Bahrain GP Sunday: Teams and Drivers report from Sakhir

The Bahrain GP had plenty of action all over the grid so let's have a look at what the teams and drivers said after the race on Sunday, round four of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Pierre Gasly: "I am very happy for the entire team that we scored our first points of the season in seventh place. We lost a position on the last lap to Max [Verstappen] so that is a little disappointing but he won last week so we can really only take the positives from that effort. It was a good start from fourth on the grid and we stayed in the front pack on the first stint. We were a little unfortunate with the timing of the Safety Car after our second stop for Hard tyres. From there it was flat out to the end, just trying to keep Max behind, and we just ran out of tyres to lose the position. Now we focus straight on Jeddah where hopefully we can be competitive. The car feels good in high-speed corners, I was impressed with how it performed here, so hopefully the same again in Saudi Arabia next weekend and we can repeat our level of competitiveness."

Jack Doohan: "The result today is disappointing but I am happy that we opened our points tally with Pierre finishing in seventh place. The Soft and Medium tyres felt strong in the race and we were up to ninth place after the first two stints on those compounds and it looked positive for us. We boxed for the Hard to cover some other cars but the Safety Car was deployed at an unfortunate time, which gave some other cars the chance to change to fresher, softer tyres. It was very difficult to keep them behind, we struggled with the rear a bit on that compound, and then we had a time penalty at the end for track limits. We will now continue to keep on building on the progress the team has made this weekend and we have the next race coming up in Jeddah to look forward to in a few days' time."

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal: "As a team we should be satisfied leaving Bahrain with our first points of the season. It's nice to get off the mark and credit to the effort across Enstone and Viry. The timing of the Safety Car certainly did not help, leaving both cars a bit exposed towards the end with us having pitted before the Safety Car. Pierre gave it everything to try and keep Max behind. It's always tough to lose a position on the last lap, but he drove a great race and brought home some much needed points for the team. Jack showed promising pace early in the race and across the weekend. In the race, he struggled managing the Hard tyres, dropping back there unfortunately in that last stint. We come away from the weekend with points knowing we have to keep improving in certain areas into Jeddah next week."

Fernando Alonso: "We didn't have the pace all weekend and especially tonight. I was extending my stint on the Medium tyres, but then the Safety Car balanced everything again and we didn't really benefit from it. We expected it to be a difficult track for us and we need to try improve the car for future races. It's a different challenge in Jeddah, so let's see if we can be any better next week."

Lance Stroll: "There's not much to say about today; it's been a really tough weekend for us. We are not where we want to be at the moment and we are pushing hard to change that. Let's see what learnings we can take from this race and how we do next week. The track characteristics in Jeddah are quite different so let's see how we do there, although we are not expecting any big jumps."

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer: "A tough weekend and an uneventful race, which did not present much of an opportunity to progress up the field. We lacked outright pace today – on all the tyre compounds – and we were not in the fight for points. The Safety Car did not help our cause either with most drivers able to pit and maintain position. We will continue to reflect on how we can improve across all areas ahead of Jeddah."

Ollie Bearman: "I feel good, it was a great race. It flew by and those last 20 laps after the safety car I was under pressure trying to hold position with the Mercedes behind, and trying to fight ahead as well – so it was a tough one. I'm so happy to bring a point home for the team after a really tough qualifying yesterday. Of course, it was a bit lucky to get the safety car, but I felt really strong in the first stint, the second stint on the hard was a bit tricky, but we caught the safety car which was lucky. Then to hold my position is easier said than done with faster cars around you. I'm proud of how I performed today, and the team did a fantastic job as well."

Esteban Ocon: "I'm super happy for the team because I let them down yesterday making that mistake when there was more potential in the car. Today, everything worked out as planned; we got a mega start and managed to get an aggressive strategy to straight away be fighting in the points. From there, it was the maximum we could've done as the safety car put us in a bad position, as we were about to get overtaken by Tsunoda, and Ollie benefited as well. It was a great drive from him coming from P20 – a double-points finish for the team. We're delighted as it's the maximum we could've done and I'm proud of what we've achieved."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "What a day. I'm very happy, especially after the disappointment of yesterday – nobody gave up. We knew what we had to do today, we knew we had pace in the car and two drivers who can deliver results. We weren't dreaming of a double-points finish but honestly, the way we ran the race, how the drivers drove, we had conviction, and we were proactive – we weren't afraid of anything. I'm really happy to see how everyone is reacting to disappointment - it's racing, so there's going to be highs and lows. It's easy to ride the highs, but not easy to overcome the lows and put a performance like this in. It was another amazing team effort."

Alex Albon: "We were unfortunate today. Points were on the cards, our race pace was really strong, and we had really good first and second stints. Then we got a bit unlucky with the safety car and had to double stack, so we lost a couple of places. I'm generally still happy though; a lot of lessons have been learned that we can carry forward to the rest of the year."

Carlos Sainz: "A frustrating end to a promising race. After a nice start, I used up my Soft tyres battling hard and trying to keep within DRS of the faster cars around me. Once the Soft compound was done, we stopped and went back at it gaining positions with good overtakes. Unfortunately, the incident with Yuki cost us the race. The impact on my right hand sidepod caused major damage and that was it for me. Despite the end result, there are a lot of positives to take. We had good pace all weekend and could have been in the points today, so we'll take it as it is and look at how we can come back stronger next week in Saudi."

Isack Hadjar: "The start of the race wasn't good as I lost four places, and I felt like I wasn't moving from the grid spot. I didn't really understand why, so we'll need to review what happened. I think procedure-wise was okay, but I was wheel spinning, and this put us in the wrong momentum throughout the first lap. A better Qualifying might have changed our race, but overall, our pace and strategy were aggressive today, and I think this was the right way to do it. Unfortunately, though, after the start, we were just too far away, and this didn't help us; the same with the Safety Car, which didn't allow us to have an easy restart on used hard tyres. We'll focus on the bits we missed here in Bahrain to look at adjusting them for the future."

Liam Lawson: "The race was action packed. We had good speed but just couldn't really use it and the only way I could overtake was lunging quite late. I wasn't intentionally touching others, but obviously the stewards made their decision with the penalties, so we'll have to review the incidents. It's a shame we don't have the results to show us pushing forwards as a team, as the car was really fast in Qualifying and we didn't get to show it. The car was also fast in the race, but there's obviously only so much you can do starting from the back. It was just a race that just didn't quite come together."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: "A difficult weekend in Bahrain, it's certainly felt like we have lost a little bit of our performance edge, even if it might have been only one or two tenths. It wasn't as smooth as we would have liked in Qualifying yesterday, or in the race today, especially after a very difficult first lap. All together, we know this midfield is tight. As soon as you slip away one tenth or two tenths of competitiveness, you have a bigger task ahead of you. We are going to tackle this as a team to see how we can improve our package for these types of conditions and concentrate on how we can come back stronger for next time.

"On the driver front, there are positives. It was another strong weekend for Isack; maybe not as smooth as he would have liked but he showed some serious speed this weekend for only his 4th race in Formula One. For Liam, it may not have showed on the time sheet, but he made a very significant step forward compared to Japan. The pace is there, building up step by step. We look forward to being able to piece it all together as we go racing again next week in Jeddah."

Nico Hulkenberg: "It has been a difficult weekend, overall, and tonight was not different. The start wasn't the best – I was on the inside for turn one but then got pushed wide in turn two and lost all my drive heading down to turn four. I ended up last by the time we arrived there, which obviously made things not easier, especially as we were starting on the soft tyre. We pitted early and aggressively, which meant running two very long stints: getting something out of this race was always going to be a long shot after that. This track really exposed some of our car’s weaknesses, so there are important lessons to learn. Over one lap, I think we’re pretty decent if we get everything together, but our long-run pace needs improvement.”

Gabriel Bortoleto: "It's been a tough afternoon, but we did see some improvements in pace at times. Overtaking was definitely a challenge – as soon as I got close to the car ahead, I just couldn’t find the grip to make a move, especially through the corners. It's obviously frustrating, especially after the Safety Car restart when I was on mediums against the hard tyres of the car in front but still couldn’t find a way through. Overall, it’s crucial to take time to analyse everything and understand how we can improve our performance. In the short term, the goal is to move on from a challenging weekend, take the learnings with us, and focus on Jeddah to finish off this triple header."

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: "Today was a long afternoon on the pit wall. We tried different strategies and compounds, but none of them seemed to provide Gabriel with the pace advantage we needed to get through traffic. Nico, on the other hand, delivered a very consistent race – despite a collision – and with a few penalties for competitors ahead of him, he managed to secure a P13 finish. While ending the race close to the points, we also recognise the factors that led to this outcome. Now, it’s time to regroup, refocus, and analyse the weekend to uncover any untapped performance."