Berlin, 14 April 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Oscar Piastri took his second win of the 2025 Formula One season with a dominant victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

The McLaren driver started from pole position and retained his lead throughout the race.

"Great to have this result out here. It's been an incredible weekend, to finish the job today in style was nice. I can't thank the team enough for the car they've given us," Piastri said.

A safety car on lap 32 shattered Piastri's seven-second advantage over second-placed George Russell, but the Australian avoided the attack from the Mercedes rival at the restart before building up a large gap again.

"I would have preferred not to have (the safety car) but I was still pretty confident. It was relatively straightforward. I was never going to let that one go," the winner said.

Russell was second to claim his third podium in four races this year, but he will be investigated after the race for a potential DRS infringement.

"Oscar was in a league of his own so congratulations to him and McLaren. But for ourselves, four races, three podiums at different kinds of tracks is pretty good," Russell said.

Lando Norris in the other McLaren was third despite his pressure on Russell to take second place.

Norris retained his championship lead and is now three points clear of his team-mate Piastri in the standings, while Max Verstappen dropped to third.

Four-time defending champion Verstappen, who won the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, was sixth in Bahrain. The Red Bull driver struggled throughout the entire weekend.

The race

Piastri retained his position at the front despite being attacked by Russell, who had overtaken the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for second place. Norris, meanwhile, had an incredible start, going from sixth to third, leaving Leclerc in fourth.

But Norris was found to be out of position on the grid and was handed a five-second penalty, which he served at his pit stop. After the first round of stops, Piastri still led ahead of Russell while Norris remained third.

But Norris didn't last long in third place as he was overtaken by Leclerc on lap 25.

At the front, Piastri had a seven-second lead when a safety car was deployed on lap 32 due to debris left on track after the Williams of Carlos Sainz made contact with the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda.

Once the safety car left the track, Piastri retained his position. Norris was initially overtaken by Hamilton while trying to attack Leclerc, but hit back to recover fourth place.

However, the McLaren driver was told to give Hamilton back the position as he did the overtake off the track.

Norris eventually made his way past Hamilton and, after a fierce fight, also made a move on Leclerc. He immediately started chasing Russell, who has dealing with car issues.

"It felt all under control, and then suddenly we had a brake-by-wire failure, so the brake pedal was going long, it was going short... One more lap and Lando would have got me," Russell said.

But there were not enough laps left and the championship leader had to settle for third.

"A tough race. I made too many mistakes with the overtakes, and out of position. A messy race from me and disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren," Norris said.

The rest of top 10

Leclerc finished fourth, followed by team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Pierre Gasly lost out to Verstappen in the last lap and was seventh, but secured Alpine's first points this season.

Esteban Ocon of Haas was eighth, while Tsunoda and Oliver Bearman in the other Haas completed the top 10.

Next on the schedule is the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on April 20, which completes this month's triple header.

Photo: archive