Poleman Piastri bracing for ‘more exciting’ strategic Bahrain GP

Oscar Piastri turned his early weekend momentum into a resounding pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, marking his second career pole and setting the stage for a memorable 50th Grand Prix start.

The McLaren driver, who had shown impressive pace throughout all three practice sessions, capped off a strong showing in Sakhir by delivering a flawless final lap in Q3 to secure the top spot on the grid.

His lap time of 1m 29.841s put him 0.168s cear of Mercedes’ George Russell, while teammate Lando Norris settled for sixth after a more difficult session.

Delivering ‘the laps that mattered’

After stepping out of the MCL39, a beaming Piastri reflected on what had been a near-perfect weekend so far.

“I felt confident out there pretty much all weekend,” the 24-year-old said. “FP1 was an experience for us all, I think – it felt more like a rally car than an F1 car, but from then on I’ve felt really comfortable with the car.”

©McLaren

That comfort showed in his pace, with the Australian topping both FP2 and FP3. But even as rivals closed the gap in qualifying, Piastri kept his composure.

“[In] FP3 we had good pace. [In] Qualifying the others caught up a little bit closer than what I wanted, but [I] still delivered the laps when it mattered which was the most important thing, so [I’m] very, very happy.”

The Magic of the Final Run

On his final run in Q3, Piastri improved his time by nearly four tenths of a second, a massive leap forward relative to his first flyer in the segment. When pressed on where the time came from, the McLaren charger was characteristically understated.

“A little bit everywhere I think. I honestly can’t remember exactly where, but just little bits around the lap,” he said.

“The first set I had in Q3 had done kind of an out lap on the red flag in Q2 and I don’t know if that made a difference or not, but when you leave the garage and they’re not nice and shiny like they normally are, maybe there’s a psychological thing as well.

“So yeah, just found a little bit of time everywhere and it was a very solid lap. Maybe a little bit wide in 13, but the rest of the lap was pretty solid. So I’m very happy.”

©McLaren

With teammate Norris unable to crack the top five, languishing in P6, Piastri found himself with a golden opportunity to lead unchallenged into Turn 1.

When asked if Norris’ struggles gave him a clearer path, Piastri remained cautious.

“Let’s see, I’ve got to get to Turn 1 first so let’s see what happens,” he said, mindful of the unpredictable nature of race starts.

Strategic Intrigue Awaits

Looking ahead to Sunday, Piastri anticipated a more interesting race strategically after F1’s recent succession of one-stoppers.

“Everyone’s got very different tyres up and down the grid,” he explained, breaking down the varied allocations among his rivals.

“George has only got one hard and one medium. Charles and I have got two mediums. Max has got two hards, so it’s a bit of a mix.

“We’ll see what everyone goes for tomorrow because I think it’s a bit of a lottery at the moment. I think it will definitely be more exciting from a strategic point of view, but for my sake, I hope not too exciting.”

• Read also: Norris feeling ‘clueless, off every lap’ despite amazing McLaren car

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