Oscar Piastri felt controlled all-through in F1 Bahrain GP win as he talks about gelling with the car and title chances, with Andrea Stella rating his drive.
It was straightforward run for McLaren’s Piastri in F1 Bahrain GP. While Lando Norris binned it in qualifying, the Australian took the mantle to secure pole and back it up with a win. It was relatively easy drive in the front after maintaining lead at start, apart from a moment after the safety car.
The choices for Piastri were straightforward as well. There was a chance that he could have had to defend against Norris after he leapt to third, but he couldn’t push any further than that. “It’s been a great weekend – maybe not FP1, because that was pretty diabolical for everyone, but FP2 onwards has been very, very strong,” he said.
“I was happy after qualifying and I think that made quite a big difference. So yeah, very, very pleased with how the weekend’s gone and happy to come away with another win. In terms of strategy, we kind of thought most people would start on the Soft. George only had one Medium and one Hard, and there were quite a lot of people around us that were in the same boat.
“So yeah, we felt starting on the Soft was going to be the best option, and I think it was the right choice in the end. So pleased with how we managed everything. I think we had the pace today to be able to manage things pretty well. But yeah, I think we made all the right calls. I think both [race wins] have been good. I’ve been happy with how I’ve driven all season so far.
“Maybe not all the results have been exactly what I wanted, but I think this weekend has definitely been the result I wanted. So yeah, been proud of the job that I’ve been doing and very proud of the job the team’s done. Obviously the car is in a great place. Still has its moments where it bites, but for a lot of the time it’s an incredible car to drive and clearly very quick.
“So yeah, very proud of the work we’re doing. This has been a track that’s not been kind to us in the past, so to have a weekend like we have had this weekend is a really meaningful result – outside of the victory,” summed up Piastri, who when asked about his side of story in terms of gelling with the car, the Australian alluded to the trickiness, but noted that he felt comfortable in the car in Bahrain.
“I mean, this weekend I felt comfortable with it. I think there have been times where it’s been tricky, definitely,” continued Piastri. “But I would say for the most part, I’ve been pretty happy with the car, to be honest. Clearly it’s got a lot of pace. We’ve kind of known from pre-season testing that there’s some things that we wanted to iron out, but I think we’ve done a very good job of doing that.
“And yeah, I think for myself, I’ve been comfortable – especially this weekend – in what the car’s been able to do. And I think the team’s been doing a great job,” summed up Piastri. When asked if being close to Norris in the drivers’ standings puts the title scenario firmly between the two McLaren drivers, he felt that they were already in the fight from Melbourne onward.
They are the two sure contenders from the get go. “I mean, I thought it started from Melbourne, to be honest,” said Piastri. “But yeah, it’s still so early. I think at the moment we’ve got a great car underneath us. I feel like for the most part we’ve been able to do a good job with it. I mean, I think we’re in the positions we should be in. I think it’s going to be a tight battle.
“I think there are going to be other contenders. What we’ve seen at the moment is… We’ve not had a consistent challenger week in, week out. It’s kind of been somebody different, which from the championship point of view makes life difficult for others. But yeah, I think it’s going to be a tight year, definitely. And I think as long as we have the best car, it’s going to be tight between Lando and I.”
Team boss Stella couldn’t decide if Baku in 2024 was better performance from Piastri or the 2025 one in Bahrain. He reckoned this one was on the robust side, while the other one was a full game of overtaking a rival and soaking the pressure to take the victory – either way, the Australian showed his class.
“Tricky question because right now I would really need to go through what he did previously,” started Stella to media. “If you think of the victory in Baku, for instance, it was a pretty crystalline, clinic victory, that one with Leclerc attacking him every single lap. For me, this one is the one in which he’s been just, I think, most robust. No hesitations, no inaccuracies.
“Everything that was available, he capitalised on. So for me, this gives me more the sense of robustness, you know, solid racing. I think the Baku one was more on the edge…it was more pressure, this one was more managing gaps, if anything. But obviously, being strong at the start, restarts, it shouldn’t be given for granted for somebody who is at the 50th race in F1, which is quite impressive.
“In relation to the fact that we exploited a point of strength of the car, like a gentle interaction with the rear tyres, in fairness, hearing from our competitors, it looked like we have a completely different category, which is not the case. Because as long as we were on the same tyres, Russell was keeping the pressure on. And it’s not like Oscar was managing very much.
“Oscar was trying to open a gap. You know, last year with Verstappen, if you look at the race trace of last year, it just opened one second a lap, basically. That’s dominance, that’s good interaction with tyres. Our gap is nothing that makes us sleep very quietly, in fairness.”
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-bahrain-grand-prix-norris-jumps-up-to-p3-on-the-race-start-as-piastri-leads.1829300366391332176
Here’s win for Oscar Piastri: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-bahrain-grand-prix-piastri-crosses-the-line-to-take-his-second-victory-of-the-season.1829308803574629567
Here’s Lando Norris on Bahrain, Andrea Stella on car suiting Oscar Piastri
Here’s how F1 Bahrain GP panned out
