Piastri beats Russell, Norris only sixth on mixed up Bahrain grid
Oscar Piastri took pole position for Formula 1's Bahrain Grand Prix, but team-mate Lando Norris ended up down in sixth with a disastrous Q3 run
Oscar Piastri took pole position for Formula 1's Bahrain Grand Prix, but team-mate Lando Norris ended up down in sixth with a disastrous Q3 run.
McLaren topped every practice session as well as Q1 and Q2 but it came under intense pressure during the closing stages of Q3.
Both McLarens had their early benchmarks beaten by multiple drivers, with George Russell going fastest for Mercedes ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.
But Piastri delivered on his final lap, setting a 1m29.841s that was good enough to take McLaren's first pole in Bahrain and secure himself a huge intra-team victory as he aims to close down his 13-point gap to Norris in the drivers' standings.
His championship-leading team-mate Norris couldn't deliver the laptime needed on that crucial final run, ending up over four tenths adrift of Piastri with four cars in between them, leaving him sixth on the grid.
Russell was second ahead of Leclerc and his rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who qualified a career-best fourth.
Pierre Gasly was a superb fifth fastest for Alpine, easily the peak of the team's point-less season so far.
Norris was sixth, only one place ahead of his nearest challenger Max Verstappen - who salvaged seventh on the grid from a difficult qualifying session for Red Bull.
Verstappen was frustrated with his brakes throughout qualifying, narrowly avoiding Q1 and Q2 exits with last-gasp flying laps and ending up just under six tenths adrift of Piastri in Q3.
Carlos Sainz enjoyed his strongest qualifying with Williams yet in eighth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, whose recent tricky time with the SF-25 continued.
Yuki Tsunoda made it into Q3 for the first time as a Red Bull Racing driver, lapping just over two tenths slower than Verstappen in Q2. But he went slower in Q3 and was 10th.
Huge Ocon crash red flags Q2
Esteban Ocon lost control of his VF-25 through Turns 2/3 and smashed his Haas to pieces, red-flagging Q2 after just four minutes.
Ocon had shown strong pace in Q1, comprehensively outqualifying team-mate Ollie Bearman and was looking like a Q3 threat.
His team now faces an extensive repair job ahead of the grand prix on Sunday.
Jack Doohan’s Alpine was fifth in Q1 but he was 11th in Q2, denied a first Q3 appearance by Tsunoda by just 0.017s.
Isack Hadjar placing 12th marked the worst qualifying of his rookie year, such has been the strength of his one-lap speed so far. But he was still comfortably the quickest Racing Bulls car.
Fernando Alonso was 13th for Aston Martin, the slowest driver to set a time in Q2 with Ocon crashing before he set a proper flying lap and Nico Hulkenberg having his fastest laptime deleted - for the second time in qualifying, it would later transpire.
Albon's first 2025 defeat (+controversial exit)
Alex Albon suffered his first intra-team qualifying defeat of 2025 as he was knocked out of Q1 in 16th place, 0.042s from safety and over four tenths slower than Sainz.
Albon lost a couple of tenths to a lock-up in Turn 4, but Williams team boss James Vowles admitted that the team's preparation for Albon’s lap also contributed to his exit.
Still, Albon should ultimately have made Q2 - a 1m31.998s lap from Hulkenberg that got him through to Q2 at Albon's expense was subsequently deleted but almost 45 minutes after the end of Q1.
Albon was sat in the pitlane for a long time with the blankets off and had to overtake multiple cars on his outlap, meaning his tyres were too cold by the time he started his flying lap.
Hampered by a DRS issue, Liam Lawson was nearly six tenths slower than Hadjar in Q1 and out in 17th place ahead of Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll.
Ollie Bearman couldn't follow up his stand-out Suzuka qualifying effort nor strong Bahrain practice pace, instead ending up 20th and slowest of all in Q1, compounding a difficult day for Haas.
Bahrain GP provisional grid
1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
2 George Russell (Mercedes)
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
5 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
6 Lando Norris (McLaren)
7 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
8 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
9 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
10 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
11 Jack Doohan (Alpine)
12 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
13 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
14 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
15 Alex Albon (Williams)
16 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
17 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
18 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
20 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
