Lando Norris vs everyone and a Red Bull disaster: F1 Bahrain Grand Prix notebook

Lando Norris, McLaren, Australia, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Bahrain Grand Prix

Norris vs everyone and a Red Bull disaster: Bahrain Grand Prix notebook

Catch up on another wild day of F1!

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Monday 14 April 2025 19:00

A Formula 1 race in 2025 being held at a time that American viewers can comfortably* watch? Finished before the big dogs teed off at the Masters? It's a miracle!

*(alright, you'd have had to get up at 8am on the west coast, but just have the iPad next to your bed or something)

Oscar Piastri won his second race of the season while Lando Norris just clung on to his championship lead with a late pass on Charles Leclerc, despite a low grid slot and an early penalty.

Of course, you probably know those things. Maybe you watched the race, or the highlights, or some devilishly handsome and charming stranger's chequered flag report, so you know the headlines.

But hey, were you paying close enough attention to spot...?

Ferrari did...something good in the pits?

Article continues under video

Staying out on track longer than the rest of the drivers who started in the top ten, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were running first and second when they came in.

The Brit was running about nine seconds behind his team-mate, allowing the Scuderia crew to double-stack the drivers without making Hamilton wait. In fact, the stop was as efficient as any for any team on the day (and more than Red Bull, more on that later), getting him out in the low two second range. Good work, guys.

Shame your funky, galaxy brain tyre choice left your drivers running on the worst available tyre at the end when everyone else was on mediums and softs. Oh well.

Lando No...mates

There's no friends once the lights go out. It's tough at the top. When you're out in front, there's a target on your back. Other cliches. Other ways to say 'racers want to beat each other'. So on. So forth.

Max Verstappen's tendency to be the first to squeal on his classmates is well known, and he was straight on the radio at the start to dob Norris in for starting just a shade outside of his pit box.

Charles Leclerc doesn't have that reputation, but he was quick on the button to complain about Norris' potential track limits violations when the pair were battling. In the end, the Brit was pinged three times by the stewards – one more would've brought on a penalty and put him behind the Ferrari driver. Close call.

George Russell: Adventurer

If you were able to watch the race in full, you'll know that George Russell had what is fast becoming his trademark: a more or less entirely uneventful day which ended on the podium.

If you were just keeping an eye on the track map, you might've developed a different impression. Say, the impression that he managed to drive about half a kilometre off track.

It's not entirely what went wrong with Russell's tracking chip (in his car, not the one that a prominent F1 editor has privately advocated for being inserted into the back of his neck), but the map showed him having gone straight on through the last corner, barriers, car park and the rest of it.

Whatever went wrong, it completely broke the Sky Sports timing tower, leading to it disappearing off the screen for a while as things were reset. Oops.

george where are you going pic.twitter.com/SOYKhaJPR1
— Naca (@F1ToRuleThemAll) April 13, 2025

Taking the Piastri

It's an oft-quoted adage: 'Being in loads of thick layers of clothing, inside a not-at-all air conditioned car and not being able to take a drink of water is the best set of conditions when you're in a desert'.

Unfortunately for Oscar Piastri, the books which use that line the most frequently have titles like 'Sentences Nobody Has Ever Said', and 'Things an Idiot Destined for Pain Might Say'.

So when the Australian was reminded by his engineer to 'use his drink' – side note, yes he said 'use', like a person who's freshly arrived on Earth – and Piastri told him the drinks system wasn't working...that was bad news. Still, good news about the 25 points.

Red Light Indicates Wheels Are Secured

Max Verstappen's been desperate to relive the days when Red Bull were a well oiled machine, and this weekend's disastrous outing can only have compounded that feeling.

The Dutchman's first pit stop saw him stationary for twice as long as a regular wheel change, not because of any tardiness on his changers' part, but because the light above his head indicating that he was safe to drive off never changed from red to...well, anything else.

Yuki Tsunoda had the same problem at his first stop and, while the team found their collective way around that particular issue, Verstappen's second stop was a whole new disaster as one of his front wheels stubbornly remained attached. Give it up, front-right tyre. He's moved on. Holding on can only hurt you both.

Red Bull Ferrari Lando Norris Charles Leclerc Oscar Piastri Bahrain Grand Prix