| 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 4 of 24 in the2025 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Bahrain International Circuit | |||||
| Race details[1][2] | |||||
| Date | 13 April 2025 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Gulf AirBahrain Grand Prix 2025 | ||||
| Location | Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.412 km (3.363 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 57 laps, 308.238 km (190.253 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Clear | ||||
| Attendance | 105,000[3] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:29.841 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:35.140 on lap 36 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Mercedes | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2025 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2025) was aFormula One motor race that was held on 13 April 2025 at theBahrain International Circuit inSakhir, Bahrain. It was the fourth round of the2025 Formula One World Championship.Oscar Piastri ofMcLaren converted his pole position to a victory, ahead ofGeorge Russell ofMercedes and Piastri's teammateLando Norris.
The event was held at theBahrain International Circuit inSakhir for the 21st time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 11–13 April.[4] The Grand Prix was the fourth round of the2025 Formula One World Championship and the 21st running of theBahrain Grand Prix.[5]
Going into the event,Lando Norris led theDrivers' Championship with 62 points, one point ahead ofMax Verstappen in second, and thirteen ahead ofOscar Piastri in third.McLaren, with 111 points, entered the race as the leader in theConstructors' Championship fromMercedes in second with 75 points, andRed Bull Racing third with 61 points.[6]
The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list with one exception.[7]Yuki Tsunoda atRed Bull Racing was in the seat originally held byLiam Lawson before the latter was demoted back toRacing Bulls from the precedingJapanese Grand Prix onward.[8]
During the first free practice session, six teams fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations:[9]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (the three hardest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.[14]
Threefree practice sessions were held for the event.[1] The first free practice session was held on 11 April 2025, at 14:30 local time (UTC+3), and was topped byLando Norris ofMcLaren ahead ofPierre Gasly ofAlpine andLewis Hamilton ofFerrari.[15] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 18:00 local time, and was topped byOscar Piastri of McLaren ahead of his teammate Norris andGeorge Russell ofMercedes.[16] The third free practice session was held on 12 April 2025, at 15:30 local time, and was topped by Piastri ahead of his teammate Norris andCharles Leclerc of Ferrari.[17]
Qualifying was held on 12 April 2025, at 19:00 local time (UTC+3), and determined the starting grid order for the race.[1]
A brief red flag was observed during Q2 asEsteban Ocon crashed hisHaas car going into turn two.[18]Sauber'sNico Hülkenberg advanced to Q2 and qualified thirteenth, despite breaching track limits during Q1 at turn 11. It was reported during Q2, and the stewards deleted his Q1 lap time after qualifying, along with those set in Q2, relegating him to sixteenth.[19]Alexander Albon ofWilliams, who had been knocked out in Q1, was affected by this, as he was restricted from doing Q2, despite his representative Q1 lap time being fast enough to advance.[20]
Notes
The race was held on 13 April 2025, at 18:00 local time (UTC+3), and was run for 57 laps.[1]
PolesitterOscar Piastri ofMcLaren successfully defended his lead into turn 1 after a challenge fromGeorge Russell ofMercedes, who gained one position to move into 2nd place. Piastri's teammateLando Norris took third having started from sixth, before being awarded a penalty for not lining up correctly in his grid spot. Russell's teammate,Kimi Antonelli, initially passedPierre Gasly ofAlpine on the run to turn 1 to hold 5th place, but was then repassed by Gasly at turn 6. This forced Antonelli to run wide, resulting in him losing out toCarlos Sainz. Jr ofWilliams at the exit of the turn 8 hairpin, and he completed the first lap in 7th. On lap 5, Antonelli repassed Sainz at turn 1, withMax Verstappen ofRed Bull following him through at turn 6. On lap 9, Leclerc's teammateLewis Hamilton attempted to pass Sainz at turn 4, however ran wide exiting the turn; this allowed Sainz to retake the place at turn 6. Hamilton made the move stick at turn 11, with Verstappen's teammateYuki Tsunoda also getting through at turn 12, dropping Sainz to 9th.[25]
