Oscar Piastri took a commanding victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix to put himself three points off the world championship lead.

Piastri launched cleanly from pole and was only briefly challenged at the start by George Russell, who used the Australian’s slipstream from third on the grid to attempt an ambitious around-the-outside move at the first turn.

But the Mercedes driver locked up when he hit the brakes, blunting his attack and preventing him from squeezing the McLaren off the racing line into Turn 2, allowing Piastri to hold the lead. He wasn’t headed again, ceding the lead only briefly through the sequence of the first pit stops while building a comfortable 7s lead by lap 32, when a safety car reset the order.

Piastri mastered the restart, firing early despite the risk of a slipstream down the long front straight, but at first struggled to break away.

Russell, who had run second throughout the race, had switched to a set of soft tires during the safety car, keeping the Mercedes in touch with the medium-shod McLaren in the lead. It took 10 laps for the softs to begin to wilt and for Russell’s challenge to fade, leaving Piastri to skip off to a 15s victory, his second of the season and McLaren’s first ever in Bahrain.

“It’s been an incredible weekend,” he said. “To finish the job today in style is nice.

“I can’t thank the team enough for the car they’ve given us. It was pretty handy out there. It’s been a great weekend — and I’m proud of what I’ve done this weekend as well.”

Russell did well to finish second after a cascade of technical issues befall his car following the safety car.

A transponder failure was the first issue to manifest, and soon his car couldn’t automatically detect when it was in a DRS zone, requiring a manual override. The stewards later noted him for a DRS infringement, which will be investigated after the race.

Russell was then warned that his dash — the screen on his steering wheel — could shut down and that he would have to drive to the finish without it. He also suffered a brake-by-wire failure.

With around five laps to go Russell reported problems shifting gears, and suddenly he was in the clutches of Lando Norris on the final lap of the race. Norris tried around his outside at the first turn, but Russell was wise to the move, taking the widest line to run Norris out of road and disrupt his momentum and secure the place.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “It was really hard to keep Lando behind. Nevertheless, really pleased with P2.

“Oscar was in a league of his own, so congratulations to him and McLaren.”

The safety car was good news for Norris, who salvaged the final place on the podium, up from sixth on the grid, despite serving a 5s penalty at his first stop.

The penalty, for starting the race too far forward of his grid box, counted him out of the battle for second despite a sizzling start that put him into third at the start of the race. He was later passed by Charles Leclerc after the Ferrari driver earned a seven-lap tire offset with a later pit stop.

But the safety car brought the Briton back into the mix, and when Leclerc was put on the hard tire to finish the race, Norris saw an opportunity to pounce. He made his first attempt on lap 46, but a lock-up while thinking of an around-the-outside move into the first turn cost him momentum, and it took him another three laps to try again.

Leclerc was inch-perfect in defense next time around, positioning his car to balk the faster McLaren on the apex for Turn 2 to slow Norris’s run up to Turn 4, where he crowded the orange car off the track to hold position.

But by lap 52 Norris’s momentum was overwhelming. Much closer out of the first three turns, he swept around Leclerc’s outside into Turn 4, where a big snap of oversteer ensured Leclerc couldn’t fight back.

LAP 52/57

Total commitment at Turn 4! 💪

Norris goes around the outside to snatch P3 away from Leclerc #F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/iUUfQgan4F

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2025

Out of time to pressure Russell for more than a lap, Norris collected 15 points for third to hold his title lead.

“A tough race,” he said. “I made too many mistakes with the overtakes, out of position [on the grid] — it was a messy race for me. I’m disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren.”

Leclerc finished fourth ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton in fifth, both suffering on the hard tire in the final stint, a decision forced upon them by starting on the medium tire rather than the soft.

Max Verstappen finished sixth after a last-lap overtake at the end of a difficult night, slowed by a middle stint on the hard tire and by a slow series of pit stops by Red Bull Racing, which suffered malfunctions with its pit gantry equipment.

Pierre Gasly impressively held onto seventh for Alpine ahead of a high-rising Esteban Ocon, who crashed out of qualifying in 14th but gained massively through an early pit stop just eight laps into the race to undercut his way forward.

Yuki Tsunoda scored his first points as a Red Bull Racing driver — and the first points for the second Red Bull Racing car — from ninth, while Oliver Bearman completed the top 10, up 10 places after capitalizing on the timing of the safety car. Bearman’s score moved Haas past Williams into fifth on the teams’ title table.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, inversely, was penalized by the safety car timing, having just made his second pit stop. He fell to 14th at the restart and recovered to 11th at the flag.

Alex Albon finished 12th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Isack Hadjar, Jack Doohan and Fernando Alonso.

Liam Lawson picked up two penalties for causing collisions on his way to 17th ahead of Lance Stroll and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Carlos Sainz was the race’s only retirement after his Williams picked up terminal sidepod damage in contact with Tsunoda’s Red Bull.

Rival Formula 1 teams are really good at trying to increase expectations on each other, particularly when there is a car with an advantage.

After it was Red Bull for so long, McLaren has become that team over the past six months, and certainly this year after standing out as the likely frontrunner as early as pre-season testing.

That testing took place at the Bahrain International Circuit, so the strong showing in February naturally led to increased expectations of a McLaren victory this weekend at the same venue. And there was little to dispel that impression in the practice sessions as McLaren topped all three, showing particularly strong pace in FP3.

But the beauty of Bahrain is how little representative running there is, with FP1 and FP3 taking place in extremely high temperatures compared to the floodlit track time for qualifying and the race itself. While the margin the McLarens had in FP3 did not translate into the same gap in qualifying, Oscar Piastri’s advantage over Lando Norris did.

“I’m very happy,” the Australian said after securing his second pole position in three races. “I think the car all weekend has been in a good place. Maybe not in FP1 — but I don’t think anyone’s car was very good in FP1.

“Since then I’ve felt very comfortable. This morning, given the track conditions, it was a pretty solid performance and the car was very similar this afternoon, so I’m very, very happy with the job we’ve done. I’m proud of the job that I’ve done. I feel like I’ve put in a lot of good laps when I needed to and to come away with pole is obviously very nice.

“I think the performance we had in FP3 was even a mystery to us and we knew everyone would get a lot closer. It’s been kind of up and down for everybody. One session seems to be Charles [Leclerc] that’s challenging us, then George [Russell]. Max [Verstappen] was quick at certain points…

“It sort of seemed like everyone was peaking at different times. Still had to be on my toes because a tenth and a half was a bit closer than I expected after this morning, definitely.”

After the FP3 performance — when Piastri was 0.6s clear of Norris, who had aborted his first qualifying simulation after an error — there were impressed faces in the McLaren team. Piastri’s step forward over one lap in particular has not gone unnoticed, and there was a growing feeling that Norris had — understandably — been focusing more on Verstappen in recent months and would now have to turn more of his attention to his teammate.

With Piastri delivering on Saturday while the car offered such potential, it was Norris who didn’t handle the metaphorical heat put on by the Australian.

“It was just every lap, honestly — I’ve been off every lap this weekend, just not comfortable,” Norris said. “No big complaints — the car’s amazing. The car’s as good as it has been the whole season, which is strong. I’ve been off it all weekend. Don’t know why, just clueless on track at the minute. I just need a big reset or something.

“I don’t know [what the reason is], because Oscar’s doing a great job, so I can’t complain. I’m not going to have the excuse that I can’t drive my car. It’s my job to drive whatever car I’ve got, whether it’s easy or hard. And I’m not doing a good-enough job.

“I’m not comfortable. It doesn’t drive the way I like, but that’s not an excuse. The driver’s job is to drive whatever car they’re given, and I can’t drive this car quick enough.”

While the pressure has so far been ramped up by McLaren’s rivals, Norris — who is often harsh on himself — even adds a bit more on his own shoulders by talking up how good his machinery is.

“I just don’t know how to approach it. I can’t figure it out,” he admitted. “Every time I try something, it’s good for one session and then it’s the wrong thing for the next session, because the winds change. I just can’t flow with the car, and when I can’t flow, I’m not very quick.

“I’ve just got to work on myself. I can’t follow the team, and the car is the best by a long way. But clearly, I’m just not clicking at the minute.”

The insistence from Norris is that he’s not concerned about Piastri’s performance in the context of the drivers’ championship, but similar comments were made when he was asked about Verstappen and the title picture at times last year. While Norris dismissed it then, he later admitted how he’d been buying into the growing momentum and took the turnaround in Brazil particularly hard.

