Oscar Piastri on Sunday celebrated his 50th Formula One race with a pole-to-flag win in Bahrain that catapulted him into second overall and three points behind championship leading McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Norris had to settle for third, after having to fight back from a five-second penalty for a jumped start from sixth on the grid.
Mercedes’ George Russell held off his fellow Briton, denying him a third successive second place in a tense battle over the closing laps.
Photo: Reuters
Russell was summoned to the stewards for an alleged breach of the drag reduction system rules, but they did not apply a penalty, with the results confirmed.
“It’s been an incredible weekend, starting off with qualifying yesterday and to finish the job today in style was nice,” said Piastri, who won by 15.499 seconds, despite a safety car period wiping out his initial lead.
“It’s obviously a very important race for us, given our owners, and it’s never been a track that’s been kind to us. So it’s nice to have that first win for the team” in Bahrain, the Australian added.
Since the first Grand Prix at Sakhir in 2004, McLaren had never won at the desert circuit that hosts a home race for the British team’s biggest shareholder.
Piastri also became the season’s first repeat winner in four races.
Norris has 77 points to Piastri’s 74, with McLaren on 151 in the constructors’ standings and Mercedes second on 93.
“I think at the beginning I was too far back, so I tried to creep forward and crept forward and did the opposite,” Norris said of his botched start. “First time I’ve ever done this in my life. Shouldn’t happen, but it did — and I paid the price for it.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, passed by Norris eight laps from the end, and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth, with the Italian team’s former boss Luca di Montezemolo waving the checkered flag as fireworks lit up the night sky.
Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen, who had been only a point behind Norris after winning in Japan last weekend, finished sixth after being slowed by a faulty pit signal and dropped to third in the standings.
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