On lap 10, Antonelli passed Gasly at turn 4 to take 5th after a short battle. At the end of the lap, Norris pitted for medium tyres and served his time penalty in the process, re-joining in 14th position. By pitting early, Norris was able to utilise theundercut effect, and therefore avoided losing positions to his rivals during the pit stop cycle. On lap 15, race leader Piastri pitted, re-joining on the medium tyre 2 seconds ahead of Russell. This left the two Ferraris leading the race. Both Ferraris would pit on lap 17 for a second set of medium tyres; Leclerc emerged behind Gasly but quickly passed him at turn 11 to retake 4th. On lap 20, Antonelli passed Verstappen exiting turn 4 to take 7th, having fallen behind him during the pitstops. Verstappen, struggling on hard tyres, was passed by Hamilton two laps later at turn 11. On lap 25, Leclerc passed Norris for 3rd at turn 4 as Hamilton simultaneously passed Antonelli for 7th at turn 1, younger tyres proving to be an effective advantage for both Ferraris.[25]
On lap 31, Tsunoda and Sainz made contact at turn 1 whilst disputing 6th position. This incident left a large amount of debris on track, which caused thesafety car to be deployed. Drivers who had not yet make their second pitstops took advantage of the slowed pace to change tyres, led by Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton. As the race resumed on lap 35, the top 10 was as follows; Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Gasly,Esteban Ocon ofHaas, Verstappen, Gasly's teammateJack Doohan, and Sainz. Antontelli was the only driver to make a third pit stop behind the safety car, and as a result had dropped to 14th. Leclerc reacted slowly at the restart, and was immediately challenged by Norris entering turn 1. Norris could not make the move stick, and was himself passed by Hamilton.[25]
On lap 38, Norris passed Hamilton at turn 4 to take 4th position, with Verstappen passing Ocon at turn 1 to take 7th. Russell, still running 2nd despite concern about the durability of his soft tyres, began struggling with electrical issues on his car. Initially, this presented itself as a transponder failure, which forced his team to override hisDRS as it would not activate due to the faulty transponder. Russell then reported issues with his brake-by-wire system,GPS, dashboard display, and the buttons on his steering wheel. The electrical problems also caused issues for the live timing system. This issue was circumvented by using a fallback lap-by-lap timing system.[26] On lap 46 Sainz, who had fallen down the field since the restart, retired due to ongoing issues resulting from his earlier collision with Tsunoda. As the race entered its final laps Norris was chasing Leclerc, who was struggling on hard tyres, for 3rd position, and he took the position on lap 52 at turn 4, after multiple attempts. On the final lap, Norris attempted to pass Russell around the outside of turn 1, Russell successfully defended the attack.[25]
Piastri crossed the finished line with a 15 second lead over Russell to take his 4th career Grand Prix victory,[27] achieving both his and McLaren's first win at theBahrain Grand Prix. Russell took his best result in Bahrain with second ahead of Norris and Leclerc, although this was briefly thrown into doubt by an investigation over a suspected DRS infringement,[28] whilst Hamilton finished 5th to take his best Grand Prix finish with Ferrari so far. Despite being overtaken by Verstappen at turn 4 on the last lap, Gasly could still celebrate his and Alpine's first points of the season. Haas enjoyed a double points score with Ocon in 8th andOliver Bearman in 10th, the latter having progressed from being last on the grid. Tsunoda's 9th place gave him his first points finish for Red Bull.[29] Having initially finished 13th,Nico Hülkenberg ofSauber was disqualified after the race, as his car'splank was discovered to be excessively worn down.[30]
Notes
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A bit of injustice with Alex today, I'm not feeling good about this,"[James] Vowles toldSky Sports. "Obviously the track limits are analysed live, but the result for Hulkenberg came way after we would have an opportunity to go to Q2 [...]
| Previous race: 2025 Japanese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2025 season | Next race: 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix | Bahrain Grand Prix | Next race: 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix |
