2025 Bahrain GP Was Absolute Cinema
- Tarasekhar Padhy
- Apr 15
- 7 min read
The 2025 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka was not a barn burner, to say the least. There was literally only one overtake throughout the race and McLaren’s team orders prevented another potentially interesting scrap.
Thankfully, Bahrain delivered, as usual.
The fourth grand prix of the blockbuster 2025 Formula 1 season answered many questions related to where teams realistically stood and the overall theme of the season.
Let’s look at some of the key incidents of the evening and unscramble what they mean in the context of the title battles.
Max Verstappen got f’d by Red Bull Racing
As you already know, since Adrian Newey’s departure, the Milton Keynes-based outfit has been rolling out unstable tractors out of the garage. The incompetency of the decision-makers and engineers of the energy drink racing team is greatly masked by the Dutch champion’s on-track prowess.
Especially when he secured pole in Suzuka 2025 with a magnificent lap and converted it into a flawless win to close the gap to Lando Norris, the current championship leader.
However, you can’t rely on magic forever.
In the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull rewarded Verstappen with a literal wheelie bin. Since it was a Red Bull, it was an unstable wheelie bin.
Max complained about inconsistencies in balance, tire temperatures, and braking from the start of the weekend. Initially, we thought they were simply experimenting with various setups to find the right window, but that suspicion vanished when he only managed to line up P7 on the grid for the race start.
And there’s more.
The Red Bull pit crew suffered from technical issues. The light used to signal to the driver was malfunctioning. It was supposed to turn green after the pit stop was completed to instruct the pilot to drive out.
Unfortunately, it remained flashing yellow or red. Consequently, Max and Yuki had to wait for a few extra seconds before realizing the issue.
The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix was a two-stop race. Verstappen lost at least five seconds and came out last on the grid after his second stop. Yes, car #1 was P20 at one point.
Fortunately, not all went poorly at Red Bull Racing.
Yuki Tsunoda, the second driver, finally closed the gap to Verstappen and brought home a couple of points. This is the first time in the 2025 F1 season that both drivers finished in the top ten as the flag fell.
The only catch is that it occurred when the Milton Keynes outfit dropped down to the midfield.
You may say that it’s too early to tell and it’s a long season where anything could happen. I would disagree because the engineers and mechanics operate in delusion.
Paul Monaghan, Chief Engineer at RBR, was asked about the twitchiness of the RB21 at Suzuka. The Brit was quite cheeky in his replies where he suggested that all the F1 cars are difficult to drive and the alleged twitchiness of the RB21 is relative. [1]
Similarly, Christian Horndog, Team Principal at RBR, clearly stated that Red Bull’s performance issues aren’t related to Adrian Newey’s departure to Aston Martin. [2]
While all of these statements appear plausible, you just can’t ignore the signs.
Multiple talented and successful F1 drivers have failed to tame the second Red Bull car and their collective performance has been dipping consistently since Newey left. Interestingly, there are no signs of improvement so far.
Presently, Max wants to stay there and help the team get back up, which offers a glimmer of hope. In these challenging times, the Milton Keynes outfit must evaluate and iterate its approach to car development and consider the preferences of both drivers while bringing upgrades.
Lewis Hamilton had a breakthrough weekend
The seven-time world champion has been struggling to find the sweet spot in his new ride. The Sprint win in China was unexpected and both Lewis and the team were surprised. Regardless of the result, the fact remained — the new entrant to Ferrari was yet to find his rhythm.
And it happened in Bahrain.
After the first round of pit stops, Hamilton was P11, behind the RB21 of Tsunoda. This was on lap 18. In 10 laps, he went all the way up to P6, about 10 seconds ahead of P7 (Jack Doohan).
Along the road, he overtook some decent drivers, including his former rival Max Verstappen.
Then, Pierre Gasly pitted and Lewis inherited P5 where he finished.
Starting the race from P9 and finishing P5 earned him the DOTD award. Some fans suggest that Ferrari could’ve done better by putting him on softs rather than hards for the final stint, but honestly, P5 was the best he could do.
The cars ahead (from P4 to P1) were Charles, Lando, George, and Oscar. Oscar and Lando were in the McLaren, the fastest cars on the grid by a mile. George’s Mercedes is, on paper, a faster machine than the Ferraris. And Charles qualified better and had more experience with the car.
