The 2025 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix served up action and some great performances up and down the field last weekend.
One man made his title credentials clear, and another rose above technical gremlins to deliver a key result for his team.
Car pace, strategy calls, and more affected each driver’s performance at the Bahrain International Circuit last weekend.
Who fared well and who had a weekend to forget?
F1 2025 Bahrain GP – Qualifying Results
F1 2025 Bahrain GP – Race Results
Oscar Piastri – 10
Qualified: P1, Race Result: P1
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was faultless in Bahrain. The difficult but devastatingly quick MCL39 was a weapon in the Australian’s hands as he delivered on the team’s potential to clinch pole position. On race day, Piastri drove a lonely race as he coolly engineered an untroubled victory. After disappointment at the season-opener in his home race, Piastri has gone on to win two in three and only trails team-mate Lando Norris by three points in the Drivers’ standings. The Australian looks like a strong candidate to win the title.
Lando Norris – 6.5
Qualified: P6, Race Result: P3
As Piastri and the MCL39 have gelled, Norris just can’t get to grips with the new McLaren challenger. It is undoubtedly the best car in the field, and Norris admitted he was “clueless” after qualifying just sixth last weekend. Issues aside, with your team-mate five places up the grid on pole, sixth isn’t good enough. Norris made amends with a strong start to launch himself from sixth to third at lights out, but he was out of his grid box. He later absorbed the five-second penalty to remain in the podium hunt, but took several laps too long to dispatch Charles Leclerc to claim third. Then, more misjudgment meant he was unable to overcome second-placed George Russell. It was a semi-decent recovery after a disappointing qualifying, but Norris must get to grips with his car before his team-mate goes on a run of wins.
George Russell – 10
Qualified: P2, Race Result: P2
With all the talk being McLaren would have a huge advantage in Bahrain, Russell qualifying second and within two-tenths of Piastri was a significantly strong showing. A one-place grid drop hampered Russell only slightly as a strong start saw him reclaim second by the time he reached Turn 1. Russell was comfortably keeping a hold of second until technical issues plagued his steering wheel dash, switches and buttons in the closing 20 laps. Russell overcame these issues and nursed Soft tyres over 24 laps after a Safety Car bunched up the pack to fend off Norris’ advances and claim a strong second-place finish. Toto Wolff called it an “unbelievable” performance. Russell has been McLaren’s most consistent challenger and is only 14 points off of the top of the Drivers’ standings. Another win is surely coming his way this season.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli – 7
Qualified: P4, Race Result: P11
There’s no question that Andrea Kimi Antonelli is making an impressive mark in F1, and race by race, the teenager is learning and developing. The young Italian put in another strong performance in qualifying to be inside the top four, demoted one place with a post-qualifying penalty. In contention for a top-five finish, the Italian pushed his tyres too hard throughout his opening two stints and that prompted Mercedes to put the youngster onto a three-stop strategy. The third stop eventually came under a Safety Car, and Antonelli lost track position, falling out of the top-10 and was unable to make his way back into the points, helped by being run wide at Turn 10 by Carlos Sainz at the restart. More lessons learned and more knowledge gained.
Charles Leclerc – 8
Qualified: P3, Race Result: P4
Charles Leclerc once again wrung the most out of the Ferrari package as possible in Bahrain. A surprise third in qualifying, the Monegasque was promoted to the front row following Russell’s penalty. The position was lost at lights out amid Russell’s strong start and perhaps, Ferrari opting to start on the Hard tyre. This strategy gave Leclerc a handy offset in the middle stint to those around him, but the Safety Car curtailed his podium charge. A closing stint on Hards with rivals on softer compounds around him meant Leclerc was unable to resist Norris’ late-race advances.
Lewis Hamilton – 6.5
Qualified: P9, Race Result: P5
Lewis Hamilton’s Bahrain GP mirrored Norris’. Hamilton is struggling to gel with his new Italian Stallion, and his qualifying woe in Bahrain was extensive, six-tenths slower than Leclerc and down in ninth. Reminiscent of his 2024 struggles with Mercedes, one-lap pace seems ot have deserted F1’s record polesitter. However, race pace hasn’t left Hamilton, and he had a strong showing last Sunday in Bahrain. Similar to Leclerc, Hamilton made progress thanks to Ferrari’s initial strategy to start on the Hard tyre, enjoying a healthy tyre offset in the middle stint. The Safety Car stoppage made things harder, and Hamilton had to relinquish fourth to Norris. Post-race, Hamilton felt as if he had turned a corner with the Ferrari SF-25, let’s see if Jeddah proves him right.
Max Verstappen – 8
Qualified: P7, Race Result: P6
Red Bull had a drastic reality check in Bahrain after winning the previous round in Japan. Max Verstappen simply had to make do with the sub-standard tools available to him. Tyre deg issues, brake problems, through corner balance, pit-stop errors. Verstappen had everything thrown at him. Seventh in qualifying and a dash to poach Pierre Gasly at the line to sixth was about the best Verstappen could do in Bahrain. A race to forget for the reigning champion.
Yuki Tsunoda – 7.5
Qualified: P10, Race Result: P9
Yuki Tsunoda has already started to fulfill his mandate in Red Bull’s second seat. Saddled with similar issues as Verstappen, but without the experience of the Red Bull set-up, Tsunoda advanced to Q3 in Bahrain, just his second qualifying session with the team. The Japanese driver also persevered in a feisty, frantic midfield battle to come away with points in ninth place in the race. With the team having well-documented troubles with the RB21, Tsunoda’s result shows there’s hope he can help Red Bull out of its rut.
Pierre Gasly – 9
Qualified: P5, Race Result: P7
Alpine arrived in Bahrain without having scored a point. This was a surprise based on where the team finished the 2024 campaign and the promise shown in pre-season testing. It became clear that the team had a strong package in Sakhir and Gasly utilised it strongly to qualify a sensational fifth, just a few tenths off of pole. Promoted one place due to the grid penalties dished out to Mercedes, Gasly was fighting with F1’s big boys throughout the race. He was always going to lose out to some of the faster guys behind, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, etc, but coming away with seventh was an incredible result.
Jack Doohan – 6
Qualified: P11, Race Result: P15
Jack Doohan is steadily improving, but his hunt for points continues. The Australian was a whisker away from getting into Q3, but six-tenths back from his team-mate Gasly, who advanced to the top-10 qualifying shootout. Doohan was performing admirably in the race, fighting in ninth place. The Safety Car coming out shortly after his stop for Hard tyres hampered his points-scoring attempt as rivals switched to softer compounds and Doohan was unable to hold on. A time penalty for multiple track limits violations late on shows there’s room for improvement.
Esteban Ocon – 8
Qualified: P14, Race Result: P8
Esteban Ocon’s crash during Q2 in qualifying, where he grabbed too much kerb on the exit of Turn 2, was an error that led to a big shunt. A mark on his scorecard was lost there. However, Ocon made amends in the race. Starting on the Softs, Ocon made two places at the start, and Haas went aggressive on strategy, which paid off massively. Stopping on Lap 8, Ocon undercut several rivals and found himself in seventh when the Safety Car was called. Haas elected to hold track position, and after Verstappen made his way through, Ocon held onto eighth place to take some strong points.
Oliver Bearman – 8
Qualified: P20, Race Result: P10
Much like Ocon, Oliver Bearman’s Saturday was disappointing, and he started the Bahrain GP dead last. The Briton made amends almost instantly with a barnstorming opening lap that saw him rise to 14th in the early stages. A differing strategy from Ocon saw Bearman pit for Softs under the Safety Car. The teenager took the restart in 12th and executed passes to break into the top-10 and complete a weekend turnaround.
Alex Albon – 7
Qualified: P15, Race Result: P12
Alex Albon bemoaned Williams’ call to make a late run in Q1 as he initially qualified in P16. A late Nico Hulkenberg lap deletion qualified Albon in 15th. Albon made progress on race day and was fighting his way towards the points. The Anglo-Thai driver was caught in a DRS train towards the end and fell just over a second shy of picking up points. After an incredible start to the season, Bahrain was a step back.
Carlos Sainz – 7
Qualified: P8, Race Result: DNF
Carlos Sainz looked like he turned a corner with Williams in Bahrain, putting in a team-leading effort to qualify in the top-10. Like Albon, the Spaniard was scrapping throughout and a tangle with Tsunoda’s Red Bull saw a likely points finish unravel. A hole in his FW47’s sidepod contributed to a massive performance loss, and an overzealous move on Antonelli at the restart landed Sainz a 10-second time penalty. With the damage to his car too much to continue, Sainz served his penalty, and then his most-promising Williams weekend to date ended in a DNF.
Isack Hadjar – 6
Qualified: P12, Race Result: P13
Racing Bulls lost a step in Bahrain, and Isack Hadjar found himself exiting qualifying in Q2 as a result. A poor start cost him four places from the outset, and from there, points were going to be hard to come by. The Safety Car intervention made it hard for Hadjar to recover his lost ground due to a final stint on Hard tyres, and no points was the result.
Liam Lawson – 5
Qualified: P17, Race Result: P16
Luck and circumstance aren’t falling Liam Lawson’s way and he’s still yet, albeit only two rounds back with Racing Bulls, to get onto the level of his team-mate. A DRS malfunction hampered the New Zealander’s qualifying efforts and relegated him to yet another Q1 exit. Lawson progressed just one position higher on race day and will need to pick things up in Bahrain.
Fernando Alonso – 6
Qualified: P13, Race Result: P15
With Aston Martin’s pace as worrisome as ever, it’s becoming increasingly hard to gauge Fernando Alonso’s results. Is he pushing things beyond the maximum or simply biding his time for better things in 2026? Still, Alonso had the measure over his team-mate Lance Stroll in Bahrain, despite giving up his car in FP1 to Felipe Drugovich and his steering wheel coming off mid-FP2.
Lance Stroll – 5
Qualified: P19, Race Result: P17
Lance Stroll’s untimely Q1 exit was plagued by an incorrect ride height set-up, according to Aston Martin Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack. Like Alonso, there was little Stroll could do in Bahrain with an uncompetitive AMR25.
Nico Hulkenberg – 6.5
Qualified: P16, Race Result: DSQ
Nico Hulkenberg initially qualified 13th in Q2, a stunning effort in the worst-of-the-grid Sauber, but a late lap deletion from his Q1 efforts saw his qualifying result drop down a few pegs to 16th. Still, a sound drive saw Hulkenberg take the chequered flag in 15th before illegal plank wear disqualified him from the result entirely.
Gabriel Bortoleto – 5
Qualified: P18, Race Result: P18
Gabriel Bortoleto didn’t have the pace to match his team-mate in Bahrain, and having the worst car of the field rendered his weekend fruitless. It’s always going to be a struggle for the young Brazilian and unless he pulls off heroics, finishing down the bottom of the order is going to be the likely outcome.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri converts pole to take assured F1 Bahrain GP victory
