Just two races ago, I was writing about how it would be appropriate for Oscar Piastri to finally take the first pole position of his Formula 1 career, and immediately pulling him back into teammate Rand Norris range after winning China.
The signs of Piastri’s progress are just two races after the first two races by the time he took the second pole position of his career, already feeling like a normal event.
Much of the focus is on the pressure Norris faces, and sometimes struggles, but there was certainly pressure to bring Piastri’s shoulders into the season. He should take that as a compliment, but the Australian was expected to offer Norris a tough challenge and raise the level from his own performance in 2024, a clear indication of his debut year progression. With hopes, there was additional pressure.
The piastry continued to develop rapidly. The head and head qualifying last year against Norris was 20-4 courtesy of more experienced drivers, but this time it was already 2-2, with the average piastry being 0.058 seconds in the two.
In Bahrain, Piastri surpassed 0.4 on one lap in qualifying over his teammates, earning a relatively mild victory on Sunday, becoming the first repeat winner of the 2025 season in the process.
“So far, I’m happy with how I’ve been driving all season,” Piastri said. “Maybe not all the outcomes I wanted, but I think this weekend was definitely what I wanted. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and I’m extremely proud of the work my team has done.
“Obviously the car is in a great place. There are still moments of biting, but in many cases it’s an incredible car to drive, and obviously very fast. We’re very proud of the work we’re doing.
For McLaren, it was a particularly important victory. This means not only because of the struggles the team has had around Bahrain in recent years, but also because of the tendency to slowly start the season and renew the cars later, but also because of Bahrain’s ownership.
With the 50th Grand Prix start, Piastri delivered the results when a considerable number of guests and senior officials were on the ground and when Zak Brown and Co. was fully aware of how well they wanted a victory. But handling external pressure is what the team’s principal Andrea Stella points out is the strength of the 24-year-old.
“I was impressed, but not surprised,” Stella said before Piastri’s victory. “It was very quickly clear to me that, as always, for us, we were dealing with drivers with incredibly natural talent, so what I said was clear very quickly.
“I’ve always said that Oscar’s head has no noise. This is a very useful feature in F1, which allows him to advance what is available in the situation as a way to improve himself at a very fast speed, and process information and process it.
“Being Race 50 in Formula 1 is certainly quite surprising what he is accomplishing, but what I can say is to consider his qualities and think about how he approaches the race weekend and his Formula 1 experience.
The 50 race sounds like a big milestone, but it’s just over two seasons in modern Formula 1, and should serve as a reminder of the rise of Piastri after McLaren grabbed him from the Alpine in the summer of 2022.
“It was a rather crystalline and clinical victory for Leclerc to attack him on a lap, given his victory at Baku, for example,” Stella continued. “To me, this is what he is most robust. It’s neither hesitation nor inaccurate. Everything available was by him.
“I think Baku’s stuff was on the edge. It was more pressure. It was more controlled by the gap. But obviously, it’s strong at first, so it shouldn’t be taken for granted by anyone racing for the 50th Formula 1.”
But that’s exactly the tribute Piastri has already won. If he can’t put himself in a position to maximize racing weekends, it’s become more surprising, so it’s taken for granted.
The robustness that Stella talks about is not only about the strength of the piastry, but also against what appears to be a vulnerability within his teammates in Bahrain. Norris was unable to put together a clean performance in qualifying or racing, and Piastri reduced his advantage to just three points in the driver’s championship.
Piastri did it in the typical understated way, but it was an ideal display to let Norris know what battle he has in his hands this year.