Piastri takes pole in Bahrain as Norris falters

By Peter Johnson

Oscar Piastri took his second pole position of the season for McLaren | Credit: Formula One

McLaren's Oscar Piastri grabbed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Piastri's teammate and championship leader Lando Norris was unable to put a clean lap together at the end of the final part of Qualifying and will line up sixth for tomorrow's race, just one position ahead of World Champion Max Verstappen who has struggled all weekend in his Red Bull.

McLaren had been clearly the fastest team over the three Practice sessions in Bahrain and this remained the case throughout Qualifying, although the two Mercedes of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli appeared to take a step forward, as did the Alpine of Pierre Gasly.

Piastri was able to find time when it mattered to remain at the top of the timesheets, claiming pole position by the largest margin so far this season, 0.168 seconds ahead of the Mercedes of Russell.

A dejected Lando Norris in the sister McLaren could not improve on his final run and will line up on the third row for tomorrow's race.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc delivered Ferrari's best Qualifying result of the season with a surprise P3 in his upgraded car, while teammate Lewis Hamilton will be disappointed with ninth.

The two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda struggled throughout Practice and Verstappen will be unhappy, although perhaps not unsurprised, to be starting seventh tomorrow. Tsunoda, meanwhile, who was down at the bottom of the time sheets in two of the three Practice sessions, will be fairly content with P10, his best-ever start in Bahrain.

The most disappointed team this evening, however, will most likely be Haas, as Oliver Bearman qualified 20th and last while Esteban Ocon brought out a red flag with a heavy crash at Turn 3 in Q2.

In a bizarre moment during Q3, the stewards announced that Nico Hülkenberg's best lap time in Q1, set some 45 minutes prior, had been deleted for track limits, no doubt much to the consternation of Williams' Alex Albon who missed out on Q2 as a result of the German's time.

There will certainly be more drivers who are unhappy with their Qualfiying this evening than there will be drivers satisfied with their efforts, but the top five of Piastri, Leclerc, Gasly and the two Mercedes will sense an opportunity for a very positive race day.

With Norris and Verstappen in P6 and P7 respectively, pole sitter Piastri may even be able to take the lead of the drivers' championship for the first time in his career tomorrow.

The young Australian, participating in his 50th Grand Prix this weekend, said: "I've felt confident out there pretty much all weekend. I've felt really comfortable with the car and in Qualifying the others caught up more than I would have wanted but I was able to post the lap at the end.

"I can't thank the team enough for the car they've given me and I'm excited for the race tomorrow."

George Russell, who claimed Mercedes' first front row start in Bahrain since 2021, said: "I think if anybody said we would be within half a second of the McLarens we would have taken it.

"To be P2 is a bonus and I'm excited for tomorrow but it will be a challenge to fight with Oscar."

Meanwhile, third-placed man Charles Leclerc said: "I didn't expect P3. The team has pushed like crazy to bring upgrades here and with such fine margins to P4 then they clearly helped."

The Bahrain Grand Prix begins tomorrow at 16:00 BST.