“Couldn’t care less. Like I said, I [only] care about myself. I don’t care about what the others do,” he said. “I’ve always known Oscar’s good — he’s quick and he’s doing the job I know he can achieve with the car that we’ve got. So, yeah, well done to him. But I’m more worried about my own performance than others. I don’t care about the rest of it.”

Last year, Norris starting consistently providing answers to doubters as he started winning races and taking regular pole positions, but he is clearly not high on confidence at this point in the season. Sunday provides him with a chance to answer back once again, but it’s now against a teammate who is looking increasingly capable of putting together a full championship challenge.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have both been given one-place grid penalties for a pit lane infringement in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Mercedes drivers were waiting at the end of the pit lane during a red flag delay during Q2, having emerged from the team’s garage when an estimated restart time was given. However, regulations now dictate cars can only join the fast lane once a confirmed time is given, with the estimated time provided to allow them to prepare but still subject to change.

Mercedes admitted it was a genuine error made at a race where its sporting director Ron Meadows is not present, but was unable to argue against receiving a grid penalty, costing Russell a front-row start.

“The team representative, Mr. [Andrew] Shovlin, in evidence stated that he gave the instruction for the cars to be released, in error, having misinterpreted the message posted on page 3 of the Timing Screen, ‘estimated restart time’ to be a message advising the actual restart time,” the stewards’ decision read. “He argued that there was no sporting advantage gained in this case as there was sufficient time remaining (11 minutes) for other teams to perform their run plans.

“The FIA Single Seater Sporting Director stated that such a move could be a sporting advantage in that it could enable a team to perform its run plan whereas other teams may not be able to.

“The Stewards agree with this view, particularly where there are only a few minutes remaining in the session.

“The FIA Sporting Director argued that there needed to be a sporting penalty rather than a team fine, otherwise in future teams would release their cars as soon as the estimated re-start time was published. The Stewards agree with this view.

“Mr. Shovlin argued that it was possible to give a non sporting penalty if the Stewards declared that it was not to be taken as a precedent but also stated that if a sporting penalty was to be given, it should be mitigated.

“The Stewards agreed with the view that this breach required a sporting penalty however accept that the breach was unintentional and a genuine mistake by the team for which Mr. Shovlin apologized. We decide to impose a one-position grid penalty. A similar breach in different circumstances, could entail a more severe sporting penalty, in future.”

The penalty sees Russell demoted to third place on the grid behind Charles Leclerc, while Antonelli drops to fifth place and is replaced in fourth by Pierre Gasly.

Williams team principal James Vowles says he will seek answers from the FIA over why a lap time from Nico Hulkenberg wasn’t deleted for nearly 30 minutes and cost Alex Albon a place in Q2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Albon struggled on his final Q1 lap and dropped out by 0.042s as Hulkenberg edged him for15th place, but over 30 minutes later race control deleted the German’s lap time for exceeding track limits at Turn 11. By then Q2 had already been completed, so Albon had been unable to take part in the rest of the qualifying session and Vowles wants to know why the deletion took so long.

“First of all it’s frustrating, because Q1 is ever-so tight now, you can see cars do three runs, the cars that are slightly better do two — that’s where we were,” Vowles told SiriusXM. “We didn’t get the best lap with Alex, but it was a top-10 car today.

“Some of the laps, you can see from the FIA, they were very quick to respond on — [Max] Verstappen, [Yuki] Tsunoda — and typically their timeline should be seconds after it happens. Good question on why this one wasn’t because the impact is: brilliant, he’s moved behind us, but that’s of no bearing to the fact that we’re probably six to eight races out of position, and that hasn’t been corrected, and it won’t be corrected either for tomorrow.

“The FIA have expanded their operations to Geneva — I’m sure that there’s a lot that they’re having to look at, and in many regards we should be thankful that they looked back at a lap that happened 30 minutes prior. But we need to understand from them what can be done better in this circumstance, because the impact isn’t one position anymore, it’s quite significant.”

With teams able to monitor other cars during qualifying, Vowles says Williams had seen that Hulkenberg was close to exceeding track limits but had not flagged it to the FIA itself.

“We saw that his lap, from the onboard — which is all that we have available to us — was marginal. The reality part of it is we don’t swamp the FIA with messages because to do so would make their life more difficult. We trust that they are going through the process as we were.

