Key events
Lap 26/57: Both Ferraris have conjured some pace of out somewhere. Hamilton sneaks past Ocon and into the top six.
Lap 25/57: Hang on, what’s going on here? Leclerc is giving Norris a run for his money in a fierce battle for third. And he’s past him! Superb from the Ferrari driver.
Norris is trying to fight back …
Lap 23/57: You already get the sense this isn’t going to be Max Verstappen’s day. He’s already aired a number of frustrations on the Red Bull radio.
“I can’t even brake anymore. It’s just ridiculous.”
He’s down to ninth, with teammate Tsunoda 11th.
Lap 22/57: Right towards the back are the two Aston Martins, Fernando Alonso (17th) and Lance Stroll (18th), who have lacked speed all weekend. Bortoleto is dead last in the Sauber.
Lap 21/57: “No grip at all,” is the cry from Verstappen on the radio with the rookie Antonelli overtaking the reigning world champion. You don’t see that very often.
Antonelli now has Ocon and Gasly in his sights. Impressive stuff from the Mercedes youngster.
Lap 20/57: Leclerc didn’t have too many issues getting past Gasly. Hamilton looks to be finding things tougher, but he’s just climbed back into the top 10.
Everyone in that top 10 bar Verstappen is now on the medium compound tyres.
As things stand in the top 10 as we approach the 20th lap:
Piastri
Russell
Norris
Leclerc
Gasly
Ocon
Verstappen
Antonelli
Doohan
Tsunoda
Lap 18/57: Piastri will get his lead back when the two Ferraris finally pit. He’s sat nicely in third.
Lap 16/57: Norris clearly has a lot of speed. He’s not had a problem overtaking in the middle of the field. He’s up to sixth and has Alex Albon – who has not yet pitted – in his sights.
Piastri is the next one to pit. The two Ferraris are out still there and leading, having started with medium tyres.
Lap 14/57: There’s definitely an issue in the Red Bull pit box today. Both Verstappen and Tsunoda were delayed by an extra few unnecessary seconds.
Russell swaps soft tyres for mediums after a far quicker box. He emerges back out in eighth.
Lap 13/57: Norris now finds himself way down in 13th after that time penalty and a spell in the pit lane.
Where can he haul himself up to? His teammate Piastri is way ahead at the front, enjoying the clean air.
Max Verstappen has had a change of tyre with Red Bull opting for the hard tyres for the next portion of the race. Looked like he was stuck in the box for a few extra seconds … not sure why that happened.
Lap 11/57: Some of the drivers on the soft tyres are starting to lose a bit of pace. Pierre Gasly, who had some early speed and looked strong in qualifying, is one of those.
A few might be thinking about pitting. Lando Norris is one who does … serving his time penalty as he does.
Lap 9/57: Sainz and Hamilton go wheel-to-wheel, with the Williams man almost letting the Brit go past him before a counter-move to get his place back.
… and in the end DRS helps Hamilton steam past Sainz on the straight.
Lap 8/57: Gasly believes Leclerc is struggling with his medium tyres … so the Alpine driver might just bide his time and wait for an opening.
Norris has been given a five-second time penalty, so he’ll slip way down from third to around P7 or P8.
Lap 6/57: Replays do show Norris’ tyres were way over his grid box on the start – hence why Race Control are looking into a potential false start. Verstappen dobbed him in on the radio, too.
“He doesn’t leave me a car’s width,” says Verstappen on the Red Bull team radio after he was forced slightly off the track in that tussle with Sainz.
He’s gone beyond the Spaniard in any case.
Lap 5/57: Only Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso, Lawson and Bortoleto have gone for medium tyres from the start. The rest are on softs and will have to pit fairly early.
Antonelli has just wriggled his way past Sainz, with Verstappen trying to do the same now. A battle for sixth.
Lando Norris might be in trouble … he’s being investigated for a possible false start. Oh dear. He’d done so well to climb from sixth to third as well, but a likely time penalty could be on its way.
Lap 3/57: Ollie Bearman continues to impress with his overtaking skills … he started right at the back of the grid but he’s already 15h.
Nobody has employed DRS on the straights yet.
Lap 2/57: Piastri is already extending his lead at the front … he’s going to be near-impossible to catch. There are all sorts of skirmishes going on further back in the field.
It’s Piastri, Russell, Norris, Leclerc and then Gasly as the top five right now. And Carlos Sainz has jumped up to sixth after the opening lap.
Turn 1: George Russell whizzes past Charles Leclerc and almost hits Piastri too! Norris also speeds beyond two or three cars … he’s into the top three. What a start that was.
Lights out
… and away we gooooooo!
The drivers are off for their formation lap with the sun just setting in Sakhir.
Seems like most teams are going for a two-stop strategy today, mostly on the medium tyres in Bahrain – although some will consider the harder tyres.
We had quite a static race in Japan a week ago. This ought to be quite different with a high level of degradation on the asphalt track in Bahrain. Less than five minutes now … the grid is finally starting to clear of bodies.
It’s pushing 30C in Sakhir right now, even with the sun dropping. Tyres overheating has been an issue for a few teams and drivers this weekend.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton here doing his 125637th interview of an average race weekend:
It’s a really, really great team, the energy and passion within the team is just incredible. I’ve just got to work on delivering [more] for them and try and see if I can get a bit further ahead today and get some points. Charles [Leclerc] did an amazing job yesterday so I really hope today he can have a chance at winning, that would be amazing for the team. We keep pushing.
It’s now that time where the grid is absolutely packed with anybody and everybody. Not too long til we’re off and racing.
Lando Norris was very down on himself talking to the media after yesterday’s qualifying. He said he felt “clueless” in an “amazing car” and took sole blame for finishing P6 … it must hurt him to see Piastri flying and in pole, I guess.
“I’ve just got to work on myself,” he said. “I can’t fault the team and the car is the best by a long way. But clearly I’m just not clicking at the minute.”
McLaren have never triumphed in a Bahrain GP let’s remember. Zak Brown has been asked about it and said it was time to change the history books.
Piastri is a big favourite to do exactly that today. He will take some beating.
How they will line up on the grid
Full qualifying standings – note that Mercedes were investigated for allowing their cars to leave the garage too early after a red flag and George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were given one-place grid penalties.
Piastri
Leclerc
Russell
Gasly
Antonelli
Norris
Verstappen
Sainz
Hamilton
Tsunoda
Doohan
Hadjar
Alonso
Ocon
Albon
Hulkenberg
Lawson
Bortoleto
Stroll
Bearman
Preamble
Each Grand Prix this season so far has been won by the driver in pole position, with a different driver claiming each eace. It was Lando Norris in Australia, Oscar Piastri in China and (somehow) Max Verstappen in Japan. So does that mean Piastri, who is on pole today, is destined for glory in Bahrain? Or will we get a fourth different winner?
A Piastri victory would take him to the top of the world championship standings. He’s certainly got a healthy advantage over his McLaren teammate – and current leader – Norris, who qualified down in sixth. It would take a miracle for the Brit to overhaul his orange-clad colleague.
It was also interesting to see the two Mercedes, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, go so fast in qualifying, while Pierre Gasly was speedy in his Alpine, too. A Verstappen win here is incredibly unlikely, given that he qualified down in seventh, still ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in that seemingly cursed Red Bull second seat.
It’s lights out and away we go at 4pm (BST) so stay tuned for all the buildup from the Bahrain International Circuit.
