Piastri clinched victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix after a perfect start where he held off his rivals and controlled the race from start to finish, only relinquishing the lead briefly during his pit stop.
When the lights went out, Norris became the early protagonist by jumping from sixth to third. However, the praise for what seemed to be a brilliant reaction from the Brit quickly turned into controversy when it was discovered that he had cheated.
Verstappen noticed on the grid that the McLaren was positioned too far forward, with half of the car ahead of its designated starting box, giving Norris an unfair advantage when the race began.
The stewards reviewed the incident and handed Norris a five-second penalty to be served at his first pit stop. When the McLaren driver came in for his first stop and switched to softs, he dropped down to 12th.
Piastri pitted on lap 14, swapping his softs for mediums, which allowed the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to move into first and second, having started on hards. The Maranello team switched to mediums four laps later.
Verstappen was the only driver in the top 10 who had started on hards, but the Dutchman complained that the compound offered no advantage. Red Bull brought him in on lap 27 for mediums, but the stop turned into a disaster when a delay on the front right cost him six seconds and dropped him to 19th.
Up front, Leclerc overtook Norris to move into third, less than two seconds behind Russell. Piastri at that point had opened a gap of over six seconds on Russell.
The race was neutralized on lap 32 due to debris on the track at Turn 3, bringing out the safety car and giving Piastri a free pit stop. The front-runners followed him in, but the big winner was Gasly, who had already completed his final stop a few laps earlier and moved up to sixth.
When the safety car pulled in on lap 36, strategies became clear. Piastri and Norris opted for mediums, Russell for softs, and the Ferraris chose the hard compound for the final stint.
Norris launched an attack on Leclerc to try and grab the final podium spot in the last third of the race, but the Monegasque put up a heroic defense despite being on the harder tire. Leclerc finally lost the position with five laps to go, as Norris then turned his focus to Russell, who was reporting gearbox issues.
The McLaren driver caught Russell with two laps remaining, taking advantage of the Mercedes’ mechanical troubles. However, the Silver Arrow defended aggressively, forcing Norris to attempt overtakes in unorthodox areas, ultimately keeping the position.
Leclerc and Hamilton finished fourth and fifth. Verstappen passed Gasly on the final lap to take sixth.
Despite a difficult qualifying, the Haas duo of Ocon and Bearman scored points in eighth and tenth. Between them was Yuki Tsunoda, who claimed his first points as a Red Bull driver.
Positions
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren-Mercedes) – 1:35:39.435
- George Russell (Mercedes) – a 15.499s
- Lando Norris (McLaren-Mercedes) – a 16.273s
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – a 19.679s
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – a 27.993s
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – a 34.395s
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine-Renault) – a 36.002s
- Esteban Ocon (Haas-Ferrari) – a 44.244s
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing) – a 45.061s
- Oliver Bearman (Haas-Ferrari) – a 47.594s
