Red Bull Flops, Piastri the Title Candidate: Winners and Losers of the Bahrain GP

08:49, 14 Apr

byLudo van Denderen

The Bahrain Grand Prix was full of action, with Oscar Piastri ultimately the well-deserved winner. He can certainly call himself winner of the weekend. Who are the other winners and who are the losers? GPblog lists them.

Winner: Oscar Piastri

Despite his seemingly easy victory, Oscar Piastri has not taken the lead in the World Championship yet, but given his form, it won't be long. While teammate Lando Norris seems to be succumbing to the pressure of performing in the superior machinery, Piastri, in only his third season, is still calm and composed. An excellent trait for a future world champion, perhaps as early as 2025?

Loser: Lando Norris

Lando, Lando, Lando... How do you always manage to get yourself in trouble? With the by far best car on the field, a mediocre qualifying, a silly mistake at the start, and then struggling to move up through the field. With the McLaren, Norris should have finished second, it's that simple. Norris is again doing everything he can to not become a world champion, and it was only the fourth Grand Prix of the season!

Winner: George Russell

George Russell overcame various technical problems with his Mercedes to ultimately finish second. Ahead of Lando Norris' McLaren, whom Russell masterfully kept behind in the final stages of the Grand Prix. Russell has shown tremendous growth this season; making no mistakes and extracting more than the maximum potential weekly. Is the Brit the main challenger for McLaren this year?

Loser: Red Bull Racing

The Grand Prix of Japan was won thanks to an excellent performance by Max Verstappen, but the reality is: Red Bull Racing, in terms of the performance of the RB21, is the fourth team on the grid. Ouch! Of course, the Austrians want to move further up, but they truly have no clue what is causing the problems with the car. A few more weekends like this - and they are undoubtedly coming - and Red Bull could easily become the loser of the year: that's when Max Verstappen could possibly leave.

Winner: Haas F1

After winter testing in Bahrain, the F1">Haas F1 team was in despair: 'Are we really that bad?' However, the American team quickly got their act together, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman scoring points in Bahrain. The lengthy battle between Ocon and Verstappen during the race must have pleased Haas. The small team managed to frustrate the four-time world champion for laps. Hats off for an excellent performance!

Loser: Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson was demoted by Red Bull to Racing Bulls to regain his confidence. After two weekends with the sister team, the initial conclusion is that this is not really working out. Once again, Lawson failed to impress, resulting in a sixteenth place. And once again, his less experienced teammate Isack Hadjar outperformed him. Lawson needs to quickly bounce back if he doesn't want his F1 career to end after this season (or earlier?)