“That’s one of the discussions I want to have with them. I’m OK to go back to start telling you all of the laps we think are marginal, but perhaps there’s a reason behind this that will make a lot more sense, and if there is then we can all put it to bed and move on.”

Oscar Piastri took his second pole of the season ahead of shock front-row starter George Russell after McLaren teammate Lando Norris unexpectedly flopped at the end of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Contrary to pre-qualifying expectations, Piastri and McLaren were made to work for pole position, with the field closing in on the MCL39 as day turned to night.

Piastri rook provisional pole, but such was the rate of track improvement and the closeness of the competition at the front that four different drivers beat that time with their second laps, forcing the Australian to respond from fifth in the order and the third-last car over the line. But he didn’t flinch, delivering purple times in the final two sectors to seize back top spot and set himself up on pole for his 50th grand prix start.

“I felt confident out there pretty much all weekend,” he said. “I’ve felt really comfortable with the car.

“In qualifying the others caught up a little bit closer than I wanted, but I delivered the laps when it mattered. I can’t thank my team enough for the car they’ve given me.”

Russell was thrilled to get to just 0.168s from pole after dire pre-qualifying predictions, though he doubled down on doubts that Piastri could be challenged on Sunday.

“I think if anybody said we’d be within half a second of the McLarens, we’d have taken it, because we would’ve thought that would be P3 on the grid, so it’s a bonus,” he said.

“As the session unfolded we just seemed to get quicker and quicker. Being P2 is a great chance for tomorrow, but it will be a challenge to fight with Oscar.”

Russell, along with teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, will see the stewards after the session for being sent to pit exit during a short red flag in Q2 before a session start time had been announced.

Charles Leclerc completed the top three despite a low-key build-up to qualifying for Ferrari. The team brought a major upgrade to the car this weekend, and Leclerc said he hoped it was a sign of an upward trajectory.

“Honestly I didn’t expect P3,” he said. “I knew in Q3 there was some lap time … I just had to be patient and wait for the track to come to us.

“It feels like I’ve found my way a little bit, and little by little I hope there’ll be more performance to extract from this car in the weekends to come.”

Mercedes rookie Antonelli was just 0.372s off the pace for fourth, beating a superb Pierre Gasly in fifth by just 0.003s, both having eclipsed Piastri’s first lap with their second attempts.

Norris slumped to sixth with his second lap. He was third after his first attempt but found just 0.129s with his follow-up lap after a slide out of the first turn compromised his first sector, though his subsequent personal-best second and third splits would have left him more than 0.2s behind Piastri in any case.

Max Verstappen was a disappointed seventh in a Red Bull Racing car that the Dutchman said had “something really wrong” with it, including “just terrible brakes” throughout the session.

Carlos Sainz claimed the best qualifying result of his season to date for Williams with eighth on the grid, while the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.

Jack Doohan missed a Q3 berth by just 0.017s in a nonetheless career-best 11th in qualifying.

Isack Hadjar was 12th for Racing Bulls despite his impressive top-10 practice pace, putting him ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in 13th and Fernando Alonso in 14th, the Spaniard radioing his team that he had got the most from the car on his way to 1.4s off the Q2 pace.

Esteban Ocon was eliminated 15th after crashing his car exiting Turn 2. The Haas driver got a snap of oversteer as he got on the throttle on exit, and his car became further unsettled as it clambered over the curb.

Now fully out of Ocon’s control, the car spun backwards through the gravel and made heavy contact with the barriers, forcing a brief red flag to collect the wreckage and rescue the unhurt Frenchman.

Alex Albon qualified 16th in his worst individual qualifying result of the year, this being the first time the Thai driver has failed to make it through to Q3 and the first time the team has had a car eliminated in Q1.

However, Albon later benefitted from Hulkenberg bizarrely having his fastest Q1 lap time deleted halfway through Q3, by which time he’d already progressed to and been eliminated from Q2. The stewards dumped the Sauber driver to 16th, promoting Alonso, Ocon and Albon a place apiece on the grid.

Liam Lawson qualified 17th after his DRS closed itself on his final lap, costing him crucial straight-line speed.

Gabriel Bortoleto will line up 18th ahead of Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman on the back row.

