Bahrain Grand Prix: Piastri - Russell - Norris
Dark. Dry. Air +27C, highway +33...31C
It was cool and even raining at the winter tests in Bahrain, and the first races were held in warm weather, so the teams were able to evaluate the performance of the cars and tires in real heat only a month after the start of the championship. And there were some surprises.
As is often the case, the balance of power depended on the tires. On the hot asphalt, good grip could not be achieved, the cars slid, the tires overheated even more – the teams got into a vicious circle, from which not everyone found a way out. Some lost speed, others suddenly increased.
Oscar Piastri showed the best time on Friday and Saturday morning – in training, the problems that arose between the rivals did not seem to concern McLaren, but by the beginning of qualifying the heat had subsided a little, the asphalt was covered with used rubber – and the clutch appeared. George Russell was in the lead in the final, but in the final seconds Piastri still snatched pole position – the second of the season and in his career and the first for McLaren in Bahrain.
Qualifying was interrupted by red flags due to Esteban Ocon's accident. The Mercedes drivers were fined with the loss of one place at the start – they entered the pit lane under red flags before the clearance signal.
Nico Hulkenberg received an unusual penalty – his fastest lap was retroactively canceled due to going off the track, so in fact he participated in the second part of qualifying, and in the protocol he was eliminated in the first.
As a result, Piastri and Leclair shared the first row of the starting field, Russell and Gasly started from the second, Antonelli and Norris from the third.
As last week, Pirelli brought the toughest compounds to the stage – C1, C2 and C3 in the role of Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race, Leclair, Hamilton, Alonso, Lawson and Bortoleto started on Medium, while the rest chose Soft.
At the start, Russell attacked Piastri, but blocked the tires, and Oscar retained the lead. Leclair lost two positions on tougher tires, Russell moved up to second position.
Antonelli lost two positions, Verstappen lost one. Berman won back six places, Norris – three, but incorrectly positioned the car at the start, starting and stopping a little earlier, and received a five-second penalty.
Top ten on lap 2: Piastri - Russell - Norris - Leclair - Gasly - Sainz - Antonelli - Verstappen - Hamilton - Tsunoda.
On lap 3, Elbon was ahead of Alonso in the fight for 13th place.
On Lap 5, Antonelli and Verstappen were ahead of Sainz.
On lap 6, Hulkenberg changed tires, and on lap 7, Hadjar changed tires.
Berman beat Alonso in the fight for 14th place.
On lap 9, Okon made a pit stop. Hamilton and Tsunoda were ahead of Sainz.
On lap 10, Duane changed tires, Antonelli overtook Gasly in the fight for fifth place.
On lap 11, Norris, Gasly and Verstappen changed tires, on Lap 12 - Tsunoda, on lap 13 - Antonelli and Stroll, on lap 14 – Russell and Bortoleto, on lap 15 - Piastri, Sainz, Berman and Lawson, on lap 17 - Elbon and Alonso, Leclair and Hamilton are on the 18th.
On lap 19, Leclair overtook Gasly for fourth place.
On Lap 20, Antonelli beat Verstappen to seventh position.
Top ten on lap 20: Piastri - Russell - Norris - Leclair - Gasly - Ocon - Antonelli - Verstappen - Duane - Hamilton.
On lap 21, Berman was ahead of Hajjar in the fight for 13th place.
On lap 22, Hamilton overtook Duane, followed by Verstappen, rising to eighth place.
On lap 23, Elbon beat Hajjar in the fight for 14th place.
Antonelli and Hajjar were warned with a black and white flag about repeated violations of the highway boundaries.
On lap 25, Leclair overtook Norris for third place, and Hamilton overtook Antonelli for seventh.
On lap 26, Hamilton beat Ocon to sixth place.
Top ten on lap 27: Piastri - Russell - Leclair - Norris - Gasly - Hamilton - Ocon - Antonelli - Verstappen - Duane.
On lap 27, Verstappen changed tires - there was a hitch with the installation of the front right wheel. Max was the last to return to the track.
On lap 28, Okon, Antonelli and Hulkenberg made a pit stop, on lap 29 - Gasly, Duane and Hajjar,
On lap 30, Tsunoda bumped Sainz's car in the fight for position.
On lap 31, Antonelli beat Alonso to 12th place.
On lap 32, Gasly was ahead of Berman, and Duane was ahead of Stroll.
On lap 32, a safety car pulled out from behind the wreckage of Tsunoda's car. Piastri immediately turned into the pits, followed by almost everyone else. Gasly, Okon, Verstappen, Duane, Hajjar and Hulkenberg remained on the track. In the top ten, only Russell got a Soft start advantage.
The top ten behind the safety car: Piastri - Russell - Leclair - Norris - Hamilton - Gasly - Okon - Verstappen - Duane - Sainz.
On the 36th lap, the restart was announced. Piastri retained the leadership. Hamilton overtook Norris, but Lando won back by driving off the track and, at the engineer's command, returned the position to Lewis.
