What the teams said – Race day in Bahrain

McLaren

Piastri was one of very few drivers not involved in any chaos in a frantic Grand Prix in Bahrain. He was nearly clipped by Russell into Turn 1, but survived that tight moment and from there built a good lead. He was making serene progress until a Safety Car midway through, but handled the restart easily and pulled away to win by over 15 seconds.

READ MORE: ‘We finished the job in style’ – Piastri ‘very proud’ to deliver McLaren’s first Bahrain GP win with commanding display

Norris made an electric start to get up to third, but was found to have parked too far forward in his grid box and was handed a five-second time penalty. He had to overtake both Ferraris on track, making hard work of Hamilton and Leclerc, running wide and locking up before finally making his way through. He then came very, very close to getting Russell too, just running out of time to make a move stick.

Oscar Piastri, 1st

“It's been an incredible weekend, starting off with Qualifying yesterday and it was nice to finish the job in style today. I can't thank the team enough for the car they've given us – it was pretty handy out there!

“I’m very proud of what I've done this weekend and proud to do it here in Bahrain as well. It's obviously a very important race for us, given our ownership. It’s never been a track that’s been kind to us, so it’s great to finally get the first win for the team in Bahrain.”

Lando Norris, 3rd

“An up and down race today. Some frustrating mistakes but still plenty of positives to take away with a strong points finish for the team in Bahrain. It was a really good race throughout, everyone pushing hard, right on the limit, which is always fun to be part of. Congratulations to Oscar and the whole team for today’s result. I’ll now keep my head down and work hard as we head to Saudi Arabia next weekend.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“A very important result in Bahrain at our second home Grand Prix. It’s a first victory for the team here, following on from a first Pole position yesterday. We are all extremely appreciative of the support we receive from our shareholders, now and always. When we were building the team and not achieving the results we are seeing now, they were patient and gave us the resources we needed to set out on our current trajectory.

“Oscar drove pretty much the perfect weekend. He was very solid in each session, every situation, and took the car to a deserved victory. Lando, starting P6, was always going to have to work hard this evening, and a five second penalty made his job even harder – but he put in a very strong performance and ensured we get to celebrate a double podium finish, which is important for both Championships.

“I want to take the opportunity once again to thank our fans for their support, and also the women and men at McLaren, here in Bahrain and back at the factory, who together with our partners, have done a fantastic job delivering this car and supporting the trackside operation. I hope everyone will be enjoying the victory this evening.”

Mercedes

Russell nearly hit Piastri at the start, braking late and just missing collecting the McLaren. He ran second to the McLaren for much of the race. Able to pit for a second time under the Safety Car, he managed to make a set of softs last to the end despite some in-car failures that included his DRS, brake-by-wire and telemetry going down. He just about held off a late charge by Norris for a well earned podium, but was investigated post-race for a DRS infringement. The stewards opted not to give him a penalty as no sporting advantage had been gained.

Antonelli’s race was marred by some bad luck. He pulled off some bold overtakes and was running well in the top 10 after a tricky start, but he came in for his second stop just before the Safety Car. The team opted to pit him a third time when the Safety Car came out, and that dropped him out of the top 10. He came close to recovering a point, finishing just four tenths behind Bearman at the flag.

George Russell, 2nd

"That was a really challenging race. We had some problems in the last 12 laps including a brake-by-wire failure. When I was hitting the brakes, the pedal was inconsistent, and I had to do some resets for it to work properly again. For 10 laps in a row, going into every corner, I didn’t know whether it would be giving me the same feeling or not. It definitely compromised the race, but at the end of the day, bringing the car home in P2 is mega.

"The brake-by-wire failure wasn’t the only technical challenge we were dealing with either! There were all sorts of issues going on with the transponder and the signals going to the car. That meant that we had to manually override the DRS. At one point, I hit the radio button and saw that the DRS was open. I closed it immediately and lifted off the throttle, so we actually gave up time. Happily, the stewards agreed that no sporting advantage was gained. All of those issues compromised that last stint but the main thing is we leave here with another podium and more solid points scored."

