F1 Bahrain GP: Piastri takes serene win as Norris falters

Oscar Piastri dominated Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix, with Mercedes driver George Russell beating Lando Norris to deny McLaren a 1-2.

Piastri cruised to his second season victory by 15 seconds, closing in the drivers’ championship to within three points of Norris while Max Verstappen could only manage sixth.

The cooler conditions invited most cars to start on soft tyres for an expected two-stopper, with Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton the most notable medium starters. Piastri made a good getaway from pole and led the early running while Russell passed Leclerc for second, reclaiming the position he lost with a grid penalty on Saturday.

Norris made an even better start and blitzed from sixth to third, although it soon became apparent the McLaren man had been outside his grid slot, which netted him a five second penalty. He attempted to pass Russell on the first stint but to no avail, with Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotting in behind.

From seventh Verstappen initially failed to make much progress, but he soon followed Antonelli past a struggling Sainz, as did Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda behind them.

With his five-second penalty in mind Norris boxed early on lap 11 to bolt on mediums, serving his penalty during the stop. The powerful undercut allowed him to stay in the hunt up front and he soon shot past Gasly once more.

Verstappen, meanwhile, did not have new sets of mediums available like his direct competitors and was forced to take the less performant hards on his lap 11 stop, with the Dutchman quickly reporting the compound had no grip. It was apparent on the timesheets too, with Verstappen dropped by Haas driver Esteban Ocon before being passed by Antonelli and Hamilton, falling to ninth.

By that stage Russell had pitted for mediums on lap 13, neatly covered off by leader Piastri on the following tour. All eyes were then on the Ferraris as they attempted to make their start on mediums count, but both Leclerc and Hamilton already curtailed their first stint after 17 laps, despite Leclerc protesting against it.

Leclerc did use his fresher tyres to put pressure on Norris ahead and passed the intrinsically faster McLaren on lap 24, while team-mate Hamilton also found some pace to pass Ocon for sixth. As they approached the halfway mark Piastri easily controlled the race with a six-second gap to Russell, Leclerc and Norris. Gasly held firm in fifth with Hamilton approaching.

After 27 laps – and just 16 laps on the hards – Verstappen had seen enough and stopped again for a used set of mediums, desperate to get off the harder compound that proved the wrong tyre for Sunday evening’s cooler track conditions. Verstappen was further hampered by two slow pitstops, with a sluggish front-right tyre change tumbling him down the order.

On lap 33 the cards were reshuffled when the safety car came out for debris in Turn 3, caused by pieces of Sainz’s floor shearing off after contact with Tsunoda.

The convenient timing prompted most runners to make their second and last pitstop, with leader Piastri grabbing another fresh set of mediums that were to see him through to the finish. Ocon and Doohan, who had just pitted for hards, stayed out, as did Ocon and Verstappen. Mercedes bolted soft tyres on the cars of Russell and Antonelli, which the former called “audacious”.

At the restart Piastri led Russell, Leclerc, Norris, and Hamilton. Gasly was sixth with a slight tyre disadvantage, as was Ocon. Verstappen took the restart in eighth.

On the lap 34 restart Piastri held station ahead of Russell and Leclerc, while Hamilton passed Norris for fourth. Norris retaliated but went off the track, deciding to cede the position to Hamilton to avoid another penalty.

Realising the job he had on his hands to bring the car home, Russell was forced into looking after his more brittle softs rather than using the grippier compound to put pressure on the imperious Piastri.

As Piastri disappeared into the distance, Russell instead came under threat from behind while he started suffering from electronic glitches, which affected his dashboard and DRS mechanism. Norris was on the front foot with his preferred mediums, passing Hamilton once more and then hounding Leclerc into the final 15 laps, finally getting the job done around the outside of Turn 4 on lap 52.

Norris’ move on Russell for second didn’t come off thanks to stout defending from the Mercedes man, who denied McLaren a 1-2 finish.

Five seconds behind fourth-placed Leclerc Hamilton had a lonely end to the race to fifth, rallying from a tough qualifying session. Gasly bravely held off Verstappen until the Dutchman picked the Alpine off on the final lap, but Verstappen will still be reeling from his sixth place after a reality check for Red Bull.

Ocon did successfully keep a Red Bull at bay – driven by Tsunoda – to claim eighth, with the Frenchman’s team-mate Oliver Bearman securing a double points finish for Haas after holding off Antonelli and Albon.

Sainz was the only retirement after a disastrous afternoon that spiralled out of control due to the damage the Williams man suffered for the Tsunoda contact, and also included a 10-second penalty for forcing Antonelli off the track.

In the drivers’ championship Norris safeguarded his lead, but saw Piastri close to within three points as he jumped Verstappen for second. Verstappen now trails Norris by 10 points, with Russell heading to next week’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 14 units behind.

Bahrain GP results

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Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		57	–			2	25		McLaren	Mercedes
2	G. RussellMercedes	63		57	+15.499 15.499	15.499		2	18		Mercedes	Mercedes
3	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		57	+16.273 16.273	0.774		2	15		McLaren	Mercedes
4	C. LeclercFerrari	16		57	+19.679 19.679	3.406		2	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		57	+27.993 27.993	8.314		2	10		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		57	+34.395 34.395	6.402		2	8		Red Bull	Red Bull
7	P. GaslyAlpine	10		57	+36.002 36.002	1.607		2	6		Alpine	Renault
8	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		57	+44.244 44.244	8.242		2	4		Haas	Ferrari
9	Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing	22		57	+45.061 45.061	0.817		2	2		Red Bull	Red Bull
10	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		57	+47.594 47.594	2.533		2	1		Haas	Ferrari
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