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Oscar Piastri wins the Bahrain Grand Prix! He is the first driver to win two grands prix this year.
Norris is told Russell’s timing problem may cause problems with DRS activation and he must avoid using it when he’s not within a second. “We can only use DRS when we’re 100% sure we’re within it.”
Norris will get a penalty if he goes outside track limits once more.
Russell is under investigation for using his DRS outside of the activation zone, which ordinarily isn’t possible, but he has a problem with the timing transponder in his car.
L52 Norris gets a good run out of turn one, Norris finally gets him on the outside of turn four. Meanwhile Russell ahead is having trouble with his gearshifts.
Mercedes are now warning Russell his dash display may turn off.
Norris: “He pushed me off.” Joseph: “That was very clear he pushed you off.”
L49 Norris finally gets Leclerc defending again in their fight for third place. Leclerc forces him wide at turn four but that looked legitimate – Norris wasn’t fully alongside on the way in.
Sainz: “They should investigate Yuki because what he did to me was just stupid, exit of turn one.”
L46 Norris gets within range of Leclerc – and locks up and runs wide at turn one.
The stewards spring to life: Lawson gets five seconds for causing contact with Hulkenberg and Sainz gets 10 for forcing Antonelli off the track.
McLaren urging Norris to use more of the pace in his tyre to attack Leclerc. He’s almost within the vital one second range.
L38 Norris re-passes Hamilton for fourth, though Russell has briefly disappeared from second place on the timing screen, he is there.
Sainz puts an uncompromising pass on Antonelli for 14th place at turn 10.
Joseph tells Norris to give fourth place back to Hamilton. Just as Verstappen did to the same driver in this race four years ago.
L35 Restart. Norris is immediately on Leclerc’s tail but can’t pass him and Hamilton takes advantage to pinch fourth off him. Norris retakes him but he may have had all four wheels off-track at turn four.
We’ve got a real mix of compounds for the restart: Leader Piastri on mediums, Russell on soft, Leclerc on hard and Norris on medium. Hamilton now fifth on medium. “Great job with that stop guys,” he tells his team.
The FIA confirms the Safety Car was deployed because of debris.
L32 Safety Car deployed.
Yuki Tsunoda gets a bit lairy fighting Sainz and touches the Williams. Moments later a part comes off the Red Bull.
L29 Alpine, who are on course to finally score their first points of the season, pit both their drivers on the same lap.
L27 Verstappen is the first driver to make their second pit stop. It’s a very slow stop, he was stationary for over six seconds. He rejoins last behind Bortoleto.
L25 Both Ferrari drivers gain places: Leclerc from Norris at turn four and Hamilton from Antonelli at turn one.
Leclerc makes an unsuccessful attempt to pass Norris at turn one.
Antonelli and Hadjar have both had black-and-white flags for track limits infringements so they’re at risk of penalties if they stray wide again.
L22 Hamilton passes Doohan and Verstappen in succession – the latter nothing like his usual combative self. “I can’t even brake any more, it’s ridiculous,” he complains.
L20 Verstappen is not enjoying life on the hard rubber. Antonelli passes him for seventh.
Norris: “This tyre doesn’t feel bad but it doesn’t feel amazing.”
L18 Leclerc pits from the lead for mediums, so he will have to make a second stop. Hamilton has also been in for the same.
Haas have been noted for a potential unsafe release on Bearman.
L15 Piastri pits which puts Leclerc in the lead.
The stewards confirm no further investigation over Verstappen as Sainz. As noted earlier Verstappen appeared to be within track limits when he made the pass.
L14 Russell pits and comes out ahead of Norris.
Tsunoda had the same problem as Verstappen when he pitted, not getting a green signal. “Yellow was flashing, man,” he points out.
That wasn’t a very quick stop for Verstappen, who appeared not to get a green signal telling him to leave the Red Bull pit box.
The stewards have noted a turn four incident between Verstappen and Sainz. Do they think the Red Bull driver completed the pass outside track limits?
L11 Norris pits, serves his five-second penalty, and heads out on mediums. Gasly and Verstappen also pit and come out behind him.
L9 Hamilton works Sainz over for eighth place and finally gets him in the DRS zone approaching turn 11. Tsunoda follows him through.
Joseph to Norris: “Lando we’ve been given a five-second penalty for out of position on the grid. If we can get past Russell we need to try.” Later he adds: “We will recover these positions.”
Norris has been given a five second time penalty for being out of position at the start.
Replays show Verstappen wasn’t far enough alongside Sainz to be entitled to a car’s width at the exit of turn four, but the Williams driver did leave him enough space to complete the pass within track limits.
L5 Antonelli regains sixth place from Sainz. Verstappen then takes the Williams on the outside of turn four. He appeared to stay within the limits, which have been extended there, but complains the Williams driver did not leave him a car’s width.
What looked like a great start for Norris may not have been – he’s been noted for a potential false start.
Drivers are immediately being to to look after their tyres after the start.
L2 Sainz is impressively up to sixth in the Williams having passed Antonelli and Verstappen.
The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix is go! Piastri keeps his lead at the start, Russell is up to second, Leclerc loses third to Norris who’s made a great getaway.
According to Pirelli, a set of soft tyres gains 3.13 metres under acceleration from 0-150kph compared to a set of mediums, so Russell will be eyeing a chance to pass Leclerc as they pull away.
The drivers’ tyre choices for the start of the race are as follows: Everyone on softs except Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Lawson and Bortoleto on medium.
Track temperature is 33C, air temperature 27C ahead of the start.
The pre-race national anthem performance is coming up and all the drivers better make sure they’re on time as the fine could be up to €60,000 if they don’t…
As usual we’ve compiled all the key strategy information for the race in one place here.
The pit lane exit light turns green and the first drivers head out to perform their reconnaissance laps, including Esteban Ocon in his extensively repaired Haas following his shunt in Q2.
The FIA has confirmed the official starting grid with no further changes since George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s penalties. Here it is.
Max Verstappen is only seventh. He’s been complaining about his brakes a lot this weekend and Red Bull have made several changes in that area since qualifying. The FIA documents note they have changed the right-hand-side front brake infrared sensor, left-hand-side rear brake caliper cooling spat, front and rear brake friction material and other parameters associated with that.
McLaren have been the favourites since the word go, as they have taken good care of their tyres around this high-degradation circuit, but even that can’t be taken for granted if Oscar Piastri fails to hold onto his lead at the start. And Lando Norris will need a good first lap as he seeks to fight his way forward from sixth.
We’ve got a fascinating line-up at the sharp end of the grid today with four different teams represented in the top four places and, remarkably, none of them are last week’s winners Red Bull.
We’re one hour away from the start of the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix.
