McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took a controlled, dominant victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix to close on team-mate Lando Norris in the world championship.
The Australian was serene in the lead, calmly keeping himself out of reach of his rivals, as Mercedes’ George Russell held off an assault from the second McLaren of Lando Norris for second.
Norris, fighting back from sixth on the grid and a five-second penalty for a false start, had a chance to pass Russell going into the final lap, but could not make it work.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, passed by Norris with eight laps to go, ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a lonely fifth.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen could only take sixth place from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly on the final lap, a week after his brilliant victory in Japan.
The result, the first time McLaren have won the home race of their Bahraini main shareholders, leaves Norris three points ahead of Piastri at the head of the championship.
Verstappen, anonymous and uncompetitive, is eight points off the lead in third.
Piastri was always favourite for victory after taking pole position, and he never looked in danger of losing the race once he had retained the lead at the start.
Behind him, Norris moved up from sixth on the grid to third on the first lap behind Piastri and Russell, with Leclerc running fourth in the Ferrari.
But it soon became apparent that Norris’ front wheels had been too far forward on the grid, and he was given a five-second penalty.
Despite his enforced longer pit stop, Norris managed not to lose a position, but he was passed by Leclerc at around one-third distance.
Ferrari had chosen a different tyre strategy to McLaren and Mercedes, starting on the medium tyre rather than the softs of their rivals.
That allowed Leclerc to run seven laps longer before his first stop, giving him a grip advantage in the second stint, and allowing the Ferrari to pass the McLaren at Turn Four on lap 25.
But the advantage swung back to Norris when the safety car came out on lap 32, shortly after half-distance, to allow officials to clear debris from the track.
Nearly all the drivers stopped for tyres, and Russell, Leclerc and Norris came out on three different compounds – Russell on softs, Leclerc on hards and Norris on mediums.
After a few laps of stasis, Norris eased up towards Leclerc. They battled for several laps, and Norris accused Leclerc of forcing him off the track when he tried one move around the outside of Turn Four.
But he fought back and finally made the move stick with eight laps to go.
Norris then set off after Russell and was on his tail going into the final two laps.
It looked like a move was on. But he perhaps miscalculated by making a half-move into Turn One on the final lap.
It did not come off, and it left him too far behind to challenge the Mercedes driver into Turn Four, securing second for Russell.
Norris said: “A tough race. I made too many mistakes. A messy race from me. Disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren.”
