The Most Memorable Moments from the Bahrain Grand Prix
- Meghan Petruk
- 1 minute ago
- 4 min read
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri converted his pole position to a second win of the season this past Sunday, marking the fourth win of his Formula 1 career. Piastri was in a league of his own, finishing over 15 seconds ahead of his rivals, including Mercedes driver, George Russell, who was busy fending off Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris. The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix also marked Oscar Piastri’s 50th grand prix in Formula 1. Is this the start of McLaren’s year for a second consecutive World Constructors Championship?
Red Bull Pit Light Fiasco
Red Bull just could not get a good pit stop this weekend with multiple delays in the pits. Red Bull suffered a unique issue this past weekend, where the lights on the pit gantry were not working, making their driver's unaware if it was safe to exit the pit box. To add to their woes, the team also suffered a problem with taking off their tires. This cost Red Bull valuable time in the race and contributed to their troubled weekend. Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda still managed to stay in the points, finishing P6 and P9 respectively. The pair had a tough go last weekend, but they battled their way through, earning their first double points of the season.
George’s Car Falling Apart
George Russell held on to a P2 finish after multiple problems emerged with his car in the race’s final laps. The end of the race saw an exciting battle between Russell and Norris while Russell dealt with his transponder malfunctioning, a faulty DRS, and a brake-by-wire issue. Even with everything seemingly falling a part on him, George was able to maintain position and held off Lando. Following the conclusion of the race, the FIA was investigated George’s use of DRS manually in a non-DRS zone, however no penalty was awarded.
Different Tyre Strategies
What made the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix even more interesting was how many different tyre strategies were being used. This race saw cars on softs, mediums, and hards, as well as two stops and three stops attempted. One of the best strategies last weekend was by far Haas' strategy. Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman both took home points, finishing P8 and P10 respectively. Bearman started the race in P20 making up 10 spaces on the grid, while Ocon had a great recovery drive after crashing out in qualifying.
Busy Weekend for the FIA
The race start saw Lando Norris receive a 5 second penalty, as he was slightly out of position in the grid box at the start of the race. Lando was still able to make up several places, going from P6 to P3, despite the penalty. Liam Lawson received a 5 second penalty after a collision with Lance Stroll, while Jack Doohan received 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits too many times. Several drivers were also issued a warning in the final laps for exceeding track limits too many times, including Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli. Liam Lawson was hit with another penalty, this time a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Nico Hülkenberg; however, Hülkenberg was later disqualified from the race due to a skid block breach. It is easy to say that the FIA had their hands full in Bahrain.
Lewis Hamilton Driver of the Day
As much as we all love Lewis Hamilton, there was a lot of confusion as to how he ended up winning Driver of the Day with 29.6% of the fan vote. This is the third race in a row where fans have taken to the internet to share their surprise and jokes over the fan voted award. Previously Kimi Antonelli won in the Chinese Grand Prix (20.7% of vote) and Yuki Tsunoda won in his home race in Japan (23.7% of vote), which again surprised fans. Do you think we'll see another odd winner in Saudi Arabia this weekend?
Gasly’s Weekend to Remember
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly scored the team’s first points of the season with a 7th place finish. He qualified P5, Alpine’s best of the season, and finished just behind the two Ferraris in the race. Overall, a great weekend and excellent drive for the Frenchman.
Sainz Possible Points to 10 Second Penalty
Carlos was looking for points this weekend with an excellent performance in qualifying on Saturday; however, Sunday was not as kind to him. He was hit with a 10 second penalty for forcing Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli off the track, and then the Spanish driver was involved in a collision with Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull. The incident caused too much damage to the car and Sainz was forced to retire from the race.
Edited by Neha Grewal
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