All things considered, it was a pretty breakthrough weekend for Hamilton. The champion also acknowledged the same in the post-race interviews. He explained how he found a sense of direction and now knows what to look for, in terms of setup and driving approach. [3]
Another positive for the Maranello-based outfit is that their upgrades seem to work. Their pace seemed to have improved. Especially in the second medium stint, both Leclerc and Hamilton were flying.
Will Jeddah bring glory or an unexpected heartbreak?
Only time will tell.
Oscar Piastri almost got a grand slam
The Australian driver did not lead the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix for all the laps because Ferrari’s Leclerc extended his first stint on the medium tires. Apart from this momentary glitch, Piastri did it all to score a fantastic victory.
His pole lap was insane, and he was the only driver on the grid to break into the 1:29s. The race start and safety car restarts were terrific as well. Finally, to top it all off, Oscar also got the fastest lap of the race which was about four-tenths better than Russell and six-tenths better than Norris.
This was a redemption drive if you know what happened at Suzuka.
So, Piastri qualified P3, behind Max and Lando, for the race. Due to low degradation and cooler track temperatures, overtaking was quite challenging.
When trailing Lando, Oscar demonstrated a faster pace and the team instructed him to hold position and not attack his teammate for P2.
Furthermore, McLaren deliberately pitted Norris alongside Verstappen and Oscar right after that to ensure the Silent Killer didn’t get a chance to push hard in clean air.
Being the calm cucumber, he simply stated (in the post-race interviews) that qualifying will be most important in winning races, and merely having the fastest car on race day may not be enough. Suffice it to say, he knew the assignment from here on. [4]
And in Bahrain, he delivered with a stellar pole lap, giving no chance to his rivals to keep him behind throughout the race.
Oscar already had tremendous race craft and currently, he seems to be excellent in qualifying sessions as well. This takes away the only advantage his teammate Norris seemed to have.
Piastri’s collected demeanor gives him the psychological advantage over his closest rival this season — Lando Norris. Even after losing points to his teammate in Suzuka, he kept his composure and focused on what he could do.
In contrast, Norris was beating himself up despite having a decent race after starting P6 and finishing P3 in the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. Yes, he could’ve finished P2, but there are plenty of positives considering he had a five-second penalty for starting outside of his grid box.
This also refers to the holes in the Brit’s driving acumen related to his overtaking prowess. He is quick and can go through the field. But he needs a noticeable pace advantage to do so.
Oscar’s overtaking skills, on the other hand, are pretty sick. He gets them done quickly and decisively. He doesn’t dance around various racing lines being hesitant. He is my favorite to win the 2025 driver’s championship.
Oliver Bearman is a savage
P20 to P10 in a Haas.
Third points finish in a row.
If this guy is not your favorite driver, then you are missing something in the races. Ollie Bearman is perhaps the best rookie on the grid, almost at the level of Kimi (Antonelli). There is no doubt that this lad will be upgraded to one of the top teams in no time.
When the season began, I was praying for a bad season for Haas because of the rat-faced Frenchie who also happens to be the worst teammate in the universe. I wanted Ocon to suffer throughout the season.
This would also mean Bearman had to endure a lackluster season which can be beneficial in the sense that he’d have little pressure on his shoulders going into the races. A tough sacrifice I was willing to make, as long as it brought pain to Esteban.
However, the resilience of Komatsu’s gang and Ollie’s impressive performances in both qualifying and race sessions forced me to change my mind. Now, I will endure a happy Esteban Ocon as long as Bearman gets good results along with the Haas team.
I guess this is what maturity feels like.
Anyway, so far, it appears that the rookie Brit has the edge over his French teammate in the qualifying sessions. Bearman definitely has exceptional racecraft and hopefully, he will beat Ocon over the course of the season. That’ll be the icing on the cake for me.
Wrapping up
The 2025 Formula 1 season is delivering so far. Each race has been exciting and eventful in its own way and we still have 20 races to go at the moment.
Yes, in terms of driver’s crown, it is a two-horse race, featuring both McLaren drivers. If the current trend continues, it will be Oscar cruising to his maiden world title.
However, the midfield battles are heating up. Red Bull has joined the midfield and Ferrari seem to get out of it. Red Bull has finally scored points with both drivers and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton is finding his groove.
All of the rookies are great behind the wheel, especially Ollie Bearman. Speaking of the noobs, I think Doohan will be the next driver to score some points, but it’ll be tight.
Let’s see what happens in Jeddah. The race, most likely, will be boring. The qualifying session will determine who wins the grand prix. Everything considered, my money is on Piastri.
Until next time,
Tara