Oscar Piastri set a blistering pace in final practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix to top the session ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Piastri’s final flying lap on softs was peerless despite scorching-hot and blustery conditions in Sakhir, the Australian collecting three purple sectors to set the benchmark at 1m31.646s. It was a little more than 1.1s quicker than his best time from FP2, when the cooler night-time conditions were far more conducive to performance.

The ambient temperature started at 91 degrees F for final practice, with the track surface temperature soaring to 111 F — conditions unrepresentative of post-sunset qualifying and race sessions, lending limited significance to the results.

In the blazing desert sun the Bahrain circuit yielded little grip. After looping his car at Turn 10, George Russell said it was the last amount of grip he’d ever had in Formula 1.

Norris was caught out by the slippery conditions halfway around his first flying lap, when a mistake at Turn 11 sent him sailing off the road, perhaps thanks also to a tailwind down the back straight. The Briton pitted and re-attempted the lap on used softs but found himself 0.668s adrift, his deficit roughly equal across the three sectors.

Norris’s lap was 1.6s slower than his best from Friday night, which was roughly in line with the deficit experienced by most drivers.

Charles Leclerc was the fastest non-McLaren driver in the field, but even his chunky 0.834s deficit flattered hithe Ferrari driver for having been set in the final six minutes of the hour when the track was beginning to cool, and with a second set of new soft tires.

Mercedes teammates Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were closely matched in fourth and fifth but were 1.1s and 1.2s off the pace respectively. Pierre Gasly was a surprise sixth for Alpine, but even the Frenchman couldn’t help but wonder about Piastri’s advantage.

“I can’t believe how fast these McLarens are at the moment,” he radioed after setting his fastest time 1.3s slower than the leading Australian.

Isack Hadjar was the quickest Red Bull-backed driver for the second session in a row, the Racing Bulls driver edging Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by 0.004s.

Carlos Sainz complained of engine braking on his way to ninth and 1.4s off the pace, with Lewis Hamilton completing the top 10 for Ferrari just 0.019s further back.

Esteban Ocon complained early in the session that he couldn’t take Turn 12 at full throttle owing to his Haas car bouncing. He ended up 1.6s off the pace and 0.1s quicker the Jack Doohan.

Liam Lawson was 13th ahead of Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Nico Hulkenberg set only seven laps before his car stopped on track at Turn 8 and had to be recovered by the marshals under cover of a virtual safety car.

Yuki Tsunoda had another difficult session on his way to 20th. The Red Bull Racing driver spent the entire session using the slow hard tire bar a single run on softs, when he struggled to piece together a clean lap.

ABOVE: Team principals James Vowles (Williams), Jonathan Wheatley (Stake Sauber) and Andrea Stella (McLaren)

Williams team principal James Vowles says the development work done on the 2026 regulations so far gives him reason for optimism, in contrast to fears about them that some drivers have expressed.

Discussions related to the 2026 power units have been dominating headlines in recent weeks, but those are also linked to the cars themselves which will feature active aerodynamics to try and reduce drag on straights in relation to power unit performance. Charles Leclerc said his impressions of the new regulations were “not something that is particularly exciting” at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, but Vowles has a more positive outlook.

“It’s early days because we’re still developing the car and the winter regs have only been in for a few months now,” Vowles said. “But I’m not seeing the stark concerns that are coming out of other corners.

“For us, the racing looks actually pretty good at the moment. I think it’ll be pretty good from a spectator perspective. The [aero] wake is better, following will be better, so I’m not overly concerned. The biggest thing I probably have is the weight target. It’s a good idea to reduce the weight, but that’s a tough call for all teams. That’s the only thing coming out of our side.”

Vowles’ comments come after a meeting of key stakeholders relating to future power unit regulations in Bahrain, with a return to naturally aspirated engines using a sustainable fuel one topic discussed. While suggesting further changes to the rules might be needed, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella shared Vowles’ optimism but says the sport should focus on trying to make the 2026 cars a success.

“When we talk about future regulations – we haven’t even started 2026, and we are already talking about something else,” Stella said. “I would like to invoke a sense of responsibility by all the stakeholders, because we are here to protect the interests of the sport. I wouldn’t want us to undermine what could be actually successful regulations.

“They may need some tuning and adjustments – but that’s what we are here for. Let’s define exactly the technical challenge and resolve it. Let’s all work collaboratively toward the interest of the sport, which comes when we have a good product. I think we can have a good product in 2026. We just have to work toward it.”

