Lando Norris and Max Verstappen struggle as Oscar Piastri takes pole for Bahrain Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri fired another warning shot at team-mate by taking pole position for the . The Aussie's result means he is ideally placed ahead of his team-mate for Sunday's race with both chasing a second victory of the season.

But it will be tough for Norris after a big mistake on his final flying lap. It was good enough for only sixth place on the grid, with and faring even worse than the Brit who threw away another chance to start on pole.

It was still a history-making result for McLaren despite Norris' struggles. is the first driver representing the team to qualify in the top six in Bahrain since in 2021 and is now primed to potentially to finally secure that elusive first ever win at this venue for McLaren.

was very quick throughout the session and converted that into a front-row star alongside Piastri. and will share the second row while was arguably the start of qualifying by driving his fifth fastest in Q3.

Behind Norris was Verstappen who complained about his car throughout and had to settle for seventh on the grid. managed to pip Hamilton who was only ninth quickest, just ahead of who rounded off the top 10.

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There was plenty of worry in both sides of the garage when both drivers failed to set a time with their first runs in Q1. Tsunoda had his time deleted for a track limits violation while Verstappen aborted his attempt when he went wide and reported over the radio: "There's something really wrong with the car."

Whatever it was, it didn't prevent him from comfortably booking his place in the second part of the session with a much better final lap of Q1. Tsunoda also progressed, though he was only 14th fastest which did not bode well in his quest to make that second Red Bull car qualify in the top 10 for the first time this year.

has qualified well on several occasions in this rookie season but had a lap to forget here which condemned him to 20th and last place on the grid. , Gabriel Bortoleto and joined him in the bottom five, as did who thought for a second he was through before he was pipped by at the very end.

suffered a crash on his first run of Q2 which meant he would be condemned to 15th place. That shunt was the session briefly red-flagged while his stricken was recovered but, fortunately, the Frenchman was uninjured after losing control on the exit of turn two.

was 14th and slowest of everyone still driving in F1 but still thanked his team over the radio, admitting it was the most the car was capable of. Hulkenberg was one place higher while rookies Jack Doohan and Isack Hadjar were the others who missed out on a place in the top 10.

Full 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying result

Oscar Piastri - McLaren

George Russell - Mercedes

Charles Leclerc - Ferrari

Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes

Pierre Gasly - Alpine

Lando Norris - McLaren

Max Verstappen - Red Bull

Carlos Sainz - Williams

Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari

Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull