Lando Norris ‘Questions’ George Russell for Letting Oscar Piastri Win Bahrain GP Without a Challenge

Oscar Piastri dominated Bahrain—not just the race but the entire weekend. The Aussie’s supremacy began in practice, where he topped two of the three sessions. He then grabbed pole for Sunday’s race and went on to win it comfortably, finishing over 15 seconds ahead of George Russell in P2.

Piastri’s victory also came as a blow to teammate Lando Norris, who is now just three points ahead of the 23-year-old. On days like today, when Norris isn’t in a position to fight for the win, he’ll be hoping others can take points off Piastri.

For instance, Russell had a real opportunity to get the better of Piastri—a move that would have done Norris a huge favor. It came on lap 36, when the safety car had just come in, and Russell had a chance to jump Piastri at the restart.

The Mercedes driver even considered making a move, as he revealed in the cool-down room. Norris, however, was disappointed with his compatriot.

“Why didn’t you?” Norris jokingly questioned before adding, “That would have been great.”

Considering the strong pace McLaren has this season, Norris clearly knows that Piastri is his main contender for the title. While Norris may have been seen as the early favorite, Piastri was never going to sit back and let his teammate run the show—and so far, he’s made that abundantly clear.

Had Russell managed to make the move on Piastri and held on for 21 laps, Norris’ lead would have been 10 points instead of just three—giving him a bit more breathing space. A disappointing outing for the Bristol-born driver.

Considering the high standards he has for himself, Norris is doing some soul searching, not being pleased with finishing third in a race and especially behind Piastri.

“I feel like I’ve just never driven a Formula 1 car before. [I’m] struggling a lot; I don’t know why. I have to try and find some answers.

“I wish I knew the answer. I don’t know… I’m just nowhere near the capability that I have, which hurts to say. I have no doubt about that, that I am good enough. But something’s just not clicking with me in the car. I’m not able to do any of the laps like I was doing last season,” Norris said in the post-race press conference.

However, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, Norris is being too hard on himself and trying to navigate the challenges presented to him by the new car.

“We know that we have made some changes to the car, which made Lando’s life a bit more difficult…Lando is adapting to this. Somehow, potentially it might have played a bit more on Oscar’s end, and we are working together to fix it,” Stella said in an interview with BBC.

“It is an uncomfortable situation, but the way Lando is navigating through this situation, from a substantial point of view, is the same as other champions that I’ve seen in the past,” she concluded.

What went wrong for Norris?

With his teammate Piastri starting on pole and himself down in P6, the Briton knew he had to do everything possible to limit the damage.

However, he made a crucial error even before the five lights went out. After the formation lap, he parked his car ahead of his grid box, leaving the stewards no choice but to hand him a five-second penalty, which he served during his pit stop.

Despite making an excellent start and gaining three positions early on, the penalty likely cost him the chance to finish P2, as he crossed the line less than a second behind Russell. With the Mercedes driver under investigation after the race, there remained a slim chance that Norris could still inherit second place.

However, with the stewards ruling in the Mercedes driver’s favor, Norris will have to settle for third. With the next race coming up next weekend in Saudi Arabia, he’ll be looking to regroup quickly and return to winning ways if he wants to maintain his lead in the standings.