Lawson hit Stroll's car without consequences and received a five-second penalty.
On lap 38, Verstappen passed Okon, Norris passed Hamilton.
Top ten on lap 38: Piastri - Russell - Leclair - Norris - Hamilton - Gasly - Verstappen - Okon - Duane - Tsunoda.
On lap 39, Antonelli beat Elbon to 11th place.
On lap 41, Lawson was ahead of Hulkenberg in the fight for 17th place.
On lap 45, Sainz turned into the pits and retired from the race with a large hole in the right pontoon.
The transponder on Russell's car had failed, the DRS could not operate automatically, and he could only activate the system manually, at the engineer's command.
Tsunoda, Berman and Antonelli beat Duane.
On lap 49, Norris attacked Leclair for third place, but Charles forced him off the track. After pressing his opponent for several laps, Lando repeated the attack on Lap 52 and took the lead.
Top ten on lap 50: Piastri - Russell - Norris - Leclair - Hamilton - Gasly - Verstappen - Okon - Tsunoda- Berman.
Norris and Verstappen were shown a black and white flag due to off-track driving. Lawson received a 10-second penalty for colliding with Hulkenberg.
Norris caught up and pressed Russell, but did not know when to use DRS due to problems with George's transponder.
On the last lap, Norris attacked, but Russell fought back and retained his position. Verstappen overtook Gasly in the fight for sixth place. Duane received a five-second penalty for trespassing.
Oscar Piastri has won the Bahrain Grand Prix, his second victory of the season and the fourth of his career. For McLaren, this is the first ever victory in Bahrain.
George Russell finished second, having achieved his best result of the season, Lando Norris rose to the third step of the podium, retaining the lead in the individual standings.
Pierre Gasly finished seventh, earning his first points of the season.
The fight will continue in Jeddah next week.
Race results
Pilot
The Time Team
Speed
Pete
1. O.Piastri
McLaren
1:35:39.435
193.339
2
2. D.Russell
Mercedes
+15.499
192.818
2
3 . L. Norris
McLaren
+16.273
192.792
2
4. S.Leclair
Ferrari
+19.679
192.678
2
5 . L. Hamilton
Ferrari
+27.993
192.400
2
6 . M.Verstappen
Red Bull
+34.395
192.187
2
7 . P.Gasli
Alpine
+36.002
192.133
2
8 . E.Okon
Haas
+44.244
191.860
2
9. Yu.Tsunoda
Red Bull
+45.061
191.832
2
10. O. Berman
Haas
+47.594
191.748
2
11. K.Antonelli
Mercedes
+48.016
191.734
3
12. A.Elbon
Williams
+48.839
191.707
2
13. N. Hulkenberg
Sauber
+53.472
191.554
2
14. A. Hajjar
Racing Bulls
+56.314
191.460
2
15. D.Duane*
Alpine
+57.806
191.411
2
16. F.Alonso
Aston Martin
+60.340
191.327
2
17. L. Lawson**
Racing Bulls
+64.435
191.192
2
18. L.Stroll
Aston Martin
+65.489
191.157
2
19. The city of Bortoleto
Sauber
+66.872
191.112
2
* Jack Duane fined 5 seconds extra for trespassing
** Liam Lawson was penalized with 5 and 10 seconds increments for incidents with Nico Hulkenberg
Best lap: Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1:35.140 (lap 36, 204.784 km/h).
Reasons for gatherings
Pilot
Team
Circles
The reason
is K.Sainz
Williams
46
The incident
Position in the championship : Personal standings
Pilot
A country
Team
Points
=
1. L.Norris
McLaren F1 Team
77
2. O. Piastri
McLaren F1 Team
74
3. M. Verstappen
Oracle Red Bull Racing
69
=
4. d.Russell
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
63
5. Sh.Leclair
Scuderia Ferrari HP
32
6. K.Antonelli
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
30
7. L. Hamilton
Scuderia Ferrari HP
25
8. A.Albon
Atlassian Williams Racing
18
=
9. E.Windows
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
14
=
10. L.Stroll
Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
10
11. P.Gasli
BWT Alpine F1 Team
6
12. N. Hulkenberg
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
6
13. O. Berman
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
6
=
14. Yu.Tsunoda
Oracle Red Bull Racing
5
15. A.Hajjar
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
4
16. K.Sainz
Atlassian Williams Racing
1
Championship position : Constructors' Cup
Team
The motor
Points
=
1. McLaren F1 Team
Mercedes
151
=
2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Mercedes
93
=
3. Oracle Red Bull Racing
Honda RBPT
71
=
4. Scuderia Ferrari HP
Ferrari
57
5. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Ferrari
20
6. Atlassian Williams Racing
Mercedes
19
=
7. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
Mercedes
10
=
8. Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
Honda RBPT
7
=
9. Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Ferrari
6
=
10. BWT Alpine F1 Team
Renault
6
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