was reinstated as leader, 3.1s ahead of Russell, who led Norris by two seconds.
Leclerc and Hamilton both made ground on Lap 19, rising to fourth and 10th respectively at the expense of Gasly and Tsunoda.
Ocon found himself running in sixth, having gained a huge chunk of track position with a hefty undercut with Verstappen, Antonelli and Doohan occupying seventh through ninth.
A tussle through Turns 4 to 6 saw Antonelli pip Verstappen to take seventh in style.
In this phase of the race, the Ferraris were the fastest on track with their fresher Mediums and Hamilton pipped Doohan for ninth at Turn 1 on Lap 22, with Verstappen his next target.
DRS down to Turn 11 made that light work for Hamilton, rising to eighth ahead of his old title rival.
“I can’t even brake anymore, it’s just ridiculous,” Verstappen exclaimed.
Leclerc, meanwhile, edged ever closer to DRS range of third-place man Norris.
The Monegasque made his move into Turn 1 on Lap 24, but Norris retaliated through Turn 2 to hold onto third for the time being.
The top two, Piastri and Russell, were enjoying a lonely middle stint, each with a plus-five-second margin on the driver behind.
Lap 25 saw both Ferraris make moves in unison, Leclerc on Norris at Turn 4, Hamilton on Antonelli at Turn 1, rising to third and seventh respectively.
Hamilton wasn’t seventh for long, making the same move on Ocon a lap later to take sixth.
Verstappen gave up on his Hards on Lap 27, pitting from ninth, but his right front got stuck and he returned to the action in dead last.
Ocon and Antonelli pit next, along with Hulkenberg, and it became clear the second pit-stop window had swung open.
Antonelli’s stop was for Softs, hinting he may move to a three-stop strategy, but his race was compromised as he emerged into heavy traffic.
The Alpines double-stacked for Hards on Lap 29, seeking a long stint to see out the race.
Out front, Piastri enjoyed a 6.8s lead as Russell had fallen into the clutches of Leclerc, who had Norris in tow.
The Safety Car intervenes
Lap 33 saw a pivotal moment come into play as the Safety Car was deployed with debris on track, caused by Sainz and Tsunoda scuffling at Turn 2.
Piastri lucked into trundling into pit lane as the caution came into play.
The race leader was followed by Russell, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton.
The McLarens took Mediums, Russell used Softs, and the Ferraris took Hards as several more drivers pitted, some for the second time in just a few laps, such as Antonelli, who took on another set of Softs.
Verstappen elected to stay out, gaining track position to eighth.
With the race neutralised, Piastri led from Russell, feeling it was audacious to complete his race on Softs.
Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton rounded out the top five as Gasly, Ocon, Verstappen, Doohan, and Sainz rounded out the top-10.
Race Control called the Safety Car in at the end of Lap 35, and Russell clung to Piastri’s rear right wheel down towards the final corner, at which point the Aussie pulled the pin.
Piastri held onto the lead as Hamilton swung past Norris to take fourth, only for the McLaren to reclaim the position at Turn 4, but the Ferrari man complained he was overtaken by his rival going beyond track limits.
Norris was duly instructed to give back the position and did so on Lap 37.
It only took Norris a lap to get the position back at Turn 4, but he was now five seconds off of the leader.
Piastri was enjoying being the lead man, eking out a 1.5s margin over Russell.
“This tyre sucks,” exclaimed Hamilton, blasting the Hard Compound as he lost ground on Norris.
An almighty scrap was going on for the final point as Tsunoda fought tooth and nail to hold onto 10th from Oliver Bearman on Lap 39.
This was a battle Antonelli found himself in, having been forced wide on the restart at Turn 10 by Sainz (which yielded a 10-second penalty), and the Italian made his way through Albon to take 12th.
The next few laps saw the front runners fairly stagnant until Norris drew into DRS range of Leclerc on Lap 44, but at this stage, he was unable to make a move.
Leclerc was due to get a helping hand as he closed on second-place man Russell.
Norris tried his move on Lap 46, but locked up into Turn 1, which gave Leclerc some momentary breathing room.
Sainz’s day ended at this point as Williams instructed him to retire his FW47, which had a big hole in the sidepod, reportedly from contact with Tsunoda.
Piastri gets the job done in Bahrain
With 10 laps to go, Piastri’s lead was 4.9s over Russell, who had a 1.6s buffer to the Leclerc/Norris duo as Hamilton started to endure a period of loneliness in fifth.
Norris tried another nibble on Leclerc at Turn 4 on Lap 49, but the Ferrari driver kept the McLaren at bay once more.
The McLaren driver finally got the move done around the outside of Turn 4 on Lap 52 as Russell started experiencing technical issues, from accidentally opening his DRS, complaining of gear issues and having the threat of his dash going off.
The accidental DRS opening meant Russell would be investigated post-race, but his immediate worry was Norris closing in.
Norris tried a move at Turn 1 on the final lap, but he wasn’t able to get the overtake done.
There were no such issues for Piastri though, he took an assured victory from pole position.
Russell crossed the line in second as Norris completed the podium with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton completing the top five.
Verstappen pipped Gasly to sixth at the line, but the Frenchman still picked up Alpine’s first points of 2025.
It was a great effort by Haas with Ocon and Bearman scoring points in eighth and 10th, respectively.
Meanwhile, Tsunoda picked up his first points for Red Bull in ninth.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri takes pole position in Bahrain as Lando Norris flounders
