Why F1 superstars were out of sorts as Piastri took control in Bahrain

After dominating the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole, Oscar Piastri was asked how he felt in the McLaren. “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.”

He was asked the question partly because of how his team mate Lando Norris — who finished a scrappy third after qualifying only sixth — had articulated his disappointment with his own performance. “I wish I knew the answer… you just know when things click, when you feel confident and comfortable. I’m confident that I have everything I need and I’ve got what it takes. But something’s just not clicking with me and the car. I’m not able to do any of the laps like I was doing last season. Then, I knew every single corner, everything that was going to happen with the car – how it was going to happen. I felt on top of the car. This year, I could not have felt more opposite so far. Even in Australia, whether or not I won the race, I never felt comfortable, never felt confident.

“The car was just mega and that’s helping me get out of a lot of problems at the minute. But I’m just nowhere near the capability that I have – which hurts to say. Is it me? Is it some of the car? It’s complicated. But I’m not doubting myself, even though sometimes it may seem like that. It’s just something’s not gelling, something’s not clicking, and therefore I just don’t feel comfortable when I’m in the car.”

The McLarens sandwiched George Russell’s Mercedes at the flag and that second place represented a brilliant performance, Russell remaining calm in the late stages as Norris filled his mirrors and sometimes got alongside, this despite a litany of technical glitches in the Merc and being on very worn soft tyres to the more robust mediums of Norris.

Norris made an error in Turn 1 on his final lap of qualifying, manoeuvred outside of his grid box at the start (incurring a 5sec penalty) and several times placed himself on the wrong bit of track as he recovered from the penalty and attacked Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. He eventually got by but it delayed his arrival on Russell’s tail. “I should’ve been P2 today,” Norris surmised.

Ferrari’s new floor didn’t significantly change its competitiveness. Leclerc’s distant fourth was the maximum feasible. It might have been more if Ferrari’s unusual medium-starting tyre strategy hadn’t been foiled by the safety car, but that would only have been flattering its actual level. Lewis Hamilton eventually got himself up behind Leclerc, with the help of a safety car which wiped out the previous deficit. “I’ve been driving a certain way for such a long time and I’m in a new car which requires such a different driving style and settings – I’m using engine braking settings I’ve never used before for example. I’m on Brembo [brakes] after years of CIs. I’m slowly getting it. But Charles starts with a set-up and stays with it. I need to try to start from a better place and not deviate too much from it.”

The track’s abrasive surface and the demanding layout made for a much tougher tyre challenge than Suzuka a week ago. As such, the pole position and race winner there was out of the picture here, Max Verstappen qualifying seventh and finishing sixth in his Red Bull, ambushing Pierre Gasly’s much-improved Alpine on the last lap. An early stop strategy boosted Esteban Ocon’s Haas past many cars and he held on very well thereafter to take eighth place ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull and the other Haas of the fast-starting, tough-dicing Oliver Bearman.

There were some bad luck stories around the timing of the safety car, but it didn’t change the identity of the winner. In a weekend of total control, that was never going to be anyone other than Piastri.