The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend delivered another slew of thrills, spills and controversies, marked by rookie debuts, team shakeups, and a commanding performance from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. From the heat of FP1 with six fresh faces on track to a drama-filled race that saw strategy twists, technical issues, and post-race penalties, the weekend set the tone for an unpredictable and competitive season ahead.
The Chronicle Headlines
- Six rookies took the wheel as part of mandatory FP1 runs during the 2025 Bahrain GP F1 weekend, with impressive showings from Ayumu Iwasa and Formula 2 drivers Dino Beganovic and Luke Browning.
- Oscar Piastri commanded the weekend’s sessions, showing blistering pace while his teammate Lando Norris appeared to struggle with confidence in the car throughout the weekend. The Aussie cruised from lights out to chequered flag in P1 while the grid grappled with tricky tyre strategy behind.
- Nico Hülkenberg was disqualified from the race following a technical infringement. His car’s rearmost skid came in under the minimum thickness required within the Technical Regulations in post-race scrutineering.
- Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were dealt one-place grid penalties post-Quali after they left the pits too early during a red flag.
- Red Bull suffered multiple pit stop issues during the race after their signalling system appeared to be faulty, confusing the drivers. Reigning Drivers’ Champion Verstappen struggled throughout the weekend as the Milton Keynes team were outpaced by their competitors.
- Alpine scored their first points of the season after Pierre Gasly drove to P7, the car showing more pace than in previous races. Gasly’s teammate Doohan, on the other hand, found himself out the points and with a five-second penalty for track limit infringements.
FP1: Fresh Faces Take Centre Stage
Under Formula 1’s sporting regulations, teams must run a rookie driver outwith full-time drivers in four FP1 sessions over the season to allow the up-and-coming talent crucial track time. This weekend’s opening session featured six rookies, making for a lively session full of fresh talent. Red Bull entrusted Ayumu Iwasa with Max Verstappen’s RB21, while Ferrari brought in rising star Dino Beganovic to stand in for Charles Leclerc. Mercedes turned to Fred Vesti to replace George Russell, and Aston Martin handed Felipe Drugovich a stint in place of Lance Stroll. Haas gave Japanese hopeful Ryo Hirakawa some mileage, while Williams offered F3 standout Luke Browning his first taste of Formula 1 machinery.
The rookies braved the Bahraini heat to clock up their first laps, gathering valuable data without disrupting the teams’ set-up plans for the evening. Iwasa and Browning impressed early on with solid stints. However, it was a rocky start for Kimi Antonelli on his debut with Mercedes, with a water pressure issue curtailing his session just ten minutes in. Lando Norris looked cool, calm and collected from the outset, topping the timesheets with a 1:33.204. Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari slotted into second and third respectively, although grip levels proved challenging for many. Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson branded his car “shocking”, while several others struggled for traction in the searing conditions.
FP2: McLaren Show Their Hand
With rookie duties completed, FP2 began under the floodlights – the first real opportunity to assess race and qualifying performance. After a quiet FP1, Oscar Piastri set the tone for the weekend with a searing lap of 1:30.505. McLaren looked a cut above, with Norris reinforcing his earlier pace and Piastri underlining the team’s genuine competitiveness. However, Norris looked significantly less at-home in the McLaren than his Aussie counterpart.
Max Verstappen continued to wrestle with set-up woes, locking up into Turn 10 and reporting a “very bad ride” over team radio, with DRS and brake balance issues persisting. Fernando Alonso’s session was cut short by an electronics failure, hampering Aston Martin’s data collection. The Spaniard found himself without a steering wheel momentarily after it detached while the Aston Martin was still on track.
FP3: Piastri Dominates Once More
As temperatures soared again, FP3 provided a glimpse of race-day conditions. Piastri was in a league of his own, leading the session with a 1:31.646 – nearly seven-tenths clear of team-mate Norris. Leclerc rounded out the top three but remained some way off the McLarens, suggesting Ferrari still had work to do ahead of Qualifying.
