Piastri storms to controlled victory in Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of Russell and Norris

Oscar Piastri has become the first multiple race winner of the 2025 season by taking a sublime victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Australian driver putting in a cool and collected drive to seal P1 on his 50th start in F1 as well as marking McLaren’s first triumph in Sakhir.

After making a strong start from pole position – despite a close call from George Russell when the Mercedes driver locked up into Turn 1 – Piastri built a solid lead throughout the laps that followed.

While there was early trouble for teammate Lando Norris – who was hit with a five-second time penalty for being out of position in his grid box – the McLarens again looked impressive as the race played out, with the Briton working his way forwards.

And while Piastri’s position potentially looked under threat when a Safety Car emerged, the 24-year-old made a clean getaway at the restart and went on to rebuild a gap in the laps that followed, eventually crossing the line with a 15-second lead.

Russell ultimately took second, holding off a thrilling late chase from Norris, though the Silver Arrows driver will be investigated after the Grand Prix for a potential DRS infringement. Norris was just 0.774s behind Russell at the finish, a good recovery from the McLaren racer after a difficult Qualifying on Saturday.

Charles Leclerc had to settle for fourth – despite putting up a good fight against Norris during a scrap for third in the latter stages – ahead of Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton in fifth, while Max Verstappen snatched sixth place in the final moments on what had been a tough evening for the Red Bull man, having experienced issues at both of his pit stops.

Pierre Gasly scored Alpine’s first points of the campaign in seventh while Esteban Ocon followed in eighth, the Haas racer’s strategy of an early pit stop seemingly paying off. Yuki Tsunoda took ninth for Red Bull, with Ollie Bearman adding to Haas’ tally in 10th.

Kimi Antonelli just missed out in P11, the Mercedes rookie losing out after running in the points earlier in the event, while Alex Albon was the sole Williams to finish the race in P12.

One day on from an exciting Qualifying session – which saw Piastri storm to pole position for what will be his 50th race start in Formula 1 – the attentions of the paddock had turned to the 57-lap Bahrain Grand Prix.

Two changes to the starting order had been made in the hours after Saturday’s session, with the Mercedes pair of Russell and Antonelli each receiving a one-place grid penalty for a rule breach during Qualifying.

Both cars were sent into the fast lane of the pit lane before a session restart time had been confirmed following a red flag period; as such, Russell dropped from P2 to P3 – promoting Leclerc up to the front row – while Antonelli moved from fourth to fifth, sending Gasly up to P4.

Following an emotional demo run by Sir Jackie Stewart on Sunday morning, with the 85-year-old taking to the track in his championship-winning Tyrrell 006, the drivers were greeted by warm temperatures in the range of 29℃ as the cars started to assemble on the grid.

When the tyre blankets were removed, it was revealed that the majority of the pack would be starting on the soft compound. The exceptions to this were Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Lawson and Bortoleto, all of whom had bolted on the medium rubber.

After the formation lap had been completed and the lights went out at 6pm local time, Piastri made a good launch off the line – but so did Russell, who leapt past Leclerc before locking up into Turn 1, coming perilously close to making contact with Piastri in the process.

Norris, meanwhile, enjoyed a spectacular start from P6, the Briton bouncing back from his Qualifying struggles to move up into third ahead of Leclerc. Gasly followed in fifth, while Norris’ former teammate Carlos Sainz had also made gains, going from P8 to P6 in the Williams.

As Piastri stretched out a lead of more than one second from Russell up front, Antonelli was under increasing pressure from Verstappen in a scrap for seventh place. Elsewhere there was some concerning news for Norris, with the Briton noted by the stewards for a potential false start for being out of position on the grid.

Further back, Ocon and Albon had both gained two positions in P12 and P13 respectively, while Bearman looked in racy form after surging forward from last to P15. Bearman’s former F2 teammate Antonelli, meanwhile, snatched sixth place from Sainz before Verstappen followed through to take seventh, the Dutchman being pushed slightly wide in the process while battling the Williams.

With the stewards investigating Norris’ potential false start, replays highlighted that Verstappen reported that the McLaren was “way out of his grid box”. And just moments later, it was confirmed that a five-second time penalty had been issued to the Briton, who was continuing to run in third place.

“We will recover these positions,” Norris was told by his race engineer. Meanwhile, as Lap 9 ticked down, a thrilling duel was playing out between Sainz and Hamilton – the man who replaced him at Ferrari – over P8, the seven-time World Champion eventually muscling by before Tsunoda followed suit to push a struggling Sainz down to P10.

Norris headed into the pits on Lap 11 – where he also served his penalty, dropping him down to P14 after bolting on the medium tyres – while Gasly and Verstappen also made their stops for the medium and hard rubber respectively. Verstappen suffered a particularly slow stop, the World Champion emerging in P16.

Up at the front, Piastri remained in the lead by six seconds from Leclerc, with Hamilton, Sainz and Albon completing the top five, all of whom had yet to stop. Red Bull endured further pit problems with Tsunoda, with the squad’s light system not working – meaning that the drivers were not seeing the green light to signal that they could go.

On Lap 15, race leader Piastri had better luck in the pits after making a smooth stop for the medium tyres, bringing him back out into third. This put the top 10 order as Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Albon, Norris, Gasly, Alonso, Ocon and Verstappen, with Albon and Fernando Alonso not having stopped along with the Ferrari pair.

The Williams and Aston Martin both soon pitted for the hard and medium compound respectively – before Leclerc and Hamilton followed on Lap 18 to double stack for the mediums, despite Leclerc seemingly suggesting that he wanted to do a one-stop strategy. The Monegasque returned to the track in fourth, with Hamilton in 11th.