Kimi Antonelli, 11th

"That was a difficult race for me today. Being stuck in the dirty air behind several cars played a major role in stalling any progress I was able to make. I pushed hard on my out laps to try and regain track position but then I likely took a little too much out of the tyres. We tried to do something different by switching to the three-stop strategy, but the Safety Car came out shortly after and that took the opportunity away.

"We will review the whole race and see if there are things we could have done differently, but there are definitely still positives we can take away. Qualifying was another good step forwards for me and I felt more and more comfortable racing wheel-to-wheel with others today. Of course, P11 is never the result we are hoping for, but we will have a couple of days off and come back stronger in Jeddah next weekend."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"Today’s race was a challenging one to manage. You could see how quickly it was possible to go from a very good result to a bad one. For George, he did a tremendous job. He definitely saved the podium for the team. He suffered a brake-by-wire failure and was having to manage brake pedal pressure that was changing from corner to corner. To do that without losing any time was amazing. He also nurtured the Soft tyres well in that final stint, was fast when it mattered and defended in all the right places to maximise the result.

"For Kimi, today’s race was one of learning. We opted to take a risk with the strategy but in hindsight, we may have been better putting him on the Hard tyre. He also lost positions in his opening two stints which caused him to push the tyres harder than he would have liked. That is all part of the normal learning trajectory though and he will bounce back next week in Saudi Arabia. We therefore leave Bahrain with mixed feelings. With its abrasive asphalt and high track temperatures, we didn’t come into the weekend with high hopes. To be taking away a podium in P2 is therefore encouraging. There is more work to do to be in the fight for victory at each race though and we will continue to push hard."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"We were slightly disadvantaged with our tyre choice going into the race. The Medium was the best long run tyre and Ferrari and McLaren had two of them to our one. George's race was quite straightforward until he started to have systems failing during the final stint. He was missing a lot of information from the dash, but the biggest problem was that the brake-by-wire system kept failing which made the car very inconsistent. He drove a brilliantly managed stint at the end on the Soft and got through to the finish with enough pace to hold Norris off. We were concerned coming here as McLaren has looked so quick during winter testing at this track. George therefore did a great job to bring home a podium in P2, amongst the other issues he was having to fight.

"Kimi meanwhile had a tough day. His first lap wasn't great as he suffered a few oversteer snaps in the first few corners, was squeezed off track into turn five and lost a couple of positions. That put him in the pack where he was struggling to make progress which resulted in more overheating for the tyres. We took a risk with his strategy but sadly that didn’t work out. It is all part of the learning for Kimi. His long run pace on Friday was just as good as George’s so a better result was possible. He will be striving to deliver that next weekend.

"We have a few days now to prepare for Jeddah. It's great to be back on the podium in Bahrain and, whilst we need to bring a bit of speed to be able to challenge for wins, it's really exciting to have shown such strong pace on a track that is so challenging for the tyres, and we didn’t expect to be particularly competitive at."

Ferrari

Ferrari opted to start on the mediums and not the softs, which saw them struggle off the line. Leclerc lost out to Russell, but once his tyres got up to temperature he managed to stick with the front runners. They ran a longer first stint and wound up leading with Leclerc at one points, dropping back once they pitted. Both drivers pitted a second time under the Safety Car, which jumped Hamilton up the order. From there, they managed somehow to get their hard tyres to work better than some others, coming home fourth and fifth via some entertaining wheel-to-wheel battles.

Lewis Hamilton, 5th

"Overall, it was a solid race. I got a decent start, made some progress early on and felt strong in the middle stint on the medium tyre and was able to make some overtakes. The car had good pace, and I was able to push while mantaining a performance window I hadn’t been able to reach in previous races. The balance faded a little on the hard compound, but I’m pleased, Grazie to the team - the strategy and pit stops were really well executed and made a real difference to the race. We’ve taken some good learnings from this weekend and we’ll carry that momentum into Jeddah. A big thank you as well to all the tifosi for the continuous support, it truly means a lot."

Charles Leclerc, 4th

"There are no regrets after a race like this, we just need to find some more pace. We pushed a bit on the first stint and the second was even faster, but once the Safety Car reset things, our pace just wasn’t good enough to fight the McLarens and George (Russell) in the Mercedes. In general, there is not a particular type of corner where we are lacking, we just need more grip all round.

