BAHRAIN GP – Oscar Piastri beats George Russell to pole by just over a tenth and a half as Lando Norris slide costs him a chance of pole
Oscar Piastri has beaten George Russell by just over a tenth and a half to take pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The McLaren driver set a 29.841 to put himself ahead of the Mercedes while his teammate Lando Norris could only manage sixth after making a mistake on his final lap.
McLaren went into qualifying looking as if they were the team to beat and throughout qualifying, they topped all three sessions by around a tenth, until that mistake Norris looked to be able to challenge, but most improved by six-tenths on their final runs in Q3 while Norris appeared to lose three thanks to a slide at the start of his final lap.
Despite Norris making that mistake, in Q2 Piastri looked to have a slight edge over his teammate going a tenth faster in the middle part of qualifying. Red Bull had looked to be their main rivals, but Max Verstappen could only manage seventh, six-tenths off the Australian.
Russell had looked to be best of the rest this weekend, but he was expected to be sixth behind both Ferrari and Red Bull. Going into qualifying the team had expected a good result to be within half a second of McLaren, but again it was tight in Q3 with just over half a second between Piastri and teammate Norris.
Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari third going nearly two-tenths behind Russell as he spilt the two Mercedes, after he went almost four hundredths ahead of Kimi Antonelli.
Following qualifying Russell and his teammate Antonelli were given one place grid penalties after they were sent out during the red flag caused by Esteban Ocon in Q2 to sit at the end of the pit lane before a restart was announced. Ocon crashed his Haas after going over the kerb and into a slide between Turns Two and Three.
Piastri said, “I felt confident all weekend. Qualifying, the others were a little closer than we wanted but got the lap time when it mattered. Can’t thank the team enough for the car they’ve given me.”
Russell added “If anyone had said we’d have been within 0.5secs of the McLarens we’d have taken it. To be second is a bonus and excited for tomorrow now. It was a really strong Q3. I wasn’t really feeling it through qualifying, didn’t have the confidence in myself. I don’t know why that was. Q1 and Q2 was a real challenge.”
Norris’s error on his final lap as the times ramped up, left him four-tenths behind Piastri down in sixth as he out-qualified Verstappen, who he leads by one point in the championship, by a tenth and a half. The Englishman looking unable to explain the big drop in pace, which allowed Antonelli and Gasly to go faster on their final attempts.
Gasly looked to be the biggest surprise with a “very special lap,” which saw him three and three-quarters of a tenth off pole, a good effort by Alpine who are last in the constructors.
Verstappen continues to struggle with both braking and grip which has been a common complaint by the four-time champion since the middle part of 2024. Red Bull clearly continuing to struggle with braking and grip, which six weeks ago looked to make the Dutchman look nervous during testing.
He said, “I was just slow. I have been slow this whole weekend, to be honest. Nothing too surprising. I have just been off it. The car is amazing. I have nothing to complain about, the team are doing an amazing job but I am just letting them down.”
Ferrari also looked to have a similar situation to McLaren, while Leclerc said they had resolved the ‘extreme’ set-up direction which had made the car “very tricky to drive but it seems like I am quicker.” Hamilton also puzzled by why he was six-tenths off his teammate Leclerc.
In a championship where its shaping up to be every point and lap counts this could already be a key moment in the season. After five qualifying’s this season while McLaren is still looking to be the fastest, but there appears to be little room for mistakes.
Carlos Sainz counited Williams strong start to the season going eighth, he was almost a quarter of a second behind Verstappen in his best qualifying of the season he went nearly a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton. Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten, the Red Bull going half a second behind the top ten.
Like his fellow countryman, Hamilton was equally puzzled by his lack of pace in Q3 saying “Our car is clearly a lot better than what I am delivering with it. Charles did a great job with it today. So big apologies to the team for not doing the job.”
Jack Doohan put his Alpine eleventh, for the first time in his career, he missed out on the final part of qualifying by eighteen-hundredths of a second. The Australian went a quarter of a tenth ahead of the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar. He shone throughout the session, and at one stage in Q1, he was as high as fifth.
Fernando Alonso was thirteenth the last driver to set a time in Q3 six tenths behind the Frenchman. Esteban Ocon was looking to be a contender for Q3 but crashed his Haas at Turn Two. The Frenchman took too much kerb on the exit of turn two which sent him spinning across the track and front first into the barrier, bringing out the red flag. Alex Albon was the other driver not to set a time.
Nico Hulkenberg just made it through to the second part of qualifying, before his fastest lap was deleted after the chequered flag which left him nearly three hundredths behind the Williams at the end of Q1. Hulkenberg was just under a tenth ahead of Liam Lawson who put himself between the Sauber’s, as he went two hundredths ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.
Lance Stroll was nineteenth going nine hundredths ahead of Ollie Bearman.
Related
- BAHRAIN GP – Oscar Piastri leads a McLaren one-two by six and a half tenths in third practice
- BAHRAIN GP – Oscar Piastri leads a McLaren one-two going a tenth and a half ahead of teammate Lando Norris in second practice
- BAHRAIN GP – Lando Norris fastest by two tenths in first practice from Pierre Gasly, as rookies step up
- Welcome to the Bahrain Grand Prix
- PRIXVIEW – Bahrain Grand Prix