Winner – Oscar Piastri

Piastri was “very, very happy” to take his second career pole position in Bahrain on a day where his teammate, Lando Norris, couldn’t deliver. Oscar said he had “felt confident [on track] pretty much all weekend”, despite some struggles with grip on Friday in FP1.

This pole position is a statement that he is capable of fighting for the championship, one that comes after he had to hold behind his teammate last time out despite feeling he had the superior pace.

Although there’s still a very long way to go, gaining the edge while his championship-favourite teammate struggled to match the pace, has placed Oscar in a great position to come away from the weekend with a haul of points, and possibly a win, that will boost his championship campaign.

Loser – Lando Norris

Lando Norris was left 0.426s off the pace set by Piastri with a time only good enough for P6 on the grid, without much of a reason why.

“I was just slow,” Lando explained, “I have been slow this whole weekend, to be honest. Nothing too surprising. I have just been off it… The car is amazing. I have nothing to complain about, the team are doing an amazing job but I am just letting them down.”

It’s tough to see a driver be so hard on themselves following a poor session, and its reasonable that Lando is disappointed with his performance when he wants to be fighting at the front every weekend. But points are scored on Sunday and there’s still opportunity for Lando to make his way back to the podium positions.

Winner – Carlos Sainz

After a disappointing weekend in Japan, including a €10,000 fine for a “pretty expensive poo” (in the words of George Russell), Carlos Sainz will be relieved to have made it into Q3 to start P8, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.

Having scored just one point for Williams in 2025 so far, his P8 start gives him a great opportunity to add some more points to this tally.

“Okay. Not bad,” was Carlos’s response to finding out he was starting P8 from his race engineer, which was quickly addressed by Williams team principal James Vowles who said: “It’s better than not bad, Carlos! Well done. Really, really nice, cleanly executed qualifying.”

Loser – Liam Lawson

In his second qualifying session with Racing Bulls following his Red Bull demotion, Lawson once again was pipped by his teammate Isack Hadjar. Lawson will start the race from P17, while his teammate will start from P12.

A DRS issue was described as the reason behind this performance, with Racing Bulls’ Chief Technical Officer, Tim Goss, saying a “little wheelspin” on the exit of turn 10 meant Lawson lifted the throttle slightly which automatically closed his DRS. As a result he lost “vital speed on the straight” and the chance at moving into Q2.

On the issue, Lawson said he was “unsure exactly what happened” but that if it was his fault that he “will definitely learn from it as it’s cost [him] a lot today”.

Of course this will be frustrating for Liam as he continues to re-establish himself within the sister Red Bull team following his demotion, but it offers him a chance at a recovery drive today.

Winner – Pierre Gasly

After a particularly strong qualifying performance that will see him line up in P4 on the grid, Gasly is aiming to “be a pain” for the top teams during the race.

Unlike most teams, Gasly felt the conditions had worked in Alpine’s favour with Doohan also putting in some quick laps that saw him within the top 5 at a few points through the hour.

“The conditions played well for us and it just shows we’ve got some good potential,” Gasly said.

“I think the window is very narrow and we’ve got some fast guys behind us. Lando and Max can have a little go at each other in the first few laps and leave me out of it, I’m not going to be against that!”

The results was unexpected for the frenchman, who admitted that prior to the session he was anticipating fighting for “P10 or P9 at best”. Gasly’s starting position creates a great opportunity for him to score some valuable points for Alpine, who currently sit in last place within the Constructors’ standings as the only non-points scorers this year.

Losers – Nico Hulkenberg & Alexander Albon

In a bizarre situation, Nico Hulkenberg advanced to Q2 with a lap that exceeded track limits, robbing Alex Albon of a spot in the second round and a chance to fight for a place in Q3.

Hulkenberg’s final push lap in Q1 saw Albon knocked out by a minuscule 0.042s margin. Hulkenberg then went on to qualify 13th in Q2 before his Q1 lap was investigated and deleted for a track limits violation, demoting him to P16. Unfortunately for Albon, as Q2 had already begun, he was not given the opportunity to set another lap time and was only moved up to P15 in the final classification.

The FIA stewards document explained how the incident occurred, blaming a late report of the track limits violation for the issue: “During Q1, Car 27 clearly exceeded track limits in Turn 11. However, this was not reported to the Stewards until Q2 had commenced.” As a result, all of Hulkenberg’s lap times set in Q2 were deleted.

Both drivers will be disappointed with the outcome, Albon especially, as he was not given the opportunity to improve on P15 on a day where his teammate made it to the top 10, showing what may have been possible.

Loser – Max Verstappen

Brake issues cost the four time champion a chance at a position higher than P7 on today’s grid.

Verstappen said “we did everything we could today” but that the balance of the car and difficulties with the brakes being “totally inconsistent” and like “hitting a wall” meant his final lap was “not good enough compared to the others.”

How did this show up on the telemetry? Our newest reel explains all:

The grid is set for Bahrain Grand Prix, with the lights scheduled to go out at 16:00 (BST). Keep across all of the action & analysis post-race on our socials, @motorsportbyapex.