McLaren Cracks The Calm: A Bahrain Grand Prix Recap
Apr 12
4 min read
Elbows were out, and hands were thrown! Drivers overtook, dive-bombed, and penalties were sprinkled. That tends to happen on wider tracks, not so much on a circuit like Suzuka or the streets of Monaco. But hey, a race is a race, and this one was a classic case of good old-fashioned hard racing. So much happened, but here are the takeaways from the Bahrain Grand Prix to keep in mind for the next few rounds:
The Race
Oscar Piastri, in pole position, won his second race of the season after his Chinese Grand Prix win. George Russell, despite concerning car issues, came in second place. In third place was Lando Norris, candid about his dissatisfaction with his result despite his P6 start and five-second penalty for being outside the grid before the race’s start.
Thanks to Ferrari’s brilliant execution of tire management (medium tires proved to be way more effective than hard ones) and pit stop strategy during the Safety Car Dispatch, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished P4 and P5, respectively.
In other good driver news, Yuki Tsunoda, who finished in ninth, earned his first points as Red Bull. Pierre Gasly, who worked the hell out of that Alpine car, earned his first points for the season with a seventh-place finish. Haas had a particularly pleasant race - Esteban Ocon finished in eighth, and Ollie Bearman (who qualified P20) finished in tenth, earning the team five points, which can make or break a Constructors’ Championship placement down the line.
And then there is the not-so-great driver news. Carlos Sainz, who qualified P8 (his best qualifying result since he joined Williams), unfortunately had to retire his car after it was damaged when he made contact with Yuki Tsunoda. On top of that, Sainz was slapped with a ten-second penalty for the incident in question. Tsunoda, by the way, got off scot-free. The penalty was rescinded several days later, but the new Red Bull driver still had no consequence. Let’s hope that this is the end of his nasty luck bout.
But in classic F1 fashion, another driver was dealt a bad hand - Nico Hulkenberg, who finished P13, was disqualified for a skid block breach. If this rings a bell (or two), Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix for the same thing.
How Are The Standings Looking?
McLaren continues to lead the Constructors’ Championship at 151 points. Mercedes is in second place at 93 points, Red Bull is in third at 71 points, and Ferrari is at 57 points. I know there have only been four races so far, but McLaren may be in the lead for a while. Then again, things could look drastically different by the Miami or Monaco Grand Prix. As I’ve said many times before and will never hesitate to reiterate, anything can happen in Formula One.
Lando Norris is still the Drivers’ Championship lead at 77 points. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, is now in second place at 74 points. Max Verstappen is in third at 69 points, George Russell in fourth at 63 points, Charles Leclerc in fifth at 32 points, Kimi Antonelli in sixth at 32 points, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh at 25 points.
Norris and Piastri with only a three-point difference? I’m honestly more excited to see how this will pan out than I was about last week's single-point difference between Norris and Verstappen.
Here’s the good news for McLaren: The team is still in a good position no matter who takes the lead. The bad news would be that it could epically backfire if the men get so competitive that they crash out a la Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. This is where enforcing Papaya Rules* at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix would make perfect sense. I kid you not; I actually want McLaren to call for Papaya Rules on the team radio until we all get collectively sick of the term again.
* If you know, you know; if you don’t, be in the know and read my take on the Monza 2024.
As long as Norris and Piastri establish a 1-2 in Qualifying, they should be free to race each other without a worry. That would be the ideal outcome that I would be aiming for if I were part of McLaren’s strategy team. However, if the likes of Verstappen, Leclerc, or Hamilton were to be right behind them in P3… McLaren may have to prioritize one driver to take the lead while the other defends the hypothetical third driver to ensure a 1-2 victory.
Oooh, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be spicy. I will warn everyone now that the next race’s coverage will be McLaren-centric… Unless something crazier and/or exciting were to overshadow Norris and Piastri.
Four races down, twenty to go. Take a deep breath. We still have a long way to go. See you all in Jeddah.
