McLaren’s Oscar Piastri secured his second pole position of 2025 with a commanding performance in qualifying for the FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. He finished nearly two-tenths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and three-tenths ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Meanwhile, championship-leading teammate Lando Norris qualified in sixth place, and Japanese Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen qualified seventh.
At the beginning of Q1, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso recorded an initial lap time of 1:32.362. Shortly thereafter, Max Verstappen began his runs and appeared poised to surpass the Spaniard’s pace with his first attempt; however, he locked his brakes in Turn 15 and chose to abandon that lap.
“I felt confident out there pretty much all weekend, to be honest. FP1 was… an experience for us all. I think it felt more like a rally car than an F1 car, but from then on I’ve felt really comfortable with the car,” Piastri said. “In FP3 we had good pace and yeah, qualifying, you know, the others caught up a little bit closer than what I wanted. But yeah, still delivered the laps when it mattered, which was the most important thing at the end. So very, very happy.”
At the top of the table, Norris took the lead with the McLaren posting a lap time of 1:31.107, outperforming Piastri by two-tenths of a second, who in turn was more than three-tenths ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
With just under three minutes remaining and no remaining time on the clock, Verstappen required a competitive final lap. His time of 1:31.303 elevated him from P19 to P3, closing the gap to Norris’s earlier best by 0.196 seconds. He ultimately qualified ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Piastri, while a cautious lap of 1:31.751 allowed Yuki to progress to Q2 in 14th position.
Williams’ Alex Albon was unable to advance to Q2, finishing in P16. Also eliminated were Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who experienced a DRS issue during his final attempt; Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto; Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll; and Haas’ Oliver Bearman.
Q2 was temporarily halted after four minutes when Esteban Ocon lost control of his Haas in Turn 2, resulting in the vehicle sliding backward into the barriers in Turn 3. Following an eight-minute recovery period to retrieve the French driver’s car, the session resumed. Piastri subsequently set the leading time at 1:30.454, which was a tenth of a second faster than Norris. Meanwhile, Verstappen, who was experiencing ongoing understeer and brake performance challenges, opted to abandon his lap.
Team member Yuki Tsunoda faced similar constraints, and for the second consecutive session, the Red Bull drivers were limited to a single lap in an effort to advance to the next stage.
Once again, they demonstrated their capability, although the pair experienced some tense moments toward the end of the session as they narrowly approached the top 10. Ultimately, Piastri secured P12, surpassing Norris, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished third, ahead of both Mercedes drivers.
“I knew that in Q3 there was some lap time. I knew that in Q1 and Q2, I just had to be patient and wait for the track to come towards me in Q3, which was a bit tricky because at the beginning of Q3 everything felt really bad with the old tires,” Leclerc said. “But then as soon as we put the new tires it was quite a bit better. So I’m happy. I did not expect it, but I think it’s a result of… We explored quite a lot of extreme set-ups in the last few weekends and it feels like I found my way a little bit, and little by little I hope there will be more performance to extract from this car in the weekends to come.”
Verstappen secured ninth position, finishing just one hundredth of a second behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, while Tsunoda advanced to P10, narrowly surpassing Alpine’s Jack Doohan by two hundredths of a second.
Along with Doohan, the following individuals were eliminated: Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon.
At the beginning of Q3, Piastri secured provisional pole position with a lap time of 1:30.233, edged 0.2 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, with Norris in third place. The Australian McLaren driver confirmed his second pole of the season with a final lap of 1:29.84, followed by Russell, who was a few tenths behind, and Leclerc in third. Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth for Mercedes; however, both Mercedes drivers faced potential penalties after being summoned for leaving their garages prior to the official restart time during Q2.
Pierre Gasly took fifth place for Alpine ahead of a below par Norris while Verstappen hauled his uncooperative RB21 to seventh with a time of 1:30.423, almost six tenths off pole. Carlos Sainz was eighth for Williams ahead of Hamilton, and Tsunoda took 10th place with his final flyer of 1:31.303.
2025 Fia Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 11:29.841 – –
2 George Russell Mercedes 11:30.009 0.168 0.187
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 11:30.175 0.334 0.372
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 11:30.213 0.372 0.414
5 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 11:30.216 0.375 0.417
6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 11:30.267 0.426 0.474
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 11:30.423 0.582 0.648
8 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 11:30.680 0.839 0.934
9 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 11:30.772 0.931 1.036
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 11:31.303 1.462 1.627
11 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 11:31.245 1.404 1.563
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 11:31.271 1.430 1.592
13 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 11:31.783 1.942 2.162
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 11:31.886 2.045 2.276
15 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari – – –
16 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 11:32.040 2.199 2.448
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 11:32.165 2.324 2.587
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 11:32.186 2.345 2.610
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 11:32.283 2.442 2.718
20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 11:32.373 2.532 2.818
Photo/OscarPiastri/X