New Stake team principal Jonathan Wheatley — who recently started in his role ahead of the team’s evolution into Audi — says the representatives that were part of Friday’s meeting were satisfied with the talks that took place but remain steadfast in wanting a hybrid powertrain moving forward.

“What I would say — because the whole subject is being discussed at the moment — is that there was a very open and productive and collaborative discussion today with all the major stakeholders,” Wheatley said. “From what I understand, it’s got the best interests of Formula 1 at heart. That was the basis of the entire conversation, and the feedback I’ve had was very encouraging.

“What I would say just talking about 2026 is that Audi is very clear about its position. The reason they’ve got involved in the sport is the excitement around the three pillars that we see as really important – the first one being a highly efficient engine, the second one being an advanced hybrid system, and of course, sustainable fuels being the bedrock of that.”

Oscar Piastri led teammate Lando Norris to the top two spots in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in an ominous display of performance from McLaren.

Both leading drivers needed only one attempt on one set of fresh soft tires to move comfortably to the top of the table. Norris was first over the line to show the team’s hand, but Piastri set purple splits in sectors 2 and 3 to immediately beat it. The Australian set the benchmark at 1m30.505s, a time 0.154s quicker than the sister car.

George Russell was best of the rest, but his Mercedes was a long way off the pace, lapping 0.527s slower than Piastri around the well-understood Bahrain International Circuit, the venue having been used for preseason testing in late February.

Charles Leclerc put Ferrari only fractionally further back, his best effort only 0.013s down on Russell and 0.54s off the leading McLaren, the Monegasque putting his new floor through its paces.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed the top 10 for Mercedes, the rookie lapping 0.722s off the pace.

It was a far more representative session that FP1, which had been run in blazing late-afternoon desert sunshine. With the sun having set in time for FP2, the track temperature was fully 25 degrees F cooler, clocking in at 93 degrees, and had a commensurately positive effect on the handling and tire grip.

Qualifying and the race will take place at a similar time to FP2, which is the only night-time practice session of the weekend — making it a crucial insight into the weekend form guide.

Isack Hadjar was an impressive sixth for Racing Bulls on the medium tire rather than the soft. The Frenchman was 0.733s off the pace but a remarkable 0.092s and one place quicker than Max Verstappen at the senior Red Bull Racing team.

Verstappen’s RB21 looked less sweetly balanced on his fast lap than it had in Japan, and the Dutchman complained of brake problems into the last corner throughout the session.

Lewis Hamilton was eighth in the second Ferrari, the Briton 1.071s off the pace after a lap that took him off the road exiting the final two corners anyway. He ended his session radioing his team about bodywork issues on his upgraded car.

Oliver Bearman was ninth for Haas ahead of Carlos Sainz, who completed the top 10 for Williams.

Alex Albon followed teammate Sainz closely in 11th ahead of Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto and Jack Doohan down to 14th.

Fernando Alonso was 15th after a bizarre start to the hour-long session that had him reporting a switching-off steering wheel to the team.

Onboard footage then showed alarmingly Alonso’s steering wheel come off the steering column after he hit the brakes for Turn 14 at the end of the long back straight, though it was unclear if that was part of the issue or if Alonso was attempting to restart the steering wheel software by manually disconnecting it. Whatever the case, the Spaniard had to return to pit lane and lost significant running to subsequent repairs.

Esteban Ocon was 16th for Haas ahead of Pierre Gasly and the out-of-position Yuki Tsunoda, who was a worrying 0.694s slower than teammate Verstappen and a total of 1.519s off the pace after complaining of “insane” front locking.

The Japanese driver’s lap showed no obvious mistakes, and summing his best sector times produces a similarly yawning deficit, though a single run on fresh soft tires might have played a factor in him being unable to access the red-walled rubber’s peak grip.

Lance Stroll was 19th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who completed the order for Sauber.

Formula 1 stakeholders have agreed to focus on the upcoming 2026 hybrid regulations and their impact while continuing to discuss future engine directions.

A meeting between the FIA, F1, the power unit manufacturers and a number of teams was held in Bahrain on Friday morning, being chaired by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, F1 president Stefano Domenicali and FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis. Ben Sulayem stressed the aim of the meeting was to discuss cost-effective solutions that would safeguard the sport’s future from both a business and sustainability standpoint.

