McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took his second pole position of 2025 with a dominant performance in qualifying for the FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in which he finished almost two tenths tenth of a second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and three clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as championship-leading team-mate Lando Norris could only manage sixth and Japanese GP winner Max Verstappen was seventh. 

At the start of Q1, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso set the early pace with a lap of 1:32.362. Verstappen was on track soon after and looked set to ease past the Spaniard with his first flyer, but he locked up in Turn 15 and immediately abandoned the lap. He headed back to the pits saying, “something wrong with the car”. 

At the top of the table Norris took over, with the McLaren driver posting a lap of 1:31.107, two tenths of a second ahead of Piastri who was over three tenths ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

With a little under three minutes remaining, and with no time on the board, Verstappen needed a strong final flyer. His 1:31.303 lifted him from P19 to P3, just 0.196 off Norris’s earlier table topper, behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and ahead of Piastri, while a conservative 1:31.751 took Yuki through to Q2 in 14th place. 

However, there was no way through to Q2 for Williams’ Alex Albon who went out in P16 along with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson who had a DRS problem on his final run, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Haas’ Oliver Bearman.

Q2 was disrupted after just four minutes when Esteban Ocon lost control of his Haas in Turn 2 and slid backwards into the barriers in Turn 3. After an eight-minute delay to retrieve the Frenchman’s car the session got underway once more. Piastri quickly set the pace at 1:30.454, a tenth ahead of Norris, but further back Verstappen, still struggling with understeer and brake issues, abandoned his lap. 

Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was similarly disadvantaged and for the second session in a row the Red Bull drivers were restricted to a single lap to try to get through to the next stage. 

Once again, they were up to the task, but the pair had to endure nervous moments at the end of the session as they slid to the edge of the top 10. In the end, as Piastri took P12 ahead of Norris with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly taking third ahead of both Mercedes cars, 

Verstappen made it through in ninth place just one hundredth behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton while Tsunoda scraped through in P10 just two hundredths of a second ahead of Alpine’s Jack Doohan.

Eliminated along with Doohan were Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the unfortunate Ocon. 

At the start of Q3 Piastri took provisional pole with a lap of 1:30.233, two tenths clear of Mercedes’ George Russell and with Norris third. And the Australian McLaren driver made sure of his second pole of the season with a final run of 1:29.84, with Russell a couple of tenths behind and with Leclerc in third. Kimi Antonelli took fourth for Mercedes but both Mercedes drivers could lose out having been summoned for leaving their garages ahead of a confirmed restart time in Q2. 

Pierre Gasly took fifth place for Alpine ahead of a below par Norris while Verstappen hauled his uncooperative RB21 to seventh with a time of 1:30.423, almost six tenths off pole. Carlos Sainz was eighth for Williams ahead of Hamilton, and Tsunoda took 10th place with his final flyer of 1:31.303.

2025 Fia Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 11:29.841 - -
2 George Russell Mercedes 11:30.009 0.168 0.187
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 11:30.175 0.334 0.372
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 11:30.213 0.372 0.414
5 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 11:30.216 0.375 0.417
6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 11:30.267 0.426 0.474
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 11:30.423 0.582 0.648
8 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 11:30.680 0.839 0.934
9 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 11:30.772 0.931 1.036
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 11:31.303 1.462 1.627
11 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 11:31.245 1.404 1.563
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 11:31.271 1.430 1.592
13 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 11:31.783 1.942 2.162
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 11:31.886 2.045 2.276
15 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari - - -
16 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 11:32.040 2.199 2.448
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 11:32.165 2.324 2.587
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 11:32.186 2.345 2.610
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 11:32.283 2.442 2.718
20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 11:32.373 2.532 2.818