Team Principal Andrea Stella was full of praise for his squad after Oscar Piastri delivered McLaren’s first win in Bahrain, the Australian backed up by Lando Norris who made it a double podium for the papaya team under the lights in Sakhir.
While it wasn’t a 1-2, first and third is still a fine result considering McLaren haven’t had a single rostrum here since 2010. And this was a location that really mattered to Stella and CEO Zak Brown, as Bahrain is home to McLaren’s main investors.
“Very meaningful, very meaningful victory. First victory in Bahrain [which] is our second home Grand Prix,” Stella told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
“So it definitely retains a special meaning for us. Our shareholders have been so supportive, you know, we have given them certainly the opportunity to be very patient and they were patient and they were believing in us.”
2025 Bahrain Grand Prix: Piastri crosses the line to take his second victory of the season
Piastri was quick from word go in Bahrain, topping FP2 and FP3 before qualifying on pole and leading the majority of the race, bar a few laps during the first pit stops. He had to contend with a Safety Car restart too, but quietly and efficiently rebuilt his lead to win by 15.499 seconds, the biggest margin of the year.
“Oscar drove a perfect race, if anything I would say, a perfect weekend,” added Stella. “A little bit of a shame for Lando with the five-second penalty, otherwise I think good racing from Lando, we recovered, and yeah, I think he would have deserved to finish second.
“Just the race finished maybe a couple of laps too early, but it’s good, it’s good for the team, good for our drivers. We are definitely in a strong position on both championships, and this is thanks very much to the work that the team have done.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Catch up on Piastri’s stellar run to victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix
Norris did not have quite the same imperious weekend as his team mate, managing only sixth in qualifying before picking up a time penalty for being outside his grid box at the start. But he recovered to take third, and still leads the Drivers’ Championship by three points from Piastri.
Brown was on hand to celebrate his team’s third win in four races
«Well, you could tell on the first lap [Norris] was back,” said CEO Zak Brown after the race.
“It was a great first lap. Unfortunate with the penalty, but it was deserved. But he did a great job, the team did a great job getting that back. And yes, back to the normal Lando we know.”
As for Piastri’s form, it might give the team a headache down the line if both drivers continue to deliver such strong results – but for now Brown was all smiles, which was unsurprising given McLaren lead the Teams’ Championship by 58 points and are 1-2 in the Drivers’.
“I asked [Oscar] yesterday what he had for breakfast because I think we all need to have it,” he joked. “So he was just on form. I mean, as he’s always on form, but just this weekend, he was just dominant and totally in control.”
So, how will McLaren handle any potential intra-team battles at the upcoming races?
“They race hard,” added Brown. “I’m sure we’re going to have some excitement over the year. But, you know, they race very cleanly and they’re free to race, as we’ve discussed. I think we’ve yet to see that epic battle between the two, I just think that’s a matter of time…”
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