Oscar Piastri led the Bahrain Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday, beating George Russell by 15 seconds.
Piastri raced from pole position in Bahrain and overcame his early lead being wiped out behind the safety car to see off Russell and his fellow British driver Lando Norris, securing his second GP win of the 2025 F1 season.
The Australian is the first driver to win two races in the early part of this season and now sits just three points behind McLaren team-mate Norris in the driver standings.
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After finishing second, Englishman Russell is fourth in the drivers' championship behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who pulled out all the stops in Bahrain but had to settle for sixth behind Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes driver Russell was in the cool down room on Sunday, reviewing race footage on a big screen, and reacted with surprise upon hearing the McLaren colleagues engaging in the sort of red-hot zingers most of us can only dream about.
"Who's that on the outside?" asks Norris.
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"What do you mean, who's that?" replies Piastri. "That's you!"
"Alright mate!" says championship leader Norris. "Jesus, sorry, 'cause you're so far ahead."
24-year-old Piastri has started the 2025 season in tremendous form after signing a contract extension that will keep him at McLaren until the end of 2028.
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McLaren are the constructors' championship favourites in 2025 and Piastri is already pushing Norris hard in the driver standings.
Both of his race wins in the first four outings of the season, in China and Bahrain, came from pole position. The same is true of Norris' victory in Australia and Verstappen's lights-to-flag win in Japan last weekend.
The world's richest travelling roadshow now moves on to Saudi Arabia, where the fifth Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah will again pit these three crazy kids of the cooldown room against one another with designs on what would be a first Saudi Arabia win.
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Verstappen is the only driver to win the Red Bull-dominated Saudi Arabian GP twice, flying past the chequered flag in both 2022 and 2024.
Topics:Â Formula 1, Lando Norris, George Russell, Oscar Piastri
Chris Nee