"We will understand our upgrade better in Jeddah next week, I look forward to finding out what we will learn about it there."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"We had the potential to do better today. The Safety Car did not come at the right time for us, at least for Charles, but this is not an excuse. We were in the middle of a good second stint and our strategy would have given us the chance to decide the tyre for the end of the race between Hard and Soft after having gone for two sets of Mediums in the first part of the race with both our drivers.

"When the Safety Car came out, we had to take it but this spoilt our plans and maybe that’s where we lost the best opportunities to bring home a podium finish. However, we scored good points with both Charles and Lewis who did well to come back after a tough qualifying, producing a strong race which is very encouraging.

"We are where we are: McLaren is still a step ahead but we were fighting with them in the second stint and we have been able to fight with both Mercedes and Red Bulls. We’ll keep working to be more competitive in the next races, starting in Saudi Arabia next week."

Red Bull

Red Bull had a tricky time of it in Bahrain. Neither driver was particularly fast, and both had a slow first stop when the green go light in the pit box malfunctioned. Verstappen was put on the hard tyre for the second stint and really struggled on the C1 rubber, losing a handful of positions. He pitted early to get rid of those and dropped to last. But he therefore did not need to pit when the Safety Car came out, which jumped him back up the order. A strong final stint in the mediums saw him climb back to sixth. As for Tsunoda, he yoyoed up the leaderboard after making his softs last 28 laps at the end. He did make contact with Sainz twice, clipping the Spaniard’s sidepod and also his rear wing, but didn’t pick up a penalty for either move. He made progress late on to climb up to ninth for his first Red Bull points.

Max Verstappen, 6th

“P6 was at least a positive result considering all the things that went wrong today. The start was not good, we struggled with tyre management all race, and I had no grip or pace on the hard tyres. During our pit-stops there was a problem with the lights which cost us a lot of time in the pits and put us back in to traffic. Unfortunately our second pitstop was worse than the first and at one point I was in last place. I enjoyed the fight at the end with Pierre and the overtake on the last lap, I tried to maximise our points until the very end. To finish P6 at the end was the best that we could do, this was not the weekend that we wanted but we have to keep on trying to improve. We are working on finding solutions and solving the issues we have at the moment to hopefully be more competitive in Jeddah."

Yuki Tsunoda, 9th

“Today is another learning curve, I feel like I could have done better, there are still a lot of things we could have done better together and the pit-stop issues lost us position. The pace was good, but I am not fully happy because I still think we could have made up a couple of more positions. It’s only my second race and things come up that you haven’t experienced before, so it’s good a lot of new things are happening in this early phase, so I can maximise things in the future. Overall, it’s my first points with the Team, so it has to be a positive day. I feel like we took a step forward from Suzuka, so I appreciate how the Team have supported me and how we have been able to progress in a good way so quickly. I am not setting a specific goal for Jeddah yet, it’s just about keeping doing what I am doing, I hope to do slightly better in Qualifying and that should make my life easier."

Christian Horner, Team Principal

"Nothing went our way from the start of the race. We’ve been struggling with two issues this weekend, one a braking issue, and secondly an imbalance issue. When you have these issues tyre degradation is also highlighted more. On top of that we’ve had just a horrible day where we had an issue in the pit gantry that caused a problem with the traffic light. The actual pit-stops were actually quite good, but the electric issues definitely impacted our race. For Max to come away with a P6 and to limit the deficit to Lando this weekend despite the challenges we’ve had is the best we could have hoped for. Yuki has had a very solid weekend. Qualifying in the top 10, finishing in the points today, he drove pretty well here in Bahrain. The Team are very much focused on developing the car and hopefully over the next few races there are some updates that are introduced that address the issues raised. This race has exposed some pitfalls that we very clearly have that we need to get on top of quickly, we understand where the issues are but introducing the solutions takes a bit longer. We have a strong technical team that has produced some of the best race cars in the world in the past few seasons so I am confident that we can turn things around. As a Team we are focused on analysing and sorting what is possible when we go again in Jeddah in five days' time."

