Piastri confident McLaren can break Bahrain bogey

Considering Formula 1 has racing in Bahrain for more than two decades, it is quite extraordinary McLaren has never won there, but Oscar Piastri believes there is no better opportunity than this weekend.

The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix will be the 21^st edition and not only has McLaren never won there, but it has also not appeared on the podium since Lewis Hamilton’s third back in 2010.

The famous British team has arrived at Sakhir International Circuit leading the constructor’s championship three times in 2007, 2008 and 2012 and did not get close to success, with 2007 the only time it secured a trophy on those occasions with Hamilton getting its best Bahrain result of second.

Even in McLaren’s breakthrough championship triumph last year, it could only muster a best result of sixth, a distant 48s off the pace.

Oscar Piastri testing the MCL39 at Bahrain International Circuit on February 26, 2025 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

However, there is no better time than now to break the Bahrain bogey.

The MCL39 appears to be the fastest car on the grid, dominating for the majority of the Grands Prix at Albert Park and Shanghai and critically looking very strong at pre-season testing held at the same circuit.

Piastri, boosted by the most dominant win of his career at China, is in the thick of the title fight, sitting third, 13 points behind leader and teammate Lando Norris.

Piastri pointed to the testing pace as a sign the team is in its best position to finally attack under the Sakhir stars.

“This has not been a great track for us in the past couple of years. Well, I think even longer than that, to be honest, so I think it will be a good test for us,” he said.

“I think there were certainly strong points from the test that we were happy with.

“There were certainly not-so-strong points that we’ve done a lot of work to try and improve from the test as well.

“I think, you know, on paper the layout is still – this car is not a completely different beast to what we’ve had the last couple of years.

“But I think we’re as confident as we have been in my time at the team.

“We are in a position to win this weekend, and I think we have some evidence from testing that we’re in a good place.”

Although Max Verstappen stunned everyone by taking a dominant win in Suzuka with one of the great pole laps and inserting himself into the title fight, Piastri still feels the overall equation is the same.

Lewis Hamilton is the last McLaren driver to stand on a Bahrain podium in 2010 when Fernando Alonso won his first race for Ferrari. Image: Ferrari

“I don’t think it changes much. I think we have the quickest car at the moment,” the Aussie said.

“But our advantage is not enough to be careless and kind of lay back and not execute as best as you can.

“As we saw in Japan, Max put in a good performance and it was enough to be better than us.

“So I think that’s just another demonstration that it’s going to be tight the whole year and we’ve got to be on our best form.”

Reflecting on Japan where a small mistake in qualifying was the difference between taking pole and possibly the win and starting and finishing third, Piastri feels not much more was possible.

“Qualifying ahead of Max was probably the key to that,” he said.

“I think it was pretty clear to see that you needed a very big pace advantage to overtake on Sunday.

“The best way to overcome that was, like I said, qualifying a bit better. But I think even in the race, we were pretty limited with what we could do.

“We’ve gone through a lot of things, but ultimately I think our conclusion was: make sure you qualify where you should be.”

Main Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images

2025 Bahrain Grand Prix

Fri 21.30-22.30 Practice 1

Sat 1.00-2.00 Practice 2

Sat 22.30-23.30 Practice 3

Sun 2.00-3.00 Qualifying

Mon 1.00 Formula 1 Grand Prix (57 laps)

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