Oscar Piastri is the first repeat pole sitter of 2025 - Qualifying Reactions from the 2025 Bahrain GP

[00:00:04] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hey guys, this is me. I am actually attempting a solo because Somil is or was busy till a few hours ago with the Red Bull Moto Jam that happened in Chennai in Mumbai. It was celebrating motorsport in India, one of the largest international motorsport events. We've been supporting them, helping them, working with them. So Somil was there.

[00:00:30] As for F1 Stats Guru, I'm sure all of y'all have been seeing his super content from the Bahrain Grand Prix. It's one of the races he attends. It's also his home Grand Prix, just as it is McLaren's home Grand Prix. So I had the option of not doing anything or just coming up and speaking all by myself. So I have to say big thanks to Somil and to Uttara for pushing me to do this solo.

[00:00:56] It's literally the first time I'm doing anything solo on the Inside Line F1 Podcast. And even more so, anyone for that matter is doing a solo for the Inside Line F1 Podcast, trying something new, trying something different. But we said we have to be there because we are always there whenever there's a Grand Prix weekend and something sensible is happening, you know, in terms of a session.

[00:01:23] So, yes, it's the VHRs of the morning in many parts of the world. I've been traveling, which is why it's literally 12, 13 in the night, Oslo time as well. But for everyone tuning in from Oslo or consuming it later in the day from Oslo, I will be at Karl's at Karl Barnarsch Plus with Henning Isdal for tomorrow's F1 event.

[00:01:47] We're going to have some fun, some quizzes. Henning is, of course, one of the oldest voices of motorsport in Norway and somebody who knows his history very, very well. So I expect that quiz to be tough, even for me. I pretty much don't remember anything. But what has happened this race weekend? Why don't I just go straight into what I believe some of the talking points are from qualifying?

[00:02:13] Of course, the race is in Bahrain. It's a circuit. It's one of those couple of circuits that I have actually driven a racing car on myself. It was in 2005, so 20 years since I actually drove on the Bahrain International Circuit. And some very interesting facts about the circuit itself. So this circuit has, I think, five certified layouts.

[00:02:39] I drove on one of those layouts, which was previously easier for the Formula BMW cars. So it's got five layouts. It's got a lot of low to medium speed corners. So that's very crucial. Mechanical grip is important for performance as well. Of course, Formula One teams tested here in preseason testing. But that was a different Bahrain that everyone tested on.

[00:03:04] Lots of people I spoke to said it was as good as testing in Europe because the conditions were cooler. In fact, it was also better on some of the times, which is why, if you all remember, Haas was one of the two teams that brought inters and then sort of made fun of the other teams that stayed in the garages when the rains came saying, haha, did you forget to get your inters? And I'm actually happy that Bahrain is not the opening round of the season, even though I think they've hosted it five or six times.

[00:03:32] I think that Australia opening the calendar is great, but that's just me being, you know, one of those older fans who grew up to having Australia there. But interesting fact still, courtesy of Merceries, actually, Bahrain is located in the middle of a desert. And this site was formerly a camel farm, says Merceries. It's been around for a long time, but still one of the first times I've actually heard that.

[00:04:00] It's got a thousand and twenty palm trees around the circuit. So when you see them cars racing by, you should know you don't need to count them. Mercedes has already done that for us. And despite being in the desert, I remember growing up to the Bahrain Grand Prix. It's been there for around 20 years. There was always this conversation that sand could be one of those things you look at.

[00:04:23] It could fly into your radiators and be on the track and sort of just disturb the grip levels because, you know, of course, sand is blowing around the circuit. It is a windy circuit, much as most circuits now these days are. But there is a special substance, an adhesive substance that is sprayed around the sand to minimize the sand blowing on track as well.

[00:04:47] But my favorite point, you know, I'm going to try and do a Carlos sign since I'm missing Samuel Arora hosting this episode and I'm doing this solo. The track surface is made from a special aggregate that was shipped from Aquarius in England. So all that talk about sustainability. But this is what the Bahrain International Circuit is all about.

[00:05:09] I think qualifying was fairly average, if I may put it as that, because it was one of those first times when there was no rookie outside of Antonelli who made it into Q3. And, of course, Antonelli very, very impressive. But, you know, we'll get to that. Some of my notes that I'm reading out from qualifying, every driver has progressed from Q1 at least once this season. That's what's happened.

[00:05:38] In the first three races, we've actually seen at least one different team lose two cars in Q1. In Australia, it was Haas, the big surprise that we saw with all the paupassing they felt in high-speed sections. Alpine, of course, was the second team in China. And then Sauber was the team in Suzuka, which, of course, means that in Q1, the gap between P1 and P20 was just 1.2 seconds.

[00:06:07] Albin was a surprise exit from Q1. He lost it by 400. And he literally said, I don't know what went wrong. After the session, he said they could have managed him getting better placement in the traffic, which is sometimes we've seen that how traffic can impair tyre preparations and tyres are extremely important around the Bahrain International Circuit. Then went Liam Lawson. He had DRS issues, so that's not a fair assessment of where he could have been.

[00:06:37] Bortoletto, one of the four first-time drivers around the circuit, was out, as was Lance Stroll, who, of course, said they had a ride-eye issue and he might just start from the pit lane in the race tomorrow because he's anywhere 19th. They will make changes. And Oliver Behrman, who was honest, said he didn't have a good lap. So, we actually had five different teams go out of Q1 for the first time in 2025.

[00:07:06] And DFI, of course, you know, 45 minutes after Q1 deleted Nico Hulkenberg's lap time, which meant that instead of being 14th, he will now be 16th. But could, you know, have Hulkenberg's lap time being deleted on time helped Alexander Albin's cause because he would have been in Q2 and then we, of course, saw what happened with Carlos Sainz making it to Q3 as well. But those are some of the Q1 facts that I came up with.

[00:07:35] Yuki Tsunoda, of course, for the first time made it into Q3 in a Red Bull. Also the first time both the Red Bull racing cars were in to Q3. And in Q2, Fernando Alonso, as consistent as he is, is the only driver to have made it to Q2. All the races of the season, but not have progressed into Q3. So, if that's the pace of the car, that's what Fernando's delivering. Jack Doohan, one of the impressive performances in that Alpine.

[00:08:06] He was P11, again, 100th out of Q3. That would have been fun to see him get there. Isaac Hartjar, which for the second time this season hasn't made it to Q3, but he's been pretty impressive, as we know before as well. Hartjar was 11th in Australia, 7th and 7th in China and Japan, and then 12th in Bahrain as well. So, that was Hartjar.

[00:08:32] Then there was Nico Hülkenberg, which clearly, of course, was then down to 16th after his time was taken. Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, who had a rare driver error, put it in the barriers. The crash looked far worse than it actually turned out to be, touchwood. But pole position went to Oscar Piastri. He ends up becoming the first repeat pole sitter of 2025. Congratulations.

[00:08:58] Also, his 50th race with McLaren, which is pretty monumental, given that he's still a rookie, but he is the first pole sitter, like I said. And he's had the highest gap or the maximum gap to pole position that we've seen in qualifying in 2025. We've seen, you know, the maximum gap being 800s.

[00:09:22] This time, it was double of that, which is, you know, one-tenth of a gap or 0.16, since I said double, to be precise. Oscar Piastri is the king of clean air, or as he called it, in China. And he, of course, is going to start tomorrow's race from pole position, which means he's going to have clean air all through. George Russell was second. We'll come to the, you know, disqualifications. Actually, not disqualifications. The grit penalties that the Mercedes drivers got and why they got them. But yeah, Russell's second.

[00:09:54] Leclerc was third, which is fantastic. But he's always gone around very well around Bahrain as well. Antonelli fourth, again, very, very impressive. Just three hundredths of Charles Leclerc. Pierre Gasly, who would have thought after being the slowest in Bahrain last year? Gasly's put it fourth after all the movements that have happened with the Mercedes drivers. But he is just three thousandths of a second from Kimi Antonelli.

[00:10:24] Then came the surprise. Lando Norris just could manage sixth on the road with Stappen-Carlos Sainz. He made it into Q3. He repeated one of his favorite radio messages, if you all remember, when he won his first race with Ferrari in Silverstone. He said, guys, stop inventing. He actually told Williams the same thing. We should not be inventing new things. Change some of his tools and his flap settings for Q3. Put it there.

[00:10:54] And he outqualified Lewis Hamilton by nine hundredths of a second as well. And then Yuki Tsunoda into Q3. So lots of, I would say, regular results that have come in, again, has come to a circuit where teams have a lot of data from. But tomorrow it is all, I think the key talking points will be, can Oscar Piastri convert his pole position to race win?

[00:11:21] And if so, can Lando Norris make a one-two for McLaren? And I think Norris is, you know, of course, he was not happy after qualifying. He just, he was, you know, typically very self-critical. And he said, you know, he said something to the tune of, it was like I drove a Formula One car for the very first time. I was just very slow all weekend.

[00:11:46] And to me, is this Oscar Piastri actually now taking that battle to Lando Norris? We saw in 2024, Piastri was struggling against Norris in qualifying. But Oscar Piastri is the only driver whose average qualifying position in 2025 is 1.75. In fact, he's the only driver who is in the ones in that average position. Lando Norris is second.

[00:12:17] But guess what? Lando's average qualifying position is actually 3, just marginally ahead of George Russell, who's been brilliant in qualifying this year. And, of course, Max Verstappen as well, who you almost can never rule out. But Norris also said, can Oscar Piastri lap the entire field? And then he said, that's the kind of performance that, you know, advantage we have.

[00:12:43] And he hoped that he finishes second in the race tomorrow, which, of course, means McLaren will have to focus on strategy. They seem to have much better tire degradation. Can they maximize strategy and get Norris up to second? Because it could well be that Oscar Piastri takes the lead in the Drivers' Championship after the race tomorrow if Lando Norris doesn't outscore him or doesn't finish second.

[00:13:12] Because I think the gap between them is about 13 points. But it just goes to show that in the Drivers' Championship, it is going to be a McLaren versus McLaren battle. Zac Brown said post-qualifying that this is how it is when you have two number one drivers, when one doesn't score, the other will. But I'm just happy that there won't be, at least at the start of it, Papaya rules trying to dictate the McLaren drivers battling with each other.

[00:13:42] And for all the Lando Norris fans, yes, we've been questioning, when I say we, as in largely a lot of people, why have so many errors coming in? Is he sort of under pressure or putting a lot of pressure on himself, etc.? But Lando Norris has not finished lower than second in any of the last four Grand Prix. So that's how powerful his performance also has been in the Grand Prix as well.

[00:14:06] But for some Lando Norris banter, if I can continue with some of that, I tweeted this and not some of the fans were happy with it. But, you know, it's understandable why Lando Norris chose to qualify closer to Max Verstappen and not to Oscar Piastri. Maybe he just knows that his game, his title battle is actually going to be with Verstappen and he chooses to be closer to Max Verstappen and not Oscar Piastri.

[00:14:30] But like I said, it's banter and it sounds worse when it's just me on the stream talking to myself. But we've seen the first three races of the season, which is Australia, China and then Suzuka being won by the pole sitter. Frederick Vassour said it's a qualifying race.

[00:14:52] Whoever qualifies up ahead actually ends up winning because we also saw that with Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for the sprint race and then won that particular sprint race as well. So will tomorrow's race be a qualifying race? Well, I don't think so because, you know, Bahrain allows for overtaking. In fact, it's one of those better circuits to use the modern day Formula One cars to go racing with. We've seen the two DRS zones be extremely effective.

[00:15:22] Are there two or more? I can't remember. Just anyway, there is overtaking into turn one, into turn four. And we've seen that, you know, with high degradation, it typically ends up being a two stopper race as well. So that sort of brings in more teams in the mix as well. But, you know, George Russell said that it might not be a qualifying race because of these very two reasons that there's tyre strategy at play.

[00:15:50] And also overtaking is very much possible as well. We've traditionally seen this to be a two stopper, but Pirelli has reduced the tyre pressures for the rears. And it could be that there could be a mix of two stoppers and one stoppers in the race tomorrow. And I feel bad for Pirelli. They build tyres that they don't end up using. So the teams actually end up knowing the Pirelli tyres better than Pirelli themselves.

