Oscar Piatri secured the pole position for the Grand Prix of Bahrain 2025, but the dominance of McLaren was far from feared in the Sachir desert as it was feared as after the third free training. In the end, Piatri was just 0.168 seconds ahead of George Russell (Mercedes) and 0.334 seconds on Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
The great loser of qualifying was Piatris teammate Lando Norris (McLaren), who did not optimally get his last round (sliding output curve 1) and was sixth with 0.426 seconds. “Wonderful,” was his cynical comment on the box radio when he had run over the finish line.
Fourth, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), followed by Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who made it attracted several times during qualifying with outstanding intermediate times in the second sector. 8th place went to Carlos Sainz (Williams), who was able to win a qualifying team duel for himself for the first time since his departure of Ferrari, and 9th place to Lewis Hamilton (half a second slower than Leclerc).
The qualifying was difficult from the perspective of Red Bull. After a tremor in Q1 and Q2, Max Verstappen was still able to operate damage limitation with 7th place. His gap to the poles: 0.582 seconds.
“My brakes are terrible. I can’t brake at all. So bad,” Verstapped in between. After the first Q1 run, he was even behind Yuki Tsunoda, who made the top 10 feed this time and ended up tenth with 0.880 seconds behind Verstappen.
What was the cause of Ocons Crash in Q2?
Q2 was less than four minutes old when the session had to be interrupted for the first time. At the Haas team, unsightly memories of Romain Grosjean’s fire accident may have been awakened in 2020, or the departure of Nikita Masepin in 2021 when Esteban Ocon exit curve 2 crashed into the wall. But this time the impact was by no means so violent, and Ocon did not suffer any injuries: “I’m okay. Sorry. I’m really sorry, guys,” he said on the box radio.
Possible cause: the wind that had shot compared to the third free training. When Hülkenberg was informed about Ocons Crash and the scene of the accident, he sparked: “That is where I almost lost it.” The difference: Hülkenberg was able to intercept the tail of his clean clean, Ocon no longer that of the Haas.
After the first run in Q2 and the red flag, some drivers, who initially started on used tires, stopped their laps prematurely. This was how the Red Bull Pilots Verstappen, Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), as before, was on the second round in Q1. And Hamilton in Ferrari hadn’t set any time either.
In the decisive second run, Hadjar ended in 12th place and was eliminated, but Verstappen and Tsunoda just made the cut as ninth and tenth. In the end, Tsunoda was 0.209 seconds behind Verstappen, which is a first small sense of achievement for him after the zero number at the Red Bull premiere in Suzuka.
One that he had to tremble until the end. Because while Gasly confidently moved into the Q3 as third parties, Jack Doohan was also over two out of three sectors on top 10 course in the second alpine. Just because he could not improve his time marked in the third sector, he was missing 0.017 seconds in Tsunoda. The bottom line is 11th for the Australian.
In addition to Doohan and Hadjar, it also caught Fernando Alonso (13./aston Martin), Ocon (14th) and Nico Hülkenberg (15./sauber) in Q2. By the way, there was a curiosity: in Q1 he had done the cut with a time of 1: 31,998. The time was later deleted for track limits in curve 11.
The hook on it: that only happened when Q3 was already in progress – and came too late for Alexander Albon (Williams), who would have received a round as the 15th if the FIA commissioners had made the decision to cut Hülberg’s time …
Red Bull tremor in Q1: How tight was it?
For Red Bull it looked very dark after the first runs in Q1. Verstappen (“Something is really wrong with the car”) had slowed down in the last curve and had come directly to the box without putting a time, and Tsunoda’s time was canceled in the same place for track limits. Hadjar was in 17th place, so Liam Lawson was the only one from the Red Bull Quartet on top 15 course (13th).
So the second run had to fix it, and he completely turned the result upside down from a red bull perspective. At first, Hadjar made an improvement that brought him 10th place in Q1, then Verstappen drove to 3rd place, and finally Tsunoda also pushed himself up to position 14. Lawson slipped to 17th place. In the end, the New Zealand was missing 0.167 seconds on the P15 cut (Hülkenberg).
Behind Hülkenberg was Albon 16. – After the previous seasonal achievements, and his first defeat in direct qualifying comparison with Sainz (11th), around 0.449 seconds. 17. Lawson, followed by Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Oliver Bearman (Haas).
Albon is annoyed with his early on: “I had to overtake four or five cars in my out-lap. Then we stood in the pit lane for a long time, without heating allows, while all other cars went out. So we started the round with 15 degrees to cold tires, and that was basically so low here, we say that every week. And this time we simply have no good run plan for Q1.”