Piastri’s clean sweep in McLaren’s second home race

Oscar Piastri won the Bahrain Grand Prix to give McLaren its maiden victory in a what could be considered its second home race. For the Australian, it was his fourth Formula 1 win, thus equalling the total scored by Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander who founded the team in 1966. Piastri can also be pleased with his first hat-trick (pole, win and fastest race lap) in what are the early days of his career, with today’s race being his 50^th Grand Prix start. Joining him on the podium were his team principal, Andrea Stella, George Russell second in the Mercedes at 15”499 finishing a whisker ahead of Lando Norris in the other McLaren, third, 0”774 behind his fellow countryman.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

15 drivers went with the Soft for the first stint, while the remaining five (both Ferraris, Alonso, Lawson and Bortoleto) chose the Medium. In fact, all three compounds came into play as can be seen from the variations in the percentage usage: 45.83% on the Medium (517 laps), 28.01% on the Hard (316) and 26.15% on the Soft (295).

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A spectacular race with plenty of battles and overtaking from start to finish. All three compounds chosen for this round, which were actually the same as those last week in Suzuka, were brought into play, creating a mix of strategies that made the race even more interesting.

“The level of degradation, despite slightly cooler temperatures than yesterday and Friday, was still significant across all three compounds, meaning that a two-stop was the only real choice. The performance differences between the Hard, Medium and Soft were clear to see in absolute terms and were also dependent on which cars were using them at different stages, which made the race even more dynamic, especially when one considers how evenly matched the teams are at the moment. In fact, that’s one of our goals as the tyre supplier, namely to provide a reliable product that allows for a range of strategy options, after which it’s up to the teams to make the most of it.

“Now we head to Jeddah and yet another completely different type of race track, where for the first time this season we will bring a trio of compounds that are softer than those used at this race last year. Let’s see what happens.”

FORMULA 2

Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) won the Feature Race, to record his first victory in this category. The Irishman took the chequered flag ahead of the English driver Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) and Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing). These three also head the classification, but in the reverse order: the Italian leads by one point ahead of his two rivals, while Spain’s Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing) is fourth, three points behind last year’s Formula 3 champion.

As was the case in yesterday’s Sprint, the Soft was again probably the tyre most favoured by the drivers in the Feature Race. However, the Hard also worked well, because the overheating which mainly affected the softest compound, reduced the performance difference between the two choices. It led to an interesting race, with a balanced mix of strategies, the most effective being Soft-Hard.

FORMULA 3

Rafael Camara (Trident) won the Feature Race, making the most of starting from pole. The Brazilian thus extends his lead in the Drivers’ standings, 26 points ahead (56 to 30) of Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport), who finished third today. Second past the chequered flag was the Brit, Callum Voisin, (Rodin Motorsport), third in the championship, three points behind Tramnitz.

From a tyre point of view, the race was affected by high temperatures, with degradation derived from overheating across the rear axle. The wind was stronger than yesterday and this made the cars more unstable. As always, those who did the best job of managing the tyres in the early stages, gave themselves a significant advantage towards the end, making up several places. Alternating push laps with others where the pace was managed to cool the tyres worked well.