Verstappen, still unsettled in the RB21, aborted several flying laps before retreating to the pits. George Russell and Antonelli continued to methodically run through their programmes. Minor incidents were common – Nico Hülkenberg stalled at Turn 8, Leclerc lost a wing mirror, and Russell spun at Turn 10, describing it as the “worst grip” he’d experienced in F1 as they circled the Bahrain International Circuit.
Qualifying: Piastri Commands Pole
The battle for Pole was intense, but McLaren’s ascendancy continued. Piastri delivered a sensational 1:29.841 to snatch pole position. Russell, who initially qualified second, was making it known that the Mercedes meant business. Leclerc, unable to match the McLaren pace, settled for fourth. Hamilton’s deleted lap due to track limits left him ninth. However, a Q2 crash for Haas’ Esteban Ocon had ramifications for Russell and his rookie counterpart Antonelli; the two were handed a one-place grid penalty each for leaving the pits early during a red flag. Russell dropped to P3, his teammate to P4.
Pierre Gasly produced an excellent lap for fifth, while Norris ended up sixth after a scrappy final run. Verstappen, still battling an unsettled car, could only manage seventh. Esteban Ocon crashed out in Q2, while Jack Doohan narrowly missed out in 11th. Traffic and set-up woes saw Lawson and Stroll among the early exits.
Race: Piastri Cruises to Victory
Starting from Pole, Piastri led confidently, fending off an early challenge from Russell, who briefly looked ahead into Turn 1. Norris launched a brilliant start, vaulting from sixth to third with a bold move around the outside of Leclerc. However, Norris’ excellent start was quickly dampened when he was handed a five-second penalty for lining up outside his grid box at the start, prompting a strategic shakeup by McLaren.
The opening exchanges saw Verstappen embroiled in a fight with Carlos Sainz, controversially completing an overtake off-track. Pit stops began as early as Lap 10, with Norris serving his five-second penalty during his first stop. Verstappen’s woes continued, losing time in a sluggish stop and slipping out of the points after the Red Bull pit crew’s signalling lights failed to turn green as it should.
A Safety Car was deployed after contact between Sainz and Tsunoda, who was sliding across the track on old tyres at Turn 2 left debris scattered across the circuit. The Red Bull team’s faulty light would once again cause carnage for the crew when his teammate, Tsunoda, became confused by an orange flashing light on the signalling. The restart reshuffled strategies – McLaren and Mercedes opted for fresh tyres, while Verstappen stayed out. When the race resumed, Piastri retained control as Norris fought his way back, passing Hamilton after a brief off-track moment.
Who Else Benefitted?
Despite lingering issues with his car, Russell held firm in second, while Verstappen recovered to sixth with a late move on Gasly. Gasly, however, was happy with a points-paying position, taking Alpine off the zero-points mark for the 2025 season;
“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.”
Piastri cruised home for a commanding victory, signalling McLaren’s intent as serious contenders for the season ahead.
Post-Race Penalties Galore
Even after the chequered flag, there was plenty of drama unfolding as the drivers headed off to the media pen. George Russell, who had been struggling with the deployment of his DRS during the race, was remanded to the Stewards for operating the system outwith the DRS zones. The Brit would be let off, after Stewards determined the advantage Russell initially gained was swiftly offset by a slight de-acceleration.
RB’s Liam Lawson and Alpine’s Jack Doohan would be less fortunate; Lawson was dealt three penalty points and fifteen seconds worth of penalties for causing two separate collisions; one with Stroll and another with Hülkenberg. Doohan was handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits too many times. However, it was Hülkenberg who would come out of the weekend the worst; the German was disqualified from the race after his rearmost skid came in under the minimum thickness required within the Technical Regulations.
The teams now head to the deserts of Saudi Arabia this weekend. McLaren will look to increase their lead, while some teams will be on a recovery mission.
FEATURED IMAGE: McLaren Racing