Coming home a comfortable 15 seconds ahead of George Russell and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri made his bid for championship glory known in Bahrain, winning from pole in a faultless display of driving prowess.
Under pressure by the well-starting Mercedes of George Russell heading into turn 1, Piastri held his nerve and forged ahead, breaking DRS by the second lap. Pitting on lap 15 for mediums, Piastri briefly handed first place to Charles Leclerc but was back in front after both Ferrari cars pitted. With debris strewn across the track, the 24-year-old didn’t let the pressure of a late safety car get to him. Timing the restart to perfection, Piastri maintained his lead from there on out, finishing where he started.
After a disappointing third place last time out in Japan, the Aussie favourite was looking to make amends in Bahrain. Speaking to Liberty Media before proceedings got underway on Thursday, Piastri stressed how important qualifying was in Suzuka, saying it was the key to winning. “You needed a very big pace advantage to overtake,” he said.
And he more than made up for it in Bahrain. Getting off to a rocky start in FP1, Piastri found his form soon after, topping FP2 and FP3. The red-hot favourite heading into qualifying, Piastri didn’t disappoint one bit, putting his MCL39 on pole for the second time this season.
Speaking to Liberty Media once again after the race, Piastri said he was “proud” of himself for “putting a good weekend together.”
“It’s been a great weekend, starting with qualifying. That was a really nice performance.”
Sitting just four points behind his teammate in the standings after four races, Piastri has made his presence known.
Lando Norris, however, didn’t have the best of weekends in Bahrain, finishing third after a hard fought Grand Prix. With a consistently fast teammate breathing down his neck, the championship leader is starting to feel the pressure. Qualifying a lowly 6th, Norris didn’t have an answer for Piastri’s face. Creeping a little too far out of his grid box, Norris was slapped with a five-second time penalty.
Before ducking into the pits to serve his penalty, Norris had made up three places, muscling other cars out of the way. Setting off after the leaders, Norris was thrown a life-line when the safety car came out on lap 32, bunching up the field and increasing his chances of finishing on the podium. Norris wasted no time, mounting a challenge to Leclerc and Hamilton on the restart.
Exceeding track limits to overtake Hamilton, Norris had to hand the 4th place back to the seven-time champ. Eventually passed Leclerc for 3rd, but not without a little struggle. Shown the black and white flag for exceeding track limits three times, Norris had to reign it in for his attack on George Russell in second place. A transponder issue on Russell’s Mercedes wasn’t enough to wrench second place from his compatriot.
A deflated Norris couldn’t hide his disappointment, saying that he “wasn’t happy” with the result in his post-race interview with Liberty Media. Norris said he made his life “too difficult” at the start with his grid box infringement.
Getting a good haul of points despite his many woes, Norris keeps his championship alive for now, four points clear of a hard charging Oscar Piastri.
Despite finishing in 15th, Alpine rookie Jack Doohan had a lot to smile about this Grand Prix. Sitting in 9th before the untimely safety car on lap 32, Doohan simply lucked out. With cars behind him on fresher compounds, Doohan was a sitting duck. While Doohan did finish the race in 13th, a track limits violation saw him end up in 15th. Missing out on Q3 by the slimmest of margins, Doohan lined up 11th for the race on Sunday.
One week on from his horrifying crash in Japan, Doohan looked to be in high spirits in Bahrain. With mounting pressure and an ever growing cloud over his career, the Aussie has no room for error. Sitting out the first practice session for a rookie driver despite being one himself, Doohan said the swap was planned before testing. With the entire ordeal out of his control, Doohan said he had to “suck it up and push on.”
Doohan called the timing of the safety car “unfortunate.” With six cars behind him on brand new soft tires, the 22-year-old said he had to “push quite hard to stay in front.” But once one of them got by, they all came through.