Alpine

With Gasly starting fourth, there were high hopes of some big points for Alpine. And the Frenchman delivered, not putting a foot wrong in a chaotic race and keeping out of trouble. He started on the softs, swapped to the mediums and then the hards, opting to stay out when the Safety Car came out and jumping back up the field. He lost out to Verstappen on the last lap, but seventh is still a very solid result. As for Doohan, he gained hugely in the Safety Car period by staying out, and looked on for points too. But he dropped a handful of positions late on as his tyres lost life, before being handed a five-second time penalty for track limits late on.

Pierre Gasly, 7th

“I am very happy for the entire team that we scored our first points of the season in seventh place. We lost a position on the last lap to Max [Verstappen] so that is a little disappointing but he won last week so we can really only take the positives from that effort. It was a good start from fourth on the grid and we stayed in the front pack on the first stint. We were a little unfortunate with the timing of the Safety Car after our second stop for Hard tyres. From there it was flat out to the end, just trying to keep Max behind, and we just ran out of tyres to lose the position. Now we focus straight on Jeddah where hopefully we can be competitive. The car feels good in high-speed corners, I was impressed with how it performed here, so hopefully the same again in Saudi Arabia next weekend and we can repeat our level of competitiveness.”

Jack Doohan, 14th

“The result today is disappointing but I am happy that we opened our points tally with Pierre finishing in seventh place. The Soft and Medium tyres felt strong in the race and we were up to ninth place after the first two stints on those compounds and it looked positive for us. We boxed for the Hard to cover some other cars but the Safety Car was deployed at an unfortunate time, which gave some other cars the chance to change to fresher, softer tyres. It was very difficult to keep them behind, we struggled with the rear a bit on that compound, and then we had a time penalty at the end for track limits. We will now continue to keep on building on the progress the team has made this weekend and we have the next race coming up in Jeddah to look forward to in a few days’ time.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal

“As a team we should be satisfied leaving Bahrain with our first points of the season. It’s nice to get off the mark and credit to the effort across Enstone and Viry. The timing of the Safety Car certainly did not help, leaving both cars a bit exposed towards the end with us having pitted before the Safety Car. Pierre gave it everything to try and keep Max behind. It’s always tough to lose a position on the last lap, but he drove a great race and brought home some much needed points for the team. Jack showed promising pace early in the race and across the weekend. In the race, he struggled managing the Hard tyres, dropping back there unfortunately in that last stint. We come away from the weekend with points knowing we have to keep improving in certain areas into Jeddah next week.”

Haas

Haas had a very good recovery in Bahrain considering Saturday saw one driver qualify last and the other end the day in the barriers. Both drivers had a good start, and then the strategy calls went their way. Ocon jumped up through the field after pitting very early, undercutting many cars. He then stayed out when the Safety Car came out, which jumped him even higher – and he managed to hold on to P8. Bearman pitted for the softs under the Safety Car, and showed some serious pace late on to hold on to 10th and the final point despite huge pressure from Antonelli and Albon behind.

Esteban Ocon, 8th

“I’m super happy for the team because I let them down yesterday making that mistake when there was more potential in the car. Today, everything worked out as planned; we got a mega start and managed to get an aggressive strategy to straight away be fighting in the points. From there, it was the maximum we could’ve done as the safety car put us in a bad position, as we were about to get overtaken by Tsunoda, and Ollie benefited as well. It was a great drive from him coming from P20 – a double-points finish for the team. We’re delighted as it’s the maximum we could’ve done and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved.”

Oliver Bearman, 10th

“I feel good, it was a great race. It flew by and those last 20 laps after the safety car I was under pressure trying to hold position with the Mercedes behind, and trying to fight ahead as well – so it was a tough one. I’m so happy to bring a point home for the team after a really tough qualifying yesterday. Of course, it was a bit lucky to get the Safety Car, but I felt really strong in the first stint, the second stint on the hard was a bit tricky, but we caught the safety car which was lucky. Then to hold my position is easier said than done with faster cars around you. I’m proud of how I performed today, and the team did a fantastic job as well.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“What a day. I’m very happy, especially after the disappointment of yesterday – nobody gave up. We knew what we had to do today, we knew we had pace in the car and two drivers who can deliver results. We weren’t dreaming of a double-points finish but honestly, the way we ran the race, how the drivers drove, we had conviction, and we were proactive – we weren’t afraid of anything. I’m really happy to see how everyone is reacting to disappointment - it’s racing, so there’s going to be highs and lows. It’s easy to ride the highs, but not easy to overcome the lows and put a performance like this in. It was another amazing team effort.”

