Oscar Piastri exudes the kind of solidity one would expect from Norris. Those who know him well have been saying it for a while, even when unfounded opinions — often far from the realities of motorsport — suggested that “Oscar will be good, but Lando is always ahead.” Oscar Piastri has always stayed on his path, working closely with the team to smooth out some rough edges, which has always been the main focus. One of the areas to improve was qualifying, and this is where Oscar has clearly made a significant step forward. The second pole of the season came at the wheel of a very competitive car, the best in the field, but one that his more experienced teammate doesn’t always manage to tame.
Bahrain could be a pivotal moment in Oscar’s season, as he lined up in the best position to start tomorrow’s race. It’s useless to look for clues in his gaze or body language; Oscar Piastri has an unreadable armor, but for him, the big news of the evening in Sakhir wasn’t the pole position, but rather Norris’s sixth-place start for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. Lando wasted a crucial opportunity, offering a clear assist to his teammate to recover valuable points in the overall standings, and the first to know this is none other than Norris himself.
“The car is fantastic,” Lando Norris admitted. “I can’t complain, but I’ve been disoriented since free practice. I just need a reset or something like that, the car doesn’t drive as I would like, but it’s not an excuse. I need to adapt.” “Oscar? I’ve always known he’s good, fast, and is getting the most out of the car we have. So, I congratulate him, but I’m more worried about my performance than anyone else’s. The rest doesn’t matter to me.”
By putting together his best sectors, Norris would have been third, but in the end, he paid a much higher price. In the 0.426-second margin Piastri secured, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, the surprising Pierre Gasly, and Antonelli squeezed in.
At Mercedes, they had to accept the double penalty issued late in the evening, which dropped both Russell and Antonelli one position, bringing Leclerc to start in the front row next to Oscar Piastri. However, in terms of potential, the W16 is confirming solid progress, with perfect management of the soft tires across all three sessions.
In Q3, Russell immediately placed himself just behind Oscar Piastri with his first set, then improved by another three-tenths with the second set. Antonelli made a mistake with his first set, finding himself in tenth place and left with only the final set of softs. Kimi could have undone all the work up until that point, but with great composure, he managed a lap that kept him in the second row before being relegated to fifth due to the penalty.
“I didn’t need the mistake with the first set of tires because it lowered my confidence a bit,” Kimi Antonelli explained. “I felt a lot of pressure, and it wasn’t easy, but I’m happy to have done a decent lap. It’s still the best grid position I’ve earned.”
Eighth in Shanghai, sixth in Suzuka, and fifth in Sakhir are results that confirm an impressive growth trajectory. There are many tests ahead to pass, starting with tomorrow’s race, but there’s a level of confidence based on very, very solid foundations.
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