A thrilling championship battle is brewing in Formula 1 for the 2025 season with Oscar Piastri getting his second win of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and closing the gap to his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the process.
The Australian driver qualified on pole position and managed to produce a flawless display and stay there throughout the race, eventually finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of George Russell and Norris who rounded out the podium places.
Having won the Chinese Grand Prix, Piastri now has two wins to Norris‘ one, and Max Verstappen is still in the frame after winning in Japan. The developing narrative, of course, is the prospect of two drivers from the same team battling for the Drivers’ Championship as the season continues.
Zak Brown insists McLaren drivers can race
Owing to Piastri‘s poor finish in Australia during the season opener, Norris still actually leads the Drivers’ Championship after four races. The British driver has 77 points, but Piastri is now just three points behind him on 74. Verstappen only managed to finish P6 in Bahrain but he is on 69 points, with Russell currently on 63.
McLaren chief Zak Brown was asked by Sky Sports F1 after the race about the brewing title battle between his two young drivers, and he reiterated that they are free to race one another on track and see who comes out on top.
“They race hard. I’m sure we’re going to have some excitement over the year but they race very cleanly and they are free to race, as we’ve discussed,” Brown said.
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“I think we’ve yet to see that epic battle between the two – I think that is a matter of time. They are pulling the whole team forward. [We’re] Excited.”
Brown was also quick to praise Piastri for the control that he showed during the race, not allowing the safety car to cause any issues even though it bunched up the pack.
“I asked him yesterday what he had for breakfast because I think we all need to have it,” Brown said.
“He was just on form, as he’s always on form, but just this weekend he was just dominant and totally in control. Lando had a mega race and great to walk away with the points.
“George also drove a great race, the Mercedes is clearly very fast.”
