Piastri dominates in Bahrain to clinch commanding Pole

Oscar Piastri delivered under pressure on Saturday night, rising to the occasion beneath the lights to secure his second career Pole Position at the Bahrain Grand Prix, capitalising as his teammate Lando Norris fumbled his shot at the front row.

Qualifying 1:

With the sun well and truly set, all eyes turned to the qualifying shootout under the floodlights at the Bahrain International Circuit.

It was a tame start to the opening stage, with a small handful of drivers reacting to the green light while the majority held back, waiting until the 15-minute mark before joining the session.

Having topped the two most recent practice sessions, expectations were high for Oscar Piastri’s Bahraini Qualifying campaign.

The McLaren duo made it an early 1-2, with Piastri’s time of 1:31.392s falling two-tenths behind his teammate as he returned to the pitlane.

As a precaution, Piastri rejoined the session with four minutes on the clock, however, the Australian had nothing to worry about, advancing through to Q2 without a fuss.

Hopeful of securing himself a place in Q2, Jack Doohan allowed himself 15 minutes to get the job done.

Putting his best foot forward, Doohan jumped to the top of the early timesheets with a time of 1:31.919s, outpacing some top contenders as he slotted into P6. 

He proved his pace wasn’t a one-off when he promoted his Alpine into an impressive P5, three-tenths off the fastest time of the session to advance to the second stage.

Taking part in his second Qualifying session as an RB driver, Liam Lawson filed out of the pitlane alongside his new teammate.

The Kiwi’s first attempt left him 1.2 seconds behind the benchmark, however, he was just clear of the elimination zone which was the most important parameter. 

The Kiwi headed out for one final Q1 run, now needing to recover from the bottom five as one of the last drivers on the track, however, that proved to be a tough task.

A problem with the #30’s DRS caused him to lose out on critical time, with the system closing halfway down the straight to Turn 11.

In a tight field, Lawson crossed the line one second off the pace, momentarily clearing the elimination zone before his Red Bull replacement had his say, rubbing salt in his wounds as he qualified 17th.  

It was a nightmare start to Q1 for both Red Bull drivers, with Max Verstappen’s last corner lock-up and admission that there was “something really wrong with the car” seeing him without a time to his name as the minutes ticked by.

Yuki Tsunoda was in the same boat, also without a banker lap after he exceeded track limits at Turn 15, making for an anxious final run.

At the head of the order, McLaren continued to be a cut above the rest, with the odd Ferrari accompanying them in the top three.

When a lull fell over the circuit, the two Red Bull drivers were joined in the bottom five by Lance Stroll, Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto, with the pitlane bursting to life with just four minutes remaining.

Taking a cautious line through the final corner, Verstappen did more than just clear the bottom five as he skyrocketed into the top three, less than two-tenths behind the leader.

As for his teammate, Tsunoda only just scraped through to Q2, with his 14th fastest time seeing him survive a premature exit. 

Not as fortunate was Alex Albon who sat on the border of the elimination zone right until the very last second when he was demoted into P16, forced to watch the remainder of Qualifying unfold from the media pen alongside Lawson, Bortoleto, Stroll and Bearman.

The Thai driver would later receive the bittersweet news that Nico Hülkenberg’s lap time had been deleted, but not until Q3 was already underway, meaning he was wrongfully denied a place in the second shootout and, judging by his teammate’s pace, potentially the top ten battle as well.

Qualifying 2:

The first haul of flying laps were over before they had started in Q2, with a Red Flag quickly called after Esteban Ocon lost his Haas over the kerbs, spinning rearward into the barriers at the exit of Turn 2.

Ocon was ok—his car not so much—as the marshals worked to quickly clear the debris from the gravel trap.

The session resumed with 11 minutes remaining, with the impatient queue of drivers being released for a shortened shootout.

One of the last drivers in the queue, Doohan cleared the bottom five after his first attempt, however, remained at risk as six drivers were yet to record a time.

Sitting eight-tenths off the benchmark, the Australian rejoined the session for one final flying lap, leading his teammate on the timesheets. 

Doohan started his last-ditch attempt on a strong note, setting two personal best sectors before his lap fell apart across the final three corners, leaving him missing out on his first Q3 appearance by a painful 17-millisecond margin.

With a time of 1:31.245s, Doohan was forced to settle for P11, lining up alongside Isack Hadjar for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lighting up the timesheets, Piastri set two fastest sectors on his way to the top of the table, with his 1:30.454s sitting one-tenth clear of his teammate.

That lap left him and McLaren with enough confidence that they didn’t send Piastri out again, and it was the correct decision, with the Australian advancing through to Q3 as the fastest driver.

The Mercedes drivers were the first to put their feet to the floor around the 5.4km circuit, trading purple sectors, however, sharing attention from Race Control as they were placed under investigation for failing to follow the Race Directors instructions, having left their garage before a resumption time was announced. 

Following the Silver Arrows on track, McLaren regained its place at the head of the field, with Leclerc again rounding out the top three, however, the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen were still yet to record a time.

As the final few minutes of Q2 ticked down, those drivers looked to put things right, however, it wasn’t a certain pathway through to the shootout as Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate sat as the drivers at risk. 

Forced to play the waiting game, it was a matter of milliseconds that saved the duo from a premature exit, with the likes of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz well and truly outpacing them. 

Bowing out of the fight for Pole, Doohan, Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg—who eventually had his Q1 lap deleted—and Fernando Alonso were the drivers eliminated in Q2, joining Ocon in the bottom five.

Qualifying 3:

Not wanting to risk being caught out by a Red Flag or an error on their own accord, it was no surprise to see a queue compiled of also every remaining driver forming in the pitlane.

When they were finally released, with was the Red Bull duo who led the field to start the final stage.

It was a refreshingly strong start for Tsunoda who set the initial benchmark of Q3, earning an array of fastest sectors despite running on used tyres, while his teammate sounded like a broken record, saying his brakes were “just terrible”.

Excelling, George Russell put over a second between himself and the nearest competitor, however, provisional Pole wasn’t his to keep.

Charging around the 5.4km circuit, Piastri was the only driver who could outpace the #63’s initial run, going a tenth quicker than Russell to set a new benchmark of 1:30.233s.

His teammate rounded out the top three, still within two-tenths of his lap while the rest of the field was a whopping 1.1 seconds behind.

Both Antonelli and Hamilton had their lap times deleted due to track limits, making the final minute of Q3 all the more important. 

The Mercedes driver was the first to take the chequered flag, promoting himself to provisional pole, however, with the pace of his chasing competitors, it was always bound to be temporary.

Russell followed with blistering pace, as did Charles Leclerc when both drivers demoted the youngster, however, it was Piastri who proved untouchable ahead of his 50th Grand Prix start.

Securing his second Pole Position of his career, Piastri recorded a time of 1:29.841s, putting one-tenth between himself and Russell to making it a Mercedes-powered front row.

The second-running McLaren had far less to celebrate, with Norris forced to settle for a sixth-place start tomorrow morning after wheelspin out of Turn 1 cost him over a tenth of a second.

Norris was outpaced by Pierre Gasly, with the Frenchman ecstatic when learning that he’d qualified P5, ahead of a McLaren, two Red Bulls and a Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz sprinkled in between in P8.

But despite the mix of disappointment and elation, the Bahrain Grand Prix is a circuit in which overtaking is more than possible, meaning the hard work will come once the five lights go out in Bahrain.

The start of the Bahrain Grand Prix will take place early on Monday at 01:00 AEST.

Image: McLaren

Qualifying Results:

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