Piastri celebrates 50th race with win from pole in Bahrain

SAKHIR (Agencies): Oscar Piastri celebrated his 50th Formula One race with a pole-to-flag win in Bahrain on Sunday that catapulted him into second overall and three points behind championship leading McLaren teammate Lando Norris. Norris had to settle for third, after having to fight back from a five-second penalty for a jumped start from sixth on the grid. Mercedes’ George Russell held off his fellow Briton, denying him a third successive second place in a tense battle over the closing laps. Russell was summoned to the stewards for an alleged breach of the drag reduction system rules but they decided not to apply a penalty, with the results confirmed. “It’s been an incredible weekend, starting off with qualifying yesterday and to finish the job today in style was nice,” said Piastri, who won by 15.499 seconds despite a safety car period wiping out his initial lead.

“It’s obviously a very important race for us, given our owners, and it’s never been a track that’s been kind to us. So it’s nice to have that first win for the team (in Bahrain),” added the Australian. Since the first Grand Prix at Sakhir in 2004, McLaren had never won at the desert circuit that hosts a home race for the British team’s biggest shareholder. Piastri also became the season’s first repeat winner in four races. Norris now has 77 points to Piastri’s 74, with McLaren on 151 in the constructors’ standings and Mercedes second on 93. “I think at the beginning I was too far back, so I tried to creep forward and crept forward and did the opposite,” said Norris of his botched start. “First time I’ve ever done this in my life. Shouldn’t happen, but it did – and I paid the price for it.” Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, passed by Norris eight laps from the end, and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth, with the Italian team’s former boss Luca di Montezemolo waving the chequered flag as fireworks lit up the night sky.

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Leclerc and Hamilton started on a different strategy to Mercedes and McLaren, lining up with medium tyres rather than the softs. Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen, who had been only a point behind Norris after winning in Japan last weekend, finished sixth after being slowed by a faulty pit signal and dropped to third in the standings. Pierre Gasly scored Alpine’s first points of the campaign in seventh and former teammate Esteban Ocon, who crashed heavily in qualifying, redeemed himself with eighth for Haas. Yuki Tsunoda delivered Red Bull’s first double points finish of the year in ninth and the final point was secured for Haas by British rookie Oliver Bearman, who started last.

The safety car was deployed on the 32nd of 57 laps as officials cleared debris on the track, with the leading drivers all pitting and Piastri seeing his seven second lead evaporate. When it came in, Norris chased Leclerc and finally made a move stick after several failed attempts with the McLaren driver accusing the Monegasque of forcing him off at one point. “I made too many mistakes with the overtakes,” said Norris. “It was a messy race for me and I’m disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren because it would have been lovely at home.” Russell was an obstacle too far despite the Mercedes driver battling various electrical systems problems. “It felt all under control for a moment and then suddenly we had a brake-by-wire failure. So suddenly the pedal was going long, and then it was going short,” said Russell. “I didn’t know what was going on. The steering wheel wasn’t working properly, so it was really hard fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap, he would have got me pretty comfortably.”