Oscar Piastri scored the pole for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, April 12, sporting a quick time of 1:29:841 to claim the top spot over George Russell.
“Extremely happy for Oscar, that was a mega lap…” McLaren Racing Team Principal Zak Brown said after the session. “He didn’t put a wheel wrong.”
Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top five, while Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
Our duo will line up on the first and third row tomorrow with promising pace heading into the Grand Prix 👊#McLaren | #BahrainGP 🇧🇠pic.twitter.com/6fgqRPNTY5
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 12, 2025
Q3
It’s a Papaya pole by Piastri, who put up a superb lap in Bahrain qualifying. The Aussie’s pace was unrivaled, not only from the rest of the top 10 but far more surprisingly from his partner Norris, distancing four cars from the British driver — a key distance in the fight for the driver’s championship.
The calm and collected Russell silently climbed the ladder and got a well deserved second for Sunday, followed behind by Leclerc, who put Ferrari’s flag in the top three.
A round of applause will be heard at the Mercedes garage as rookie star Antonelli continues to surprise with his high performance in a phenomenal fourth-place effort The midfield’s surprise comes from Sainz, doing a great job with Williams, but even more incredible was the performance of Gasly as he pushed his Alpine to fifth.
The struggles of the Red Bulls were beyond the engineers’ skill to fix and could not be sorted out mid qualifying. Verstappen complained at the beginning of the session for having no brakes at all, having to settle for seventh.
Tsunoda filled the last slot as he didn’t had enough pace to outperform the rest of the top 10.
| Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Leader |
| 1. | 81 | Piastri | McLaren | 1:29:841m |
| 2. | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.168s |
| 3. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.334s |
| 4. | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.372s |
| 5. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +0.375s |
| 6. | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.426s |
| 7. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.582s |
| 8. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +0.839s |
| 9. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.931s |
| 10. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | +1.462s |
Q2
The second session came to a halt with 11:01 minutes in the clock, as Esteban Ocon spun and crashed in the exit of turn 2. The French grabbed too much curb in the exit and lost the Haas. While the gravel helped slow it down, the damage was significant.
| Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 11. | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | +0.017s |
| 12. | 6 | Isaak Hadjar | Racing Bulls | +0.043s |
| 13. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | +0.465s |
| 14. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +0.658s |
| 15. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | No time |
Q1
A big surprise occurred at the beginning for Red Bull, as it suffered a double-lap time deletion when both went wide at the last corner.
No luck was had for Liam Lawson, whose DRS got closed in the main straight and got knocked out — along the other rookie, Ollie Bearman, in last. It was a tough one for Albon as well, with too much traffic and a lock at the last lap. Williams’ strategy of staying in the pits until the last minute didn’t pan out.
| Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 16. | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | +0.044s |
| 17. | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +0.167s |
| 18. | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | +0.188s |
| 19. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +0.285s |
| 20. | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +0.375s |
Lights out is at 18:00 local time, 10 p.m. ET for the Bahrain GP tomorrow, April 13, on ESPN+.
