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| George Russell (Left), Oscar Piastri (Middle), and Charles Leclerc (Right) are all smiles after Qualifying. Photo Credit: Guiseppe Cacace / AFP via Getty Images |
In an unsurprising end to qualifying, McLaren sits on top yet again as Oscar Piastri takes pole for the second time this year in 4 races. His teammate, and current Drivers’ Championship leader, Lando Norris will only be starting in P6 after a disappointing qualifying session.
Recap
Charles Leclerc managed to claim P3 during the last qualifying session, but after George Russell and Kimi Antonelli received a 1 place grid penalty for going onto the track too early after a red flag occurred in FP2, Leclerc would be starting at P2, with Russell behind him in P3. This gives Leclerc his best start this season as he attempts to climb a few more positions on the leaderboard.
Antonelli has been a monster so far in the first few races of the season, starting in the top 10 every race so far. As a rookie, this is a huge deal and should not be overlooked, because we could be witnessing the birth of a F1 legend right before our eyes. Antonelli put together a marvelous lap, and took pole for a brief period during Q3 before being knocked back to P4. Unfortunately for the rookie, the penalty received by Mercedes would mean he would start P5 in the race today.
Verstappen didn't seem to have the best qualifying session, as he will be starting back in P7, and will have quite a lot of work to do if he plans on finishing ahead of Norris to potentially take the lead in the Drivers’ standings. Verstappen is an excellent racer, and he should never be counted out with his aggressive style and freakish consistency.
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| Pierre Gasly during a run in Qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Photo Credit: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images |
Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly had an outstanding run in the Alpine, which secured him P4 at the start thanks to the Mercedes blunder, putting him directly ahead of Norris and Verstappen. Gasly will definitely need to keep his composure if he intends on keeping them behind him for very long, so a good defensive effort and consistency will be key for him today.
Other notable performances include Yuki Tsunoda, who locked in P10 during qualifying, and giving him his best start of the season so far - which looks good for him in the Red Bull Racing machine! Hopefully Tsunoda can perform well for the team, and bring in the points they desperately need to contend for the championship.
Lewis Hamilton was only able to lock in P9, but he is a 7-time World Champ, so if anyone can make a play for the Top 5, it's definitely him if he can drive the way he did during the Chinese Sprint Race. Unfortunately, I don't think we've seen Lewis hit his stride yet with the Scuderia, but I hope to see him do well.
Carlos Sainz also had a good qualifying session, seeing him get his best start of the season at P8. I'm not sure what's going on with Carlos, but he definitely hasn't seemed to hit his stride with Williams yet, but hopefully this will be a nice boost to his confidence!
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| The Haas garage will have plenty to do ahead of the Grand Prix after Esteban Ocon found the barriers during Q2. Photo Credit: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images |
Aston Martin also seems to be struggling so far this season, with Stroll getting knocked out in Q1 and starting P19, and Alonso making it up to P13 in Q2. I'm glad to see Alonso doing a bit better, but it's still a far cry from where he should be at. Stroll on the hand is performing exactly how I imagined he would as the son of the team owner. I wouldn't mind seeing the team do well, but personally, I don't believe Stroll is a good enough driver to ever see him in contention for the championship.
2025 Bahrain GP Starting Grid after Penalties
P2 - C. Leclerc
P3 - G. Russell
P4 - P. Gasly
P5 - K. Antonelli
P6 - L. Norris
P7 - M. Verstappen
P8 - C. Sainz
P9 - L. Hamilton
P10 - Y. Tsunoda
P11 - J. Doohan
P12 - I. Hadjar
P13 - F. Alonso
P14 - E. Ocon
P15 - A. Albon
P16 - N. Hülkenberg
P17 - L. Lawson
P18 - G. Bortoleto
P19 - L. Stroll
P20 - O. Bearman
Looking Forward
The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix will be starting in about 10 minutes, and I for one am truly excited to see how it pans out! This should be a pretty good race, and I'm interested to see how both Norris and Verstappen will do starting so far back. This is definitely Piastri's race to win, but Leclerc and Russell won't make it easy on him either, so it should be an exciting race to say the least!
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