Piastri takes pole in Bahrain

Oscar Piastri takes pole position after setting a time of 1:29.841. The Australian driver will start from the front row alongside George Russell, while Charles Leclerc will start from third place.

Photo: Mclaren

At this circuit, track limits always play a key role, and this qualifying session was no exception. Several drivers had their lap times deleted for exceeding the permitted margins, which significantly affected their positions.

During the first part of the session, Max Verstappen struggled considerably with his car. As he mentioned yesterday, the team wasn't fast enough, and this was reflected in his performance.

The first drivers eliminated from qualifying were Alex Albon, Liam Lawson who suffered a DRS failure that closed immediately after opening, preventing him from using it Bortoleto, Lance Stroll, and Ollie Bearman. The latter finished in last place after having his time deleted for going outside the track limits.

Nico Hülkenberg was also involved in a unique situation. The Sauber driver initially advanced to Q2 thanks to a fast lap, which the marshals initially refused to disallow. However, after qualifying, it was confirmed that he had exceeded track limits on that lap. As a result, his time was disallowed, and Hülkenberg dropped to 16th place, effectively eliminating him from the second round of qualifying.

In the second part of qualifying, there was a significant interruption caused by a red flag. Esteban Ocon lost control of his car at turn three, went off the track, and ended up hitting the barriers. The impact was severe and completely damaged the rear of the Alpine car, although, fortunately, the driver was unharmed.

After the session restarted, the drivers eliminated in this phase were Jack Doohan, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon himself.

Currently, both Mercedes drivers are under investigation for a possible violation following the red flag in Q2. According to reports, the team sent George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to the pit lane before the stewards gave the official order to restart the session. This could be considered a sporting advantage, as it allowed them to position themselves first in the pit lane queue, giving them a better position to return to the track.

The investigation is ongoing, and if the stewards determine a violation occurred, both drivers could receive a penalty that would result in them losing grid positions.

top 10

Piastri

Russell

Leclerc

Antonelli

Gasly

Norris

Verstappen

Sainz

Hamilton

Tsunoda