Bahrain GP Qualifying: Oscar Piastri on Pole, Lando Norris Sixth

SAKHIR, Bahrain — Oscar Piastri secured a pole position for McLaren in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday, which was closer than many anticipated.

Championship contender Lando Norris finished only in sixth place, giving his teammate a significant advantage in what is increasingly appearing to be a direct competition between the McLaren drivers this season.

Piastri`s fastest lap was 1:29.841, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Mercedes` George Russell, who was later moved to third position. Both Mercedes drivers received a one-place grid penalty from the stewards on Saturday evening due to a pit lane infringement.

Ferrari`s Charles Leclerc will start on the front row alongside Piastri after being promoted ahead of Russell.

McLaren demonstrated dominance throughout practice sessions and the initial two qualifying sessions, but the competition narrowed during Q3.

This is Piastri`s second career pole position and McLaren`s first in Bahrain.

The McLaren team has been fastest in every session this weekend. Piastri commented afterwards, `I felt confident all weekend, FP1 was quite an experience for everyone — it felt more like a rally car than an F1 car, but since then I`ve felt very comfortable with the car.

`We had good pace in FP3, and in qualifying, the others closed the gap a bit more than I expected, but I still managed to deliver the laps when it counted, which is the most important thing in the end, so I`m very pleased.`

Norris seemed to falter on his final Q3 run and finished behind Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will start fifth after the penalty, and Pierre Gasly of Alpine, who will start fourth.

When questioned about what went wrong during the session, Norris responded, `Honestly, no idea, just not fast enough.`

The prevailing opinion in the paddock is that McLaren still has a slight edge in race pace, and with Bahrain being a track that facilitates overtaking, Norris should have good opportunities to move up the ranks on Sunday, although he has given himself considerable work to do.

Behind Norris, Max Verstappen, the winner of the Japanese Grand Prix, had to settle for seventh place for Red Bull — however, the team will be encouraged by Yuki Tsunoda reaching Q3 and securing 10th place.

Lewis Hamilton had his first Q3 lap time deleted due to track limits and will start ninth on the grid.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon caused a red flag by crashing in Turn 3, on the opposite side of the track from Romain Grosjean`s fiery crash in 2020.

Ocon was unharmed in the incident, which will mean significant repair work for Haas before Sunday evening`s race.

New Bahrain GP grid, top 10

1. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

3. George Russell, Mercedes

4. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

5. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

6. Lando Norris, McLaren

7. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

8. Carlos Sainz, Williams

9. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

10. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull