Oscar Piastri sends five-word message to George Russell after beating Lando Norris at the Bahrain Grand Prix

The 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship is starting to heat up after a phenomenal Bahrain Grand Prix for McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.

Oscar Piastri dominated the race weekend, taking pole position and then comfortably leading home George Russell and teammate Lando Norris.

McLaren have a significant pace advantage over the rest of the grid but haven’t been able to take full advantage of it this season.

They lost out to Max Verstappen in Japan, and Norris struggled in qualifying, starting from P6 behind both Mercedes drivers, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly.

Norris’ false start was spotted by Max Verstappen, but by the time he served his five-second time penalty, he had already cleared the Dutchman.

The Brit spent the final portion of the race trying to chase down Leclerc and Russell to avoid his teammate putting too much of a dent into his championship advantage.

He eventually overtook Leclerc in the closing stages, but was held off by Russell despite his technological issues.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height

Oscar Piastri jokes with George Russell after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix

Piastri eventually finished the race with a 15.4-second advantage over Russell, who had to use all of his skills to hold off Norris.

The McLaren driver tried an audacious move into the first corner that compromised his exit and prevented him from having another go at overtaking the Silver Arrow.

Russell posted on Instagram after the race and said: “P2 in Bahrain!! Great work team, really great weekend! Congrats to Oscar and Lando on the podium.”

The post contained three photos, including one of the Australian having his picture taken elsewhere in the cooldown room, to which Piastri replied: “Didn’t spot the secret snapper.”

Russell is doing a fantastic job maximising every result possible this season.

While that might not be enough to make him a candidate to win the championship, it’s doing Mercedes no harm in the constructors’ standings after Andrea Kimi Antonelli missed out on points for the first time.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

George Russell reveals the extent of his issues during the Bahrain Grand Prix

Asked in his official pre-race interview what was going wrong with the W16, Russell explained: “It felt under control and then suddenly we had a brake-valve wire failure.

“Suddenly, the pedal was going long, then it was going short, I didn’t know what was going on.

“The steering wheel wasn’t working properly, so it was hard to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap and he would have got me very comfortably. But nevertheless, really pleased with P2.

“We basically were having all sorts of failures, and we did an override on DRS, and on one lap I clicked the radio button, and the DRS opened, straight away closed it again and backed off.

“Nothing to gain, I lost more than I gained. It was only open for a split second. Kind of goes to show the kind of issues we were having, but really pleased with P2.”

Russell described Piastri as being in a ‘league of his own’ after the race, such was the advantage he carved out at the beginning of the Grand Prix, and after the safety car restart.

It leaves Piastri just three points behind his teammate after four races, and the Australian would almost certainly be leading the championship were it not for the one mistake he made during his home race in Melbourne.