While the idea of re-introducing a V10 engine formula running on sustainable fuels in future has been a talking point in recent weeks, sources confirmed to RACER that the meeting reiterated that the new V6 turbo power units that feature increased electrical output from 2026 have been committed to after a lot of time and effort, leading to multiple new manufacturers joining the sport.

In a statement, the FIA said Friday’s meeting involved “constructive discussions” that focused on:

• Reducing costs of research and development of F1 powertrains
• Building resilience against the fluctuations of the global economy
• Reducing the complexity of F1 power units
• Considerations on sustainability, weight reduction in relation to safety, performance, road car relevance, sound and audience appeal

The governing body made clear that its intention would be to take any future decisions on power unit technology after consultation with all stakeholders but concluded that the focus at present needs to be on the successful implementation of the 2026 rules, which will remain in place as planned.

The FIA also stated the following:

• All parties are committed to the 2026 regulations and look forward to the prospect of exciting racing
• All parties agreed to continue discussions on the future technical direction of the sport
• A level of electrification will always be part of any future considerations
• The use of sustainable fuel will be an imperative
• Consideration will be given to adjustments on financial regulations relating to power units as part of broader cost reductions
• Policing of those regulations will be a priority

“Whichever engine roadmap is decided upon, the FIA is supportive of the teams and PU manufacturers in ensuring containment of costs of R&D expenditure, taking account of environmental considerations and acting in the best interests of the sport and the fans,” an FIA statement added.

Lando Norris topped a sweltering first practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

FP1 is one of two daytime sessions for the night-time grand prix in Bahrain, and afternoon conditions were particularly severe on Formula 1’s return to the circuit following preseason testing at this venue around six weeks earlier.

The air temperature soared to 95 degrees F, sending the track temperature on this abrasive surface to as high as 120. It was in stark contrast the cool and even occasionally wet condition of Bahrain in February.

One constant across months, however, is McLaren emerging as the field leader, with Norris setting the hour-long session’s fastest time with around 15 minutes still to run. He was challenged late, when some teams attempted to capitalize on the slightly cooling conditions by setting their fast laps in the final minutes, but all attempts failed, keeping Norris in top spot with a best time of 1m33.204s.

His teammate, Oscar Piastri, had the speed to match if not eclipse Norris throughout FP1, but a minor error through the final corner on what should have been his fastest lap left him 10th in the order and circulating 1.304s off the pace.

Piastri’s slip left Pierre Gasly unencumbered to finish second for Alpine, the Frenchman lapping 0.238s off Norris’s pace.

Lewis Hamilton completed the top three on what sounded like a challenging first session for the Ferrari driver, based on his team radio communication.

The seven-time champion has put much stock in the Scuderia upgrading its car this weekend, but his early reviews of the package wasn’t great. After complaining early of poor balance that he suspected was down to tire warm-up, the Briton summed up the SF-25 as a “horrendous” car to drive. He ended the hour 0.596s off the pace.

Alex Albon was fourth fastest ahead of Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Jack Doohan. Liam Lawson was another to lament “shocking balance” on his way to eighth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda and the unrepresentative Piastri.

Gabriel Bortoleto was 11th for Sauber ahead of Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar.

Luke Browning commandeered Carlos Sainz’s Williams car for one of the team’s four mandatory rookie sessions and ended up quickest among the stand-in drivers, ending the hour 13th and 1.68s off the pace.

Dino Beganovic took control of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari for the hour on his way to 14th ahead of Lance Stroll and his temporary Aston Martin teammate and long-running reserve Felipe Drugovich.

Ryo Hirakawa followed in 17th after an extraordinary week for the Japanese sports car icon.

Hirakawa quit his duties as Alpine reserve driver almost immediately after the Japanese Grand Prix — where the French-owned team had fielded him in FP1 at Doohan’s expense — to take up a similar role at Haas with the chance to drive again this weekend.

Mercedes junior Frederic Vesti took George Russell’s car to 18th ahead of Red Bull Racing stand-in Ayumu Iwasa, who displaced Max Verstappen for the day.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was classified last for Mercedes after a suspected water leak forced him back to his garage with only three laps on the board. He was unable to rejoin the session before the hour expired.