Damon Hill uses just one word to describe Oscar Piastri’s dominant Bahrain Grand Prix win

Oscar Piastri took a dominant win in the Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris on track.

The McLaren driver finished 15 seconds ahead of Russell, who faced a myriad of problems in his Mercedes in the closing stages of the race relating to his electronics.

Piastri’s lead was only under threat once out in front following a mid-race Safety Car, when Russell closed in down the start/finish straight.

The Australian managed to fend him off and eventually stabled the gap, while Russell then had to deal with the problems that put him under pressure from Lando Norris.

Reacting to his win on Instagram Stories, 1996 world champion Damon Hill used just one word to describe Piastri’s race.

Damon Hill brands Oscar Piastri Bahrain domination ‘statement’ victory

Piastri led the race from lights to flag, which makes it the fourth race in a row that the driver who has started from pole has won the race.

His win was never really in doubt due to how far back Norris started in P6 and while the Briton managed to make up three positions on the opening lap, he was later issued a time penalty for being out of position on the grid.

The time penalty prevented Norris from progressing past Russell, and gave Piastri some breathing space before the Safety Car. Having managed the restart well, Piastri cruised across the line to take McLaren’s first victory in Bahrain.

Hill branded his win with just a one-word reaction on social media: “Statement.”

Oscar Piastri closes in on Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship

Piastri’s victory means that he now closes in on Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, who at one point looked like he would finish in P4 after being passed by Charles Leclerc early in the race.

The win for Piastri now puts him to within three points of Norris in the championship, with Max Verstappen dropping back to third after a nightmare race in which he only finished in P6.

Piastri is now on 74 points with Norris on 77 points, although that could be even larger pending the outcome of a post-race investigation for Russell.

Russell was being put under investigation for unauthorised use of the DRS, having reverted to a manual system amid his technical glitches.