Race Notes - Piastri wins in Bahrain

By Mark Karp

Oscar Piastri in the McLaren-Mercedes won the Bahrain from pole position, winning by 15.499 seconds over George Russell in his Mercedes GP. Lando Norris finished third in the second McLaren, 16.273s behind the winner.

Piastri took his second win of the season, and the team’s third. Norris still leads the Drivers Championship by 3 points, over Piastri, who moved into second place, Verstappen falls to third. McLaren leads the Constructors Championship with 151 points, 58 points over Mercedes GP in second place.

Charles Leclerc (19.679s) in the Ferrari finished fourth, followed by his team mate Lewis Hamilton (27.993s) in fifth, Max Verstappen (34.395s) in the Red Bull-Honda was sixth, Pierre Gasly (36.002s) in the Alpine-Renault was seventh, Esteban Ocon (44.244s) in the Haas-Ferrari was eighth, Yuki Tsunoda (45.061s) in the second Red Bull was ninth, and Oliver Bearman (47.594s) in the second Haas took the final point in tenth.

As the sun went down, the paddock got ready for the race start with penalties after yesterdays session causing slight changes to the grid, with Piastri still starting from pole now ahead of Leclerc on the front row, Russell and Gasly are on row 2, Antonelli and Norris are on row 3, Verstappen and Sainz are on row 4, and Hamilton and Tsunoda round out the ton 10.

The top ten starting on soft tyres, except Leclerc and Hamilton on medium tyres.

At the appointed time the drivers took to the formation lap, took their position on the grid, the lights went out and the race began with Piastri gets in the lead, Russell into second, followed by Norris, Leclerc, Gasly, Sainz, Antonelli, Verstappen, Hamilton, and Tsunoda in tenth.

On lap 3 Piastri leads Russell by 1.2 seconds.

Albon passes Alonso for 13th.

On lap 5 Antonelli passes Sainz for sixth. Later in the lap Verstappen passes him for seventh.

Gasly reports that Leclerc is struggling with his medium tyres.

On lap 7 Norris is given a 5-second stop-go penalty for starting out of position.

Hamilton and Sainz are battling, Hamilton takes eighth. Tsunoda passes Sainz for ninth.

Antonelli passes Gasly for fifth.

On lao 11 Norris, Gasly and Verstappen all pit. Norris on medium tyres rejoins 14th, Gasly on medium in 15th. Verstappen on hard tyres rejoins 16th with a slow stop.

Tsunoda pits the next lap.

On lap 12 Antonelli pits for medium tyres rejoins 15th behind Verstappen.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m37.204s.

On lap 14 Russell pits for medium tyres and rejoins seventh.

The next lap Piastri pits from the lead for medium tyres and rejoins third. Sainz pits as well.

Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Albon, Norris, Alonso, Gasly, Ocon and Verstappen in tenth.

On lap 16 Gasly passes Alonso for seventh.

On lap 17 Albon pits from sixth for hard tyres and rejoins 16th.

Sainz sets fast lap at 1m36.954s.

On lap 18 Lerclerc pits for the lead for another medium tyres and rejoins fifth. Hamilton pits as well and rejoins 11th.

On lap 19 Leclerc passes Gasly for fourth.

On lap 19 Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m36.798s.

Antonelli passes Verstappen for seventh.

At lap 20 Piastri leads Russell by 3.9 seconds, followed by Norris (5.4s), Leclerc (7.4s), Gasly (11.3s), Ocon (13.7s)m Antonelli (15.4s), Verstappen (16.8s), Doohan (17.6s) and Hamilton (18.3s) in tenth.

On lap 22 Hamilton passes Doohan for ninth. The next lap Hamilton passes Verstappen for eighth.

Verstappen complains to the team about his brakes not working well.

On lap 24 Leclerc tries to dive pass on Norris for third but can’t make it stick.

On lap 25 Hamilton passes Antonelli for seventh. Leclerc passes Norris for third.

On lap 26 Hamilton passes Ocon for sixth.

On lap 27 Verstappen pits for medium tyres and rejoins in 20th place.

Ocon and Antonelli both pit, Ocon to hard tyres rejoining 14thm and Antonelli to soft tyres rejoining 15th.

Gasly and Doohan pit.

At lap 30 Piastri leads Russell by 6.8 seconds, followed by Leclerc (8.1s), Norris (9.9s), Hamilton (19.6s), Sainz (35.3s), Tsunoda (36.2s), Albon (37.4s), Bearman (39.3s) and Gasly (41.4s) in tenth.

On lap 31 Ocon and Antonelli pass Alonso.

On lap 32 the Safety Car is out for debris on turn 3. Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton and overs.

Behind the Safety car Piastri on medium, Ryssell on soft, Leclerc on hard, Norris on medium, Hamilton on hard, Gasly on hard, Ocon on hard, Verstappen on medium, Doohan and Sainz on tenth.

Russell questions if they should have switched to soft tyres.

At the end of lap 35 the Safety Car comes in and the race continues with Piastri stays ahead of Russell.

Hamilton gets past Norris into fourth, Norris dives back to get the position. McLaren give the position back to Hamilton.

On lap 38 Norris passes Hamilton again into fourth..

Tsunoda in tenth have Bearman, Antonelli, Albon challenging.

Piastri leads Russell, Leclerc, Norris

Lawson is given a 5-second penalty for causing a collision.

Norris is closing on Leclerc in third.

At lap 45 Piastri leads Russell by 3.1 seconds followed by Leclerc (4.3s), Norris (4.9s), Hamilton (9.4s), Gasly (11.9s), Verstappen (13.3s), Ocon (18.6s), Tsunoda (21.7s), and Doohan (22.7s) in tenth.

Norris make a outside late brake move on Leclerc, but doesn’t make it, and is again 1.2s behind.

Sainz retires in the pit.

On lap 47 Bearman and Antonelli pass Doohan for tenth and eleventh.

On lap 49 Norris makes another atempt on Leclerc but still can’t make the pass.

On lap 51 Russell is told that he might loss the dash display in the final laps.

On lap 52 Norris goes around the outside this time and gets past Leclerc into third place.

Russell with problems continuing is 1.6 seconds ahead of Norris in second.

Norris has had a third strike for track limits, and the team warns him.

Russell will be investigated for having his DRS going off at a time it should not have.

Norris is closing on the tail of Russell.

On lap 56 Norris is right behind Russell.

On the final lap Norris is scrambling to get by Russell but can’t manage it.

Verstappen passes Gasly for sixth.

Doohan is given a 5-second penalty for track limits.