With everybody having made their stops, the order on Lap 20 had shaken out as Piastri, Russell, Norris, Leclerc, Gasly, Ocon – who benefitted from pitting early – Antonelli, Verstappen, Jack Doohan and Hamilton.

There was quickly a change to this thanks to Antonelli, the young Italian sweeping ahead of Verstappen into Turn 4 to take seventh. “Everything is overheating,” an unhappy Verstappen reported, with the Red Bull soon being chased down by Doohan and Hamilton behind.

Hamilton – the fastest man on track with fresh rubber on the SF-25 – was in no mood to hang around, the Briton making an overtake down the inside of Doohan into Turn 1 on Lap 22. Next in his sights was Verstappen – and that move quickly came, dropping the Dutchman to ninth.

“I can’t even brake anymore,” Verstappen told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. Another man to nearly lose a position was Norris, with Leclerc attempting to snatch P3 from the Briton before going wide into Turn 1 and allowing the McLaren back through.

But the Monegasque did not have to wait long to complete the move, having found a way past Norris into Turn 4. And in a double success for Ferrari, Hamilton surged ahead of Antonelli for seventh – before then taking sixth from Ocon, the Scuderia’s cars seemingly flying as the race reached its halfway point.

Another pit drama played out for Verstappen as the Dutchman made his second stop for medium tyres on Lap 27, with the front right proving stubborn to remove. This dropped the Red Bull down to the back of the order.

Others subsequently started to visit the pits for a second time, Antonelli seemingly going onto a three-stop strategy as the soft compound went on to his Mercedes. Gasly had also stopped for the hard tyres, while Verstappen had already moved up to P14 on his recovery drive.

By Lap 30, Piastri remained some six seconds clear of Russell up ahead, with Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton completing the top five. Behind them a feisty scrap was playing out between Sainz and Tsunoda for sixth, during which a slide from the Red Bull resulted in contact with the Williams, throwing up some pieces of debris along the way.

A Safety Car was then called – seemingly in perfect timing for Piastri and indeed the rest of the top five, who all dived into the pits before returning to the track in their same order. And while much of the field also pitted, Gasly, Ocon, Verstappen and Doohan all stayed out, putting them in sixth to ninth respectively.

Russell, unlike the rest of the top five, had bolted on the soft tyres, leading the Briton to suggest that running the compound until the end of the race was an “audacious” strategy. Piastri and Norris were using the medium, with Leclerc and Hamilton on the hard.

As the Safety Car peeled into the pits on Lap 35, Piastri – having lost the lead he had built up earlier on – was faced with the task of fending off his competitors. While the Australian and Russell behind him both got away cleanly, Norris tried to fight past Leclerc but ended up boxed in by the Ferraris, with Hamilton getting through in the process.

Norris then retook the position from Hamilton – but with the move having seemingly taken place off the track into Turn 4, the McLaren then allowed the Ferrari back through. Within another lap, though, Norris had again snatched fourth from Hamilton, this time sealing the move for good.

By Lap 40, Piastri led from Russell by 1.8s, with Leclerc in third followed by Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Ocon, Doohan – searching for his first points of the season – and Tsunoda. Those last positions looked uncertain, though, with Tsunoda hot on the tail of Doohan in a fight for ninth.

Bearman and Antonelli, meanwhile, were also closing in on the battle in 11th and 12th, the rookies both looking to add to their points tallies. Another duel of note was taking place between Leclerc and Norris over P3, the McLaren running within a second of the Ferrari by Lap 44.

Elsewhere, Sainz had been handed a 10-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track during an earlier fight with Antonelli at the Safety Car restart – adding to the Spaniard’s woes as replays showed a hole in the sidepod of the Williams, seemingly the cause of the debris that had brought out that Safety Car.

While Sainz went on to retire the car to bring his difficult day to a close, Norris locked up as he continued to look for a way past Leclerc. Another close moment occurred as the Briton tried again on Lap 49, with the McLaren still unable to overtake his rival as he ran off track into Turn 1.

It was on Lap 52 that Norris finally snatched the position around the outside into Turn 4 – while Russell had been noted for a DRS infringement which would be investigated after the race, the Briton complaining about the gears on his W16.

While Norris was shown a black and white flag for track limits, the McLaren was rapidly closing in on Russell amid the Mercedes seemingly experiencing some issues. Another name in trouble was Liam Lawson, the Racing Bulls driver having been handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Nico Hulkenberg.

As Piastri maintained an untroubled lead up front, Norris was all over the back of Russell as the race entered into is final laps, the papaya car looking for a way past into several corners. Could Norris make it a 1-2 result for McLaren?

It turned out to not be the case, as – while Piastri crossed the line to take victory with a whopping lead of 15 seconds – Norris had to settle for third behind Russell, the gap between those two ending up at just 0.774s.

Leclerc held onto fourth, with Hamilton following in fifth, while Verstappen pulled off a late overtake on Gasly to snatch sixth place after a challenging event for the World Champion. Seventh for Gasly still brought Alpine their much-needed debut points of the season, though, while his former teammate Ocon was a solid eighth for Haas.

Tsunoda scored his first points as a Red Bull driver in ninth, with Bearman taking the final point on offer in P10, marking a strong recovery after starting from the back of the grid. Fellow rookie Antonelli, however, missed out in 11th, while Albon’s run of points finishes also came to an end in 12th.

For the final stop in a triple header sequence, F1 will move straight on to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from April 18-20.