Bahrain GP 2025: Oscar Piastri Pips George Russell to Pole Position, Lewis Hamilton Struggles to P9

The Bahrain GP 2025 saw a very tightly-contested battle for the pole position and it was a battle that was narrowly won by McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. 

Piastri pipped Mercedes driver George Russell to pole position, with his teammate Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli lining up 4th alongside Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in 3rd. 

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris will line up on the third row, his effort securing him P6 alongside a resurgent Pierre Gasly, who dragged his Alpine to a shocking P5 finish. 

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But the biggest disappointments came from the Red Bull drivers, with Max Verstappen only managing P7 and Yuki Tsunoda ensuring he starts P10 on the grid. 

Lewis Hamilton also continued his struggles at the start of his Ferrari career, managing a P9 finish behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz who was P8. 

Albon's Bad Luck Causes Q1 Elimination

Arguably the unluckiest driver of the session was Alex Albon, who finished P16 but was later promoted up to P15 after the stewards deleted a lap time of Nico Hulkenberg - 45 minutes after the lap was completed! 

The mix-up will have frustrated Williams, as it denied them a chance of potentially having 2 drivers in the final qualifying session. 

Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll and Ollie Bearman were the other 4 drivers whose qualifying ended after Q1. 

Ocon Crash Disrupts Q2

An Esteban Ocon crash left the session temporarily red flagged and disrupted the runs of several drivers, although Ocon was okay in the end. 

He did, however, give the Haas mechanics an all-nighter of a task to get the car ready for the race - and will start in P14 instead of P15 due to the aforementioned lap time deletion for Hulkenberg. 

Hulkenberg, Jack Doohan, Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso were the drivers who missed out on a spot in the shootout.