Oscar Piastri dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix from start to finish as he closed in on the championship lead. He pushed up ten points on his teammate Lando Norris, who could only manage third after a difficult qualifying session.
The driver splitting the McLarens was George Russell, who held off the fast-charging Norris in the closing stages. Russell kept his soft tyres alive in the final stint, but it was not all plain sailing for the Brit. His Mercedes succumbed to technical difficulties in the final stages as he battled for the podium.
DRS drama plagued George Russell in the Bahrain GP
Mercedes put George Russell on a difficult strategy following the safety car in the middle of the race. He would have to nurse his soft tyres to the end of the race with 24 laps remaining. This was a tough ask, as he emphasised over the team radio. And his job was more difficult after the technical issues.
The Mercedes was having many failures, including the DRS being unavailable. Russell claims he had to reset the DRS system, and when he pressed the radio to check in with his team, the DRS opened. That is not the only issue the Mercedes was having. The transponder in the car stopped working, while the brake-by-wire system was playing havoc.
After the race, Russell said: “Yeah, we basically were having all sorts of failures, and basically we did an override on the DRS, and on one lap, I clicked the radio button and the DRS opened. I lost more than I gained. It was only open for a split second. So it goes to show the amount of issues we were having. But as I said, we were really pleased with P2.”
🚨| George Russell said he was ‘mega’ happy aftee a difficult end to the race with car issues:
I’m mega happy, to be honest. Those last 10 laps were exceptionally difficult. I had a brake-by-wire failure, so the pedal was going to the floor, and I had to keep resetting.
“They… pic.twitter.com/snBGnHzjLA
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) April 13, 2025
“Those last 10 laps were exceptionally difficult. I had a brake-by-wire failure, so the pedal was going to the floor, and I had to keep resetting. They told me there was a chance I would lose all of the capability of the steering wheel, so I was scared to make any adjustments in case I got stuck with a sub-optimal setting. I was losing so much lap time at the end of the race, but bringing it home in that position was great.”
Following the opening of the DRS, he is being investigated by the race stewards. They will claim he gained a ‘sporting advantage’. A penalty would likely be five seconds, dropping him down to P4, promoting Charles Leclerc to the podium.
Other drivers and teams suffer from technical issues at the Bahrain GP
Technical problems have plagued many teams throughout the Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc was also told he had no DRS for the rest of the race, meaning he couldn’t keep up with Lando Norris once he was passed. Norris was told only to use DRS if he was definitely one second behind Russell.
Red Bull also suffered technical problems with their pit stop equipment. Teams use automated light systems to tell drivers when they leave after a pit stop. However, this device failed to go green with both Max Verstappen’s and Yuki Tsunoda’s first stops. It cost both drivers valuable time and track position.
🚨| George Russell spoke after the race about the DRS issues he encountered during the race:
“Yeah, we basically were having all sorts of failures, and basically we did an override on the DRS, and on one lap, I clicked the radio button and the DRS opened. I lost more than I… pic.twitter.com/OvIT3L4B1X
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) April 13, 2025
Like George Russell, Fernando Alonso also had problems with his steering wheel. The Spaniard saw his wheel lose settings, then come off in his cockpit while still on track. In a weekend of many problems, Piastri stormed through it all to take his second dominant victory.
