2025 Bahrain Grand Prix

The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2025) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 13 April 2025 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the fourth round of the 2025 Formula One World Championship. Oscar Piastri of McLaren converted his pole position to a victory, ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Piastri's teammate Lando Norris.

Background

The event was held at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir for the 21st time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 11–13 April. The Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2025 Formula One World Championship and the 21st running of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Championship standings before the race

Going into the event, Lando Norris led the Drivers' Championship with 62 points, one point ahead of Max Verstappen in second, and thirteen ahead of Oscar Piastri in third. McLaren, with 111 points, entered the race as the leader in the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes in second with 75 points, and Red Bull Racing third with 61 points.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list with one exception. Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull Racing was in the seat originally held by Liam Lawson before the latter was demoted back to Racing Bulls from the preceding Japanese Grand Prix onward.

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:

* Dino Beganovic for Ferrari in place of Charles Leclerc, making his Formula One practice debut.
* Ryō Hirakawa for Haas in place of Oliver Bearman.
* Frederik Vesti for Mercedes in place of George Russell.
*Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin in place of Fernando Alonso.
* Luke Browning for Williams in place of Carlos Sainz Jr.
* Ayumu Iwasa for Red Bull Racing in place of Max Verstappen.

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli 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.

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 11 April 2025, at 14:30 local time (UTC+3), and was topped by Lando Norris of McLaren ahead of Pierre Gasly of Alpine and Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 18:00 local time, and was topped by Oscar Piastri of McLaren ahead of his teammate Norris and George Russell of Mercedes. 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 and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 12 April 2025, at 19:00 local time (UTC+3), and determined the starting grid order for the race.

Qualifying report

A brief red flag was observed during Q2 as Esteban Ocon crashed his Haas car going into turn two. Sauber's Nico 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. Alexander Albon of Williams, 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.

Qualifying classification

Notes
* – George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli both received a one-place grid penalty for entering the fast lane in the pit lane before a re-start time was confirmed.

Race

The race was held on 13 April 2025, at 18:00 local time (UTC+3), and was run for 57 laps.

Race report

Oscar Piastri of McLaren kept his pole position, while teammate Lando Norris overshot his grid slot, and as a result, was penalised for a false start. Both Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing suffered slow pit stops over the course of the race. The safety car was brought out on lap 32 after a collision between Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz Jr. of Williams. The collision left a large hole on Sainz's sidepod, and resulted in the latter retiring. Racing resumed on lap 35.

By lap 38, Mercedes driver George Russell's car began exhibiting electrical issues, the first of which was a transponder failure that forced his team to override his DRS as it would not activate due to the faulty transponder. Russell then endured issues with his brake-by-wire system, then reportedly, his GPS, which failed shortly after his transponder, dashboard display, and steering wheel button controls. Despite this, Russell managed to take his car to a second-place finish, his best result of the season so far, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri winning the race and teammate Norris recovering from his penalty to finish third.

Post-race

Following the race, Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber was disqualified as his car's plank was discovered to be excessively worn down.

Race classification

Notes
* – Jack Doohan received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. This initially dropped him to 15th in the provisional classification, but was promoted one place following Nico Hülkenberg's disqualification.
* – Liam Lawson received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lance Stroll and a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Nico Hülkenberg. This initially dropped him to 17th in the provisional classification, but was promoted one place following Nico Hülkenberg's disqualification.
* – Nico Hülkenberg was provisionally classified in 13th, but was disqualified for excessive plank wear.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

* 2025 Sakhir Formula 2 round
* 2025 Sakhir Formula 3 round

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

Bahrain
Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix