Oscar Piastri stormed to pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix as championship rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen could only secure P6 and P7 grid slots respectively.

The nerves were jangling in the Red Bull garage heading into the final Q1 runs. Neither Verstappen nor Yuki Tsunoda managed to extract a representative lap time from the ill-behaving RB21, leaving them in the elimination zone with a minute remaining. Fortunately for Christian Horner, both made it out on their final runs.

There was also a redeeming moment for Jack Doohan, who ended the session in P5. The Australian’s performance was under the microscope heading into qualifying after a costly crash during FP2 in Japan last weekend.

Q2 was red-flagged after just a few minutes following a crash for Esteban Ocon at Turn Two. The Haas racer lost control on the outside kerb, sending his VF-25 machine spinning rear-first into the barriers.

When action resumed, Red Bull’s drivers found themselves in ninth and tenth. Fortunately for Verstappen and Tsunoda, Doohan and Isack Hadjar were unable to improve enough to drop them into the bottom five.