[00:16:18] But just because I said it might not be a qualifying race doesn't mean that Piastri could still not win. I think he's the favourite for the race win. And he just has to nail that opening lap, get there. For those looking out for stats, which I think in the last 12 races, six races have been won from pole position. And I think 10 have been won from the front row.

[00:16:45] And by my reckoning with now the penalty for George Russell, the front row is very much Charles Leclerc's out there. But even George Russell said that the heat is the best time to actually see what that McLaren is capable of. And when it comes to circuit characteristics, Bahrain, like I said, is all about slow and medium speed corners. That's what you need to maximise performance for.

[00:17:10] From the data, it seems that McLaren are actually fastest in those medium speed corners. There's lots of them at Sakhir. And which means it might just be difficult to follow them as well. But Mercedes are quickest on the straights. And could it be that the Mercedes drivers actually use that advantage to pull off some overtakes? Now that they've got a grid penalty, we'll talk about grid penalty in a bit. And Ferrari are actually slowest, or sorry, the fastest in the slow speed corners.

[00:17:40] They have a bit of an advantage on the McLaren as well. So that's where each package, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari are extracting lap time, extracting performance in different ways around the same Bahrain international circuit, five plus 5.4 odd kilometres of a circuit as well. And it just seems that McLaren are using a higher downforce setup.

[00:18:05] And to be competitive against McLaren, the others have, through the free practice sessions, just lowered their downforce levels to be as competitive as they could, for example, be. And still talking to about McLaren, Lando Norris just made a mistake into turn one. But even without that mistake, he may still have just been third. That's the best that he could have done. And, you know, for all those Norris fans out there,

[00:18:37] you know, Carlos Sainz, again, put it very, very nicely. He said the first three circuits that we went through were all front limited. And Lando Norris doesn't necessarily like them. We saw that in China, the front limitations that went into turn one just cost him. But Bahrain is one of those real, real limited circuits. That's where Lando Norris tends to do better. So it is a bit of a surprise that he's not done better. And what do I mean by a real limited circuit?

[00:19:08] Typically, your performance is limited by how much you can stretch your rear tyres, if that's the easiest way I can sort of put that. But Kimi Antonelli, extremely quick, you know, in Bahrain, his first time around the Bahrain International Circuit in a Formula One car. He said a podium might be possible tomorrow. And George Russell was very pleasantly surprised to be on that front row as well. Since I'm talking of Mercedes, quick word.

[00:19:39] Sorry, quick word on the Mercedes grid penalty. Their sporting director, Ron Meadows, is not at the race in Bahrain. In the qualifying session, the FIA race control actually put out that the estimated start time for the next session is a particular time. But that's an estimated start time. As per the sporting regulations, the teams cannot send their cars out in the fast lane of the pit lane

[00:20:06] till the actual start time of the next session is announced by the FIA. So Andrew Shovlin actually took the decision in the absence of Ron Meadows to send Kimi Antonelli and George Russell out in the fast lane when the message came about estimated start time, which basically was a breach. And the FIA gave them one place penalty, one grid penalty. And Mercedes actually said it was not on purpose.

[00:20:35] The FIA agreed with that, that it wasn't on purpose. And then Mercedes said there wasn't an advantage. And the FIA said, but yes, teams could take an advantage of something like this, especially if time to resume a new session is actually less. They could use that to sort of block off rivals. So the FIA then said, we will give you a sporting penalty. And Mercedes said, could it be a non-sporting penalty? But clearly a non-sporting penalty would mean a financial fine,

[00:21:03] which the FIA didn't want to do because that sets precedence as well. But that's a bit unfair. But I think just how complicated Formula One can be. And that just shows how important even a sporting director's role is about just when to send out the cars, even if they're waiting in the queue in the pit lane as well. And just behind the Mercedes cars, of course, was Pierre Gasly.