Williams

Sainz had a great start in the top 10, and was running sixth early on. But he could not sustain that pace, dropping out of the top 10 quite rapidly. His evening did not improve when he was handed a 10-second time penalty for forcing Antonelli wide in some very aggressive defending, but it ultimately ended after two separate collisions with Tsunoda. The first saw the Japanese racer hit Sainz’s sidepod, ripping a hole in the bodywork and bringing out the Safety Car with debris scattered across the track. The second was smaller, but the damage was done and the Spaniard had to retire. As for Albon, he came close to the top 10 on a number of occasions but having to run the unfavoured hard tyre for his middle stint did not help him and he wound up just 1.2 seconds off P10.

Alex Albon, 12th

"We were unfortunate today. Points were on the cards, our race pace was really strong, and we had really good first and second stints. Then we got a bit unlucky with the safety car and had to double stack, so we lost a couple of places. I’m generally still happy though; a lot of lessons have been learned that we can carry forward to the rest of the year."

Carlos Sainz, DNF

"A frustrating end to a promising race. After a nice start, I used up my Soft tyres battling hard and trying to keep within DRS of the faster cars around me. Once the Soft compound was done, we stopped and went back at it gaining positions with good overtakes. Unfortunately, the incident with Yuki cost us the race. The impact on my right hand sidepod caused major damage and that was it for me. Despite the end result, there are a lot of positives to take. We had good pace all weekend and could have been in the points today, so we’ll take it as it is and look at how we can come back stronger next week in Saudi."

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber were another team to split strategies, starting Hulkenberg on the softs and Bortoleto on the mediums. The rookie just did not have enough pace to feature, coming home at the back of the field. As for Hulkenberg, he also had a relatively quiet race bar a late battle with Lawson that resulted in some light contact. He couldn’t make it up into the points on a day where 19 cars made it to the flag.

Hulkenberg's car failed a post-race inspection, with the plank wear found to be in breach of the regulations. He was disqualified as a result.

Nico Hulkenberg, DSQ

"It has been a difficult weekend, overall, and tonight was not different. The start wasn't the best – I was on the inside for turn one but then got pushed wide in turn two and lost all my drive heading down to turn four. I ended up last by the time we arrived there, which obviously made things not easier, especially as we were starting on the soft tyre. We pitted early and aggressively, which meant running two very long stints: getting something out of this race was always going to be a long shot after that. This track really exposed some of our car’s weaknesses, so there are important lessons to learn. Over one lap, I think we’re pretty decent if we get everything together, but our long-run pace needs improvement.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, 18th

"It's been a tough afternoon, but we did see some improvements in pace at times. Overtaking was definitely a challenge – as soon as I got close to the car ahead, I just couldn’t find the grip to make a move, especially through the corners. It's obviously frustrating, especially after the Safety Car restart when I was on mediums against the hard tyres of the car in front but still couldn’t find a way through. Overall, it’s crucial to take time to analyse everything and understand how we can improve our performance. In the short term, the goal is to move on from a challenging weekend, take the learnings with us, and focus on Jeddah to finish off this triple header."

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal

"Today was a long afternoon on the pit wall. We tried different strategies and compounds, but none of them seemed to provide Gabriel with the pace advantage we needed to get through traffic. Nico, on the other hand, delivered a very consistent race – despite a collision – and with a few penalties for competitors ahead of him, he managed to secure a P13 finish. While ending the race close to the points, we also recognise the factors that led to this outcome. Now, it’s time to regroup, refocus, and analyse the weekend to uncover any untapped performance."

Racing Bulls

Hadjar did not get away well, which then hampered his evening. He also pitted before the Safety Car and thus lost out as some of his rivals got a cheaper stop. As for Lawson, his race was impacted by two separate incidents. He was penalised twice – firstly for a collision with Stroll, after a Safety Car infringement didn’t warrant an investigation. That earned him a five-second time penalty, and then the Kiwi earned a 10-second penalty for a collision with Hulkenberg late on.

