SAKHIR, Bahrain – Oscar Piastri delivered a surprising pole position for McLaren in a closely contested Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying session on Saturday.
Lando Norris, the championship favorite, could only manage sixth place, giving his teammate a significant advantage in what is increasingly appearing to be a direct competition between the McLaren drivers this season.
Piastri`s fastest lap was 1:29.841, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Mercedes` George Russell, who was later moved down to third. Both Mercedes drivers received a one-place grid penalty from the stewards on Saturday evening due to a pit lane infraction.
Ferrari`s Charles Leclerc will now start on the front row alongside Piastri, having been promoted ahead of Russell.
McLaren had demonstrated strong performance throughout practice and the initial qualifying sessions, but the competition tightened up significantly towards the end of Q3.
Piastri secured the second pole position of his Formula 1 career, and McLaren`s first ever in Bahrain.
Following his achievement, Piastri commented, `I felt confident throughout the weekend. FP1 was quite an experience for everyone – it felt more like driving a rally car than an F1 car. However, from then on, I felt very comfortable with the car.`
`We showed good pace in FP3, and while the others closed the gap in qualifying more than I would have liked, I still managed to put in the crucial laps when it counted most. I am very pleased with the result.`
Norris seemed to falter on his final Q3 run, finishing behind Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will start fifth after the penalty, and Pierre Gasly of Alpine, who impressed to qualify fourth.
When questioned about what went wrong during the session, Norris simply stated, `Honestly, I have no idea. I just wasn`t fast enough.`
The general consensus within the paddock is that McLaren maintains a performance edge in race conditions. Bahrain, being a track conducive to overtaking, should offer Norris opportunities to advance through the field on Sunday. However, he has placed himself with a significant amount of work to do.
Behind Norris, Max Verstappen, the winner of the Japanese Grand Prix, had to settle for seventh for Red Bull. Nevertheless, the team will be encouraged by Yuki Tsunoda`s progression to Q3 and his eventual tenth-place qualifying position.
Lewis Hamilton had his initial Q3 lap time deleted due to track limits and will start from ninth on the grid.
Esteban Ocon, driving for Haas, caused a red flag incident when he crashed out of Q3 at Turn 3, on the opposite side of the track from Romain Grosjean`s notorious fiery crash in 2020.
Ocon escaped unharmed from the crash, but it will present Haas with substantial repair work leading up to Sunday evening`s race.
Revised Bahrain GP Grid, Top 10
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Carlos Sainz, Williams
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
- Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
Dominic Ashworth