[00:21:32] He went quicker than Lando Norris, went quicker than Max Verstappen, went quicker than Lewis Hamilton as well. And Pierre Gasly, of course, said, I nailed my Q2 lap, gave me a lot of confidence to nail the Q3 lap. He said, I, of course, don't have points in 2025, neither Gasly nor do Alpine. But this was Flavio Briatore's 75th birthday, the day when qualifying was held. So couldn't have been a better birthday gift,

[00:22:03] you know, for them. And Leclerc, who I spoke of, he, of course, said he's now taking extreme, you know, he's going on to extreme ends of his setup to extract performance. The new floor actually helped him get, you know, third place in qualifying. Of course, it's going to be second on the road tomorrow. But he said, McLaren will be on a different planet. Overtaking or overheating will be a big thing, which the McLarens just come alive.

[00:22:31] He's hoping, Leclerc is hoping that there will be a battle between himself and the Mercedes drivers and Max Verstappen, he said, for the last step of the podium. So pretty much he thinks it's going to be Lando Norris coming through and getting second position there. And Leclerc actually gave away something interesting. He said, hopefully, Lewis will be there in the battle for the podium with a different strategy. Could they actually look to do something else

[00:22:59] to get Lewis some position up there? And yeah, so what else have I got in my notes out here? Seems a bit like my notebook. But yes, Carlos Sainz into Q3, like I said, spoke of this being a real, real limited circuit. And, you know, just goes to show that different ways of extracting lap time, different drivers feel performance

[00:23:28] or feel lack of comfort around circuits because different parts of the car, whether it's the front axle or the rear axle, just is, you know, being stressed more. And that's what they need to sort of take care of. But, you know, Lando Norris had the measure of Oscar Piastri. So clearly the jump that Piastri has made in a single lap pace is pretty, pretty fantastic, I would say.

[00:23:56] And George Russell, best after the McLaren drivers in terms of average qualifying position of just 3.25. And this is McLaren's home race because there is ownership of the Bahraini Sovereign Wealth Fund. Their last podium here was in 2010 with Lewis Hamilton. And they don't have pole in Bahrain. They, of course, don't have a race win in Bahrain as well.

[00:24:23] And I get a feeling it's going to be the two McLaren drivers, may not be in one-two position, but also George Russell on that podium because Russell's on a career-best run of, I think, 13 Grand Prix points finishes. And he's had consecutive top five race finishes coming into this weekend as well. So isn't Formula One actually still unpredictable

[00:24:51] despite McLaren having a bit of the edge on pretty much everything that they can have the edge on at this time of the season? Max Verstappen said he wants to drive that McLaren and then he would be disappearing into the distance. Could McLaren be wondering that if they have a quick car, will Max Verstappen actually clinch their titles faster given just how much Lando Norris has been on and off, on and off?

[00:25:20] And of course, they must be really glad that Oscars made that consistent step up or step up in consistency, you know, when they've got a fast car. We've said this before, having a fast car doesn't mean anything if you're not consistently delivering results. But another team that doesn't have a fast car yet is Aston Martin. It's Alonso's 50th race with the team. And, you know, Lance Stroll had some issues with ride heights.

[00:25:50] So he might just be starting from the pit lane after his Q1 exit. But that's pretty much it from my notes, as I believe. And I think Oscar Piastri is going to win. I just get this feeling he's going to take the lead in the Drivers' Championship, which is going to be phenomenal when that happens. And for all the Lewis Hamilton fans, yes, lots of teething issues.

[00:26:19] He said the car is better than what I am actually delivering. So we will be interested in seeing if Lewis is able to bounce back after yet another, you know, issue that he's been facing on Saturday, which has been consistently an issue for him since maybe, you know, a couple of seasons even with Mercedes. And maybe we'll see how that goes.

[00:26:46] But that's pretty much it from me on this live stream. Tell me how you guys liked it. It was me holding forth all by myself without Samuel, without Sundaram, without Sarang in the ears, without Uttara sending in questions from what we get from, you know, social media as well. But thank you very much for tuning in, staying with me till the very end. And I think Samuel, I know actually I know this,

[00:27:14] Samuel is back in Mumbai. He will be on the Fan Code Hindi broadcast on commentary with Chetan Narula. So we will be there hosting our live stream after the race tomorrow as well. Enjoy the race when it comes. Adios. Bye-bye. So this is so live stream right instead. having a good side and check in the video. If you have a great city