Penalties galore, reliability gremlins and plenty of feisty battles made for an entertaining and often chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix. Not that Oscar Piastri knew about any of that.
The Australian was in complete command over the 57 laps and converted pole position into McLaren’s first ever win in the Gulf state. He clearly had the quickest car and used it to dominate – the rest of them had about as much chance of stopping him as 85-year-old Sir Jackie Stewart did, in the 1973 title-winning Tyrrell he drove for a few demonstration laps on track before the race.
Piastri’s victory cut team-mate Lando Norris’ championship lead to three points and sparked a McLaren party, despite George Russell just holding on to deny them the one-two finish they craved. “I’m sure there’s going to be a hell of a party,” the winner smiled.
“I’m not going to get involved because there’s another race next week. But it’s been a great weekend for everybody and it’s a great place to do it. I’m sure everybody will enjoy it, as they should.”
Russell’s successful bid to hold off Norris late on was made all the more impressive by the fact his Mercedes was being plagued by issues. He looked mightily relieved to have kept his place on the podium as he said: “It felt all under control, but then we had a brake-by-wire failure, so the pedal was going long and then going short – I didn’t know what was going on.
“Then, the steering wheel wasn’t working properly, so it was really hard-fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap and he would have got me pretty comfortably, but I’m pretty pleased with P2.”
Charles Leclerc spent most of the race in the podium spots and held up Norris for a long time but eventually watched with despair as the McLaren roared past. He glumly said: “We are just not fast enough – that’s the summary.
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“We don’t have the pace in the car. Mercedes were quite a bit better in terms of degradation to us. The pace was just not there and it’s very disappointing when you do everything quite well but it’s only P4.”
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton was one place behind and secured the best Grand Prix result of his short and difficult Ferrari career to date. And the seven-time champion feels he is finally making progress in his new surroundings.
He said: “I’ve been driving the same car with the same team for such a long time. I’ve moved to a new car and it requires a much different driving style so I’m adjusting to that, and I think I’m slowly getting it into my head. I’m doing it all the hard way right now. I think I’ve figured out how the car likes to drive so, if I can apply that next week and qualify better, I can have a much better weekend.”
British rookie Oliver Bearman was one of the stars of the race and drove from last on the grid to finish 10th in his Haas. He beamed: “I was really happy with how things played out. I was lucky with the safety car to get a new set of tyres, but I felt like I executed it really well.”
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