Isack Hadjar, 13th

"The start of the race wasn’t good as I lost four places, and I felt like I wasn’t moving from the grid spot. I didn’t really understand why, so we’ll need to review what happened. I think procedure-wise was okay, but I was wheel spinning, and this put us in the wrong momentum throughout the first lap. A better Qualifying might have changed our race, but overall, our pace and strategy were aggressive today, and I think this was the right way to do it. Unfortunately, though, after the start, we were just too far away, and this didn’t help us; the same with the Safety Car, which didn’t allow us to have an easy restart on used hard tyres. We’ll focus on the bits we missed here in Bahrain to look at adjusting them for the future.”

Liam Lawson, 16th

“The race was action packed. We had good speed but just couldn't really use it and the only way I could overtake was lunging quite late. I wasn't intentionally touching others, but obviously the stewards made their decision with the penalties, so we'll have to review the incidents. It's a shame we don't have the results to show us pushing forwards as a team, as the car was really fast in Qualifying and we didn't get to show it. The car was also fast in the race, but there's obviously only so much you can do starting from the back. It was just a race that just didn't quite come together."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“A difficult weekend in Bahrain, it’s certainly felt like we have lost a little bit of our performance edge, even if it might have been only one or two tenths. It wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked in Qualifying yesterday, or in the race today, especially after a very difficult first lap. All together, we know this midfield is tight. As soon as you slip away one tenth or two tenths of competitiveness, you have a bigger task ahead of you. We are going to tackle this as a team to see how we can improve our package for these types of conditions and concentrate on how we can come back stronger for next time.

"On the driver front, there are positives. It was another strong weekend for Isack; maybe not as smooth as he would have liked but he showed some serious speed this weekend for only his 4th race in Formula One. For Liam, it may not have showed on the time sheet, but he made a very significant step forward compared to Japan. The pace is there, building up step by step. We look forward to being able to piece it all together as we go racing again next week in Jeddah.”

Aston Martin

Aston Martin did not have the pace to compete in Bahrain. They split strategies, Alonso starting on the mediums, Stroll the softs. But that did not help, as both drivers came home well down the order. Stroll also tangled with Lawson behind the Safety Car, which didn’t help his race. With Haas and Alpine scoring, Aston Martin know they need to improve and fast if they want to remain in the mix in what is proving to be an incredibly close midfield fight.

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Fernando Alonso, 15th

"We didn't have the pace all weekend and especially tonight. I was extending my stint on the Medium tyres, but then the Safety Car balanced everything again and we didn't really benefit from it. We expected it to be a difficult track for us and we need to try improve the car for future races. It's a different challenge in Jeddah, so let's see if we can be any better next week."

Lance Stroll, 17th

"There's not much to say about today; it's been a really tough weekend for us. We are not where we want to be at the moment and we are pushing hard to change that. Let's see what learnings we can take from this race and how we do next week. The track characteristics in Jeddah are quite different so let's see how we do there, although we are not expecting any big jumps."

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer

"A tough weekend and an uneventful race, which did not present much of an opportunity to progress up the field. We lacked outright pace today – on all the tyre compounds – and we were not in the fight for points. The Safety Car did not help our cause either with most drivers able to pit and maintain position. We will continue to reflect on how we can improve across all areas ahead of Jeddah."

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“A spectacular race with plenty of battles and overtaking from start to finish. All three compounds chosen for this round, which were actually the same as those last week in Suzuka, were brought into play, creating a mix of strategies that made the race even more interesting.

“The level of degradation, despite slightly cooler temperatures than yesterday and Friday, was still significant across all three compounds, meaning that a two-stop was the only real choice. The performance differences between the Hard, Medium and Soft were clear to see in absolute terms and were also dependent on which cars were using them at different stages, which made the race even more dynamic, especially when one considers how evenly matched the teams are at the moment. In fact, that’s one of our goals as the tyre supplier, namely to provide a reliable product that allows for a range of strategy options, after which it’s up to the teams to make the most of it.

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch up on Piastri’s stellar run to victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix

“Now we head to Jeddah and yet another completely different type of race track, where for the first time this season we will bring a trio of compounds that are softer than those used at this race last year. Let’s see what happens.”