McLaren continued to have a successful start to the season with the win going to Australian driver Oscar Piastri this time. Piastri was dominant throughout the entire race, with the gap between himself and Russell growing as large as seven seconds before a safety car was deployed to take care of some debris. Piastri continued to shine after the restart, cruising into first comfortably 14.131 seconds ahead of Russell in second. Despite being commonly considered the second driver at McLaren by the media and fans, Bahrain is Piastri’s second victory of the season, taking home another first place trophy before his teammate Lando Norris. With Norris’s third place finish in Bahrain, Piastri now sits only three points behind Norris in the Driver’s Championship with 74 and 77 points, respectively.
George Russell of Mercedes managed to squeeze in between the McLaren duo with his third podium and highest season finish in second place. Russell had an impressive drive Sunday, holding on to his spot in the last half of the race on old soft tires and dealing with issues with his car’s DRS, dash and gears. There was an impending possibility that Russell’s trophy would be taken away due to a DRS penalty, but the FIA ultimately decided not to penalize the British driver. Norris had a relatively good race, coming in third place less than a second behind Russell. Given Norris’s disappointing sixth place qualification and five second penalty for being out of position at the start of the race, a third place finish seemed to be the best result for the Brit in Bahrain.
A couple backmarker teams made their mark this weekend. After a slow start from Alpine left the French team dead last in the constructor’s standings, Australian rookie driver Jack Doohan managed to qualify at P11. Doohan’s teammate, Pierre Gasly, seemingly accomplished the impossible, qualifying P5 ahead of the faster cars of Norris, Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari. Gasly would go on to score six points for himself and the team with a P7 finish. Gasly seemed to have a P6 finish locked in, but Verstappen performed a last minute overtake that relegated the French driver down a spot. Doohan would finish the race in the same place he started, P11, the best result the rookie has accomplished so far.
Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman of Haas continue to impress with their ability to accomplish wonders, with the pair securing their second double points finish of the season. Neither Haas driver did particularly well in qualifying, as Bearman qualified at the very back of the grid in P20 and a collision for Ocon in Q2 axed his chances of qualifying in the top 10, relegating him to P14. Plenty of overtakes and gained positions later, Bearman would go from P20 to a P10 points finish, and his teammate Ocon finishing in P8.
Ferrari continued to fight for their spot in the top of the grid, with their pair finishing at a decent P4 and P5. The result was disappointing for Charles Leclerc, who managed to qualify P3 and start in P2 after a grid place penalty for Russell in P2 bumped his starting spot up to the front row alongside Piastri. Both Ferraris seemed to start the race with the intention of a one-stop, but the team quickly changed to the two-stop strategy with the rest of the grid.
Both Red Bull drivers suffered botched pit stops from the pit crew, an issue with the flashing yellow light preventing Verstappen and teammate Tsunoda from leaving promptly after their first tire change. Verstappen’s day just got worse after, as a slow tire change held him back in the pits for a second time. Verstappen would finish the race in P6, a disappointing change of fate from his victory in Suzuka. Tsunoda ended his race in P9, scoring the first non-Verstappen points for Red Bull since the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz in the Williams was on the unlucky side, getting hit with a collision from Tsunoda, a 10 second penalty for forcing Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli off the track, and ending the day early with a retirement from the race. After qualifying at a season high of P8, Sainz was deservedly frustrated with another missed chance at scoring points with his new team. His teammate, Alex Albon, finished in P12 after battling the midfield for P10.
The drivers and teams look to cap off the April triple-header in Saudi Arabia next weekend, starting with free practice on April 18 and concluding with the Grand Prix on April 20.
