Bahrain GP: Oscar Piastri secures dominant victory, holds off George Russell to win - ESPN

SAKHIR, Bahrain — Oscar Piastri comfortably won an action-packed Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday to narrow teammate Lando Norris' championship lead to three points.

Piastri controlled the race from pole position and disappeared into the distance after a midrace safety car, claiming his second win of the season and the fourth of his F1 career.

Piastri won by 15.4 seconds, a gap that slightly downplayed the entertaining spectacle that took place behind him.

The Australian said afterwards: "[It's] great to have this result out here, it's been an incredible weekend, to start off in qualifying yesterday and to finish off the job today in style was nice.

«I'm proud to of done it here in Bahrain as well. It's obviously a very important race for us given our owners and it's never been a track that has been kind to us so it's nice to finally have that first win for the team here,» he added.

Mercedes driver George Russell helped Piastri close the championship gap, holding off Norris in the final stages for second with what he had dubbed an «audacious» 24-lap stint on soft tires to close out the contest.

Russell spent the final stages of the races complaining about gearbox issues and troubleshooting DRS issues, although he finished under a stewards' investigation for improper use of the latter.

Russell said: «It felt under control and then suddenly we had a brake-valve wire failure. Suddenly the pedal was going long, then it was going short, I didn't know what was going on. The steering wheel wasn't working properly so it was hard to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap and he would have got me very comfortably. But nevertheless, really pleased with P2.»

Norris, who had admitted to being «clueless» about how to drive his McLaren on