'Very happy' Oscar Piastri storms to second career F1 pole for Bahrain Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri has taken the second pole position of his F1 career, setting the fastest time in qualifying for Monday morning's (AEST) Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Melburnian was nearly two tenths of a second quicker than the Mercedes of George Russell and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. His McLaren teammate Lando Norris was a disappointing sixth.
Russell's 18-year-old teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fourth, but both Mercedes drivers will start a position further back on the grid after they were hit with grid penalties after the team released the pair from the garage into the pit lane before it had reopened following a red flag.
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Sparks fly behind Oscar Piastri on his way to pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Getty
Norris was .426 off Piastri’s pace in sixth and told broadcaster Sky Sports he had “no idea” what went wrong.
“I’m just not quick enough,” he said.
Champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull was seventh after reporting a “terrible” problem with his brakes and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was ninth for Ferrari.
“The others caught up a little bit closer than what I wanted,” Piastri said of the unexpected pressure from Mercedes, “but I still delivered the laps when it mattered, which was the most important thing in the end so very, very happy.”
Piastri speaking to media. Getty
Russell said being so close to Piastri was a pleasant surprise but played down his chances of fighting for the win in Sunday's race.
“I think if anybody said we’d be within half a second of the McLarens, we'd have taken it,” he said. “I think being realistic it’ll be a challenge to fight with with Oscar.”
Piastri is heading into his 50th career race with a chance for his second win of the season after victory in China last month. A win could put him top of the standings and intensify a potential title rivalry within the McLaren team.
Verstappen is one point off standings leader Norris after winning the Japanese Grand Prix last week.
It's Piastri's second career pole. Formula 1 via Getty Images
Red Bull's problems in Bahrain were shared by Verstappen's teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who qualified 10th, and Red Bull has also struggled for pace in practice.
It's easier to overtake in Bahrain than in Japan last week, when Verstappen was able to hold off both McLarens for the whole race. That could give Norris, in particular, a chance to recover from sixth.
“This is probably the the first race so far when qualifying doesn’t mean everything,” Piastri said. “I’m expecting him to fight back tomorrow. I’ll just try and make sure that I do the best job that I can and wherever he ends up is where he ends up.”
Esteban Ocon had a heavy crash in his Haas in the second part of qualifying when he clipped a curb and span backward into the wall, causing a red flag. He was unhurt.
Liam Lawson’s tough start to the year continued as he was 17th for Racing Bulls after a fault with the DRS system. It’s the New Zealander’s second race since he was demoted from the main Red Bull team in favor of Tsunoda.
The race begins at 1am AEST Monday.
