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Motorsport

Blame it on the driver or the car?: The winners and losers of F1's Bahrain GP

Lando Norris F1 Bahrain Liam Lawson Max Verstappen McLaren Esteban Ocon George Russell Haas Oscar Piastri

Bahrain's tough Sakhir circuit finally served up a spectacle that put F1's 10 teams through the wringer. Here's who passed the test with flying colours and who failed to make the cut.

Winner: Oscar Piastri / Loser: Lando Norris

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

Lando Norris has got a bit of as problem. On a weekend where he struggled to extract the maximum out of his problem, his team-mate, Oscar Piastri, looked untouchable as the Australian cruised from pole to his second win of the season. It was a pretty ominous performance by the young Australian as he took his fourth career victory, contrasting with a scruffy weekend for Norris that will prompt some soul searching.

Amid all that talk over pressure and mental fortitude which accompanies anything Norris does, could the real problem be that he just hasn't clicked with the 2025 McLaren? The new car is a rapid but significantly different beast than the 2024 machine. That is what he believes, and the team has also admitted there are changes it could make to help Norris feel more confident in the car.

Whatever the cause, Norris has so far taken a step backwards compared to last year, and Piastri's form has gone in the opposite direction. McLaren firmly remains in the driving seat, but it will have some work to do to get Norris firing on all cylinders again.

Winner: George Russell

George Russell, Mercedes (Photo by: Giuseppe Cacace - AFP - Getty Images)

As the team-by-team form curve behind McLaren changes from weekend to weekend, George Russell has turned into Mr. Consistency, snaring his third podium in four races.

The manner in which he has done so in Bahrain makes it the most impressive of the lot. Hounded by the quicker McLaren of Norris, Russell battled distractions caused by electronic issues, a brake-by-wire failure, manual DRS use and a glitching dashboard to deftly fend off Norris' late advances. All on 20+ lap old soft tyres.

Yes, Norris should have probably done better on the more durable medium tyres, but that is not Russell's problem. McLaren's imperious form makes it too early to turn Russell into a title contender, he admitted. But on form alone he is right up there.

Loser: Red Bull

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Giuseppe Cacace - AFP - Getty Images)

Where to start with Red Bull? After keeping up appearances in Melbourne and China, and counting on some Max magic in Japan, Bahrain provided a damning picture of how the mighty have fallen.

A lack of balance and grip was further exposed in the desert heat of the abrasive Sakhir circuit, and to make matters worse seventh-place starting Max Verstappen only reserved two sets of the less popular hards, which even saw him dropped by Haas driver Esteban Ocon at one stage, and passed by Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, before limiting the damage towards the end. And then there were Verstappen's two slow pitstops, both for varying reasons.

Straight after the race, Red Bull's key members convened in the team's hospitality unit for what appeared to be a crisis meeting, with Helmut Marko reporting the team is extremely concerned by the "alarming" weekend's proceedings. A silver lining is that Yuki Tsunoda has had quite a convincing weekend to finish ninth, the first decent weekend for Red Bull's second car in ages. But it needs to start getting on top of its car issues quickly if it wants to stay in the hunt.

Winner: Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly, Alpine, Carlos Sainz, Williams (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

Alpine's season is finally up and running as Pierre Gasly puts six points on the board with a classy drive to seventh. Gasly built the foundation with an excellent qualifying lap that eventually put him fourth on the grid. And in a tricky race he didn't put a foot wrong and was somewhat unfortunate to lose sixth to Verstappen on the last lap.

It is also a welcome tonic for Alpine that has started the season with a decent car - a huge turnaround compared to the misery of last year's season start - but hadn't yet been able to put it all together over a weekend.

Loser: Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team, Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

Liam Lawson’s Red Bull move didn't work out, largely due to the team's fault. His Racing Bulls return hasn't really worked out yet either, with the New Zealander being outshone by rookie Isack Hadjar for now, who has had much more time in the 2025 VCARB 02 and has adapted swimmingly to life in F1.

There's a risk that Lawson's disjointed start to 2025 will cost him in the long run, and his Bahrain weekend was one messy affair. Problems with his DRS switch hampered his qualifying efforts, while he was in the wars in the midfield on Sunday's race that drew the attention of the FIA stewards. His performance wasn't as bad as his result showed, but it appears as though the Racing Bulls car as a whole has also lost a touch of performance relative to midfield rivals. Hadjar didn't finish higher than 12th either.

Winner: Haas

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team (Photo by: Kym Illman - Getty Images)

Yes, you saw that right. Two Haas cars generally keeping up and trading places with the two Red Bulls. Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman had a lot of work to do to get there as well, too, starting from 14th and 20th respectively. But the pair was extremely aggressive with an early undercut and then made that gain of track position stick despite a stint on the difficult hards.

Team boss Ayao Komatsu was beside himself with joy after the finish after what he labelled a complete team performance, from drivers to strategy to execution. And he was right, as it was quite the turnaround from Ocon's heavy crash in FP2. Haas still has some aerodynamic issues to solve, but meanwhile it is still banking valuable points in the midfield.

Loser: Aston Martin

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing (Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images)

If 2025 is to be a veritable annus horribilis for Aston Martin then Bahrain may well be its lowest ebb. The AMR25 doesn't do particularly well in traction and slow corners, which was duly punished at Sakhir's layout. From 13th on the grid, Fernando Alonso was powerless to finish higher than 15th, one minute behind the winner. Lance Stroll fared worse after a wrong set-up left him in 17th with an understeer-y car.

The steering wheel coming off Alonso's car in practice is quite the symbolic for this season's prospects, with the Spaniard stating to the media afterwards that it'll be difficult to score any more points this year. On the evidence of Bahrain, he is right. Saudi Arabia's fast layout should suit the car more, but it will still take external circumstances to get into the top 10. Meanwhile, Alpine and Haas are both scoring.