Oscar Piastri completed a flawless victory as George Russell held off Lando Norris for second at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Piastri led from lights to flag to finish 15 seconds clear of Mercedes’ Russell, despite having had a seven-second lead erased midway through a frenetic race by a Safety Car period.
Norris, whose advantage over his team-mate Piastri at the top of the world championship was reduced to three points, passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the closing stages to claim a podium after a hugely eventful evening from sixth on the grid.
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In a tense final lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix, George Russell and Lando Norris battle it out for P2, with Oscar Piastri comfortably out in front.
A first win for the Bahrain-owned McLaren at their ‘second home race’ could still become a one-two, with Russell facing a post-race investigation for a DRS infringement as several technical elements on his car appeared to fail during the closing laps.
Leclerc paid the price for a poor start from second on the grid as he was left to settle for fourth, but his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a more positive afternoon as he gained four positions to claim fifth.
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Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda are left frustrated after losing valuable seconds in the pit lane.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen ended a highly frustrating afternoon, which included two rare slow Red Bull pit stops, on a positive note as he passed Alpine’s Pierre Gasly for sixth on the final lap.
Verstappen’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda scored his first points for the team in ninth, finishing between Haas duo Esteban Ocon (P8) and Oliver Bearman (P10), who delivered a remarkable result for the team by gaining 16 places between them.
Piastri cruises as Norris toils
Sunday’s race was in keeping with the way much of the weekend had gone, with Australian Piastri appearing to effortlessly extract performance out of his McLaren while Norris struggled.
The reigning constructors’ champions had gone into qualifying with just about the entire paddock expecting them to cruise to a one-two, but Norris bungled his final flying lap to fall to sixth on the grid as Piastri calmly delivered pole.
In the race, Piastri once more did exactly what was expected of him, holding off Russell’s attempt to pass around the outside at the first corner before gradually opening up an advantage out front.
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Lando Norris is given a five-second penalty at the Bahrain Grand Prix, having been ‘out of position’ at the start line.
The gap had grown to seven seconds after the first round of pit stops when a Safety Car was sent out on lap 32 to allow debris to be cleared from the track, which triggered the leaders to make their second pit stops slightly earlier than planned.
That suited McLaren, who at this point were the only team among the front-runners with another available fresh set of the most performant medium tyre, while Russell was forced to see out the final 25 circuits on a fading soft tyre.
Piastri calmly controlled the restart and was in a league of his own on the final stint, comfortably pulling clear to become the first driver to secure two wins this season and reaffirming his credentials as a world championship contender.
More to follow…
Formula 1 completes its first triple-header of 2025 in Jeddah with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix next weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
