F1 Bahrain GP: Piastri takes pole, Norris and Verstappen out of top 5

Oscar Piastri beat George Russell to pole position in Bahrain, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen down in sixth and seventh.

Piastri looked the quicker of the two McLaren cars from Q2, and he then cemented his pole on the deciding run on a rapidly improving Sakhir track.

Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari ahead of the second Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with Pierre Gasly taking a stunning fifth place on the grid for Alpine.

Norris looked set to challenge Piastri and Russell for the front row, but a relatively poor final lap left him down in sixth. McLaren’s main challenger Red Bull suffered a disappointing qualifying session with Verstappen down in seventh.

Q1: Red Bulls under pressure

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images

Red Bull was under pressure from the start of qualifying as Verstappen went off the track on the final corner of his flyer, while team-mate Tsunoda also lost his lap for track limits. Verstappen reported “there’s something really wrong with the car” but still managed to go through in third, two tenths behind session leader Norris, while Tsunoda also advanced.

Surprisingly, Alex Albon was out of Q1 for the first time this year, taking 16th in the Williams, as was Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, who suffered a DRS issue. They were joined in the drop zone by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll and Haas’ Oliver Bearman, who lost a shot at Q2 with a poor second sector, reporting problems with locking the front tyres.

Q2: Red flag after Ocon suffers crash

Q2 was quickly red-flagged for a crash by Haas driver Esteban Ocon coming out of Turn 2. Starting his flying lap, the Frenchman already started suffering oversteer coming out of the corner, and then lost control as soon as his unsettled car crossed the exit kerbs, spinning into the left-hand side wall. Ocon reported he was okay, with the session resuming after an eight-minute delay.

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team crash car

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Motorsport Images

After the interruption McLaren wasted no time going first, this time Piastri leading Norris by a tenth. Alpine once again proved the surprise package with Gasly taking third ahead of both Mercedes cars. His team-mate Doohan looked set to join him in Q3, but a weaker final sector left the Australian in 11th.

Behind Doohan, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar was knocked out in 12th, with Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso also eliminated, the latter slower on his compromised Q2 lap than he had been in Q1. The second qualifying phase again delivered an ominous warning for the Red Bulls, with Verstappen and Tsunoda scraping through in ninth and 10th.

Q3: Norris, Verstappen trip up

Verstappen also had a poor first lap in Q3 due to what he described as brake issues, while Piastri led early doors with a 1m30.233s, a tenth ahead of Russell and Norris. The trio was a second clear of the rest, led by Ferrari’s Leclerc and Hamilton.

Antonelli and then Russell cycled through to take provisional pole on the final run, before Piastri restored McLaren’s advantage with his second career pole position.

Leclerc managed to split the Mercedes cars in third, with Antonelli rallying from having his first lap deleted for track limits by grabbing his best F1 qualifying result in fourth.

Gasly delighted Alpine with fifth on the grid, qualifying just 0.003s behind Antonelli and ahead of a disappointed Norris and Verstappen. Carlos Sainz was eighth for Williams, with Hamilton failing to qualify higher than ninth after also seeing his first lap deleted for track limits.

Tsunoda rounded out the top 10 due to not managing to put a clean lap together, but the Japanese driver’s Q3 berth signals some progress on his side of the Red Bull garage.

Bahrain GP qualifying results

Photos from Bahrain GP – Practice & Qualifying