If Japan was boring, the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix was the complete opposite.

High tire degradation meant there was no shortage of overtaking, with tire strategy also adding to the excitement.

Definitely a lot of points worth discussing, but here are five we think were important.

1. “Oscar was in a class of his own.” Said George Russell (Mercedes) during the top-three interview. Indeed, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) was. Not only did he demonstrate his pace in the free practice sessions, he also secured pole position, a lights-to-flag victory, and the fastest lap.

Oscar is the first driver to score two wins this season. He is just three points behind championship leader Lando Norris (McLaren)—74 to 77.

Norris, meanwhile, exhibited messy racecraft—starting out of his grid box and making overtakes that didn’t stick, having to give the place back to Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) at one point (but taking it right back the next lap).

In spite of his five-second time penalty, however, the McLarens are quick and still bagged a good haul of points in third.

2. A mixed result for Mercedes. Russell and Kimi Antonelli qualified second and fourth, respectively, but were demoted a one-place grid drop for a rule breach during qualifying.

But Russell followed up his strong quali with a good start, running behind leader Piastri.

After a safety car emerged with 24 laps still to go, his team bolted on a set of soft tires, which he said “was an audacious move.” But knowing how good he is with managing his tires, he brought his car home in second.

Not without issues, however. At one point, Russell’s transponder reflected him in 20th while in second. It proved to be a bigger issue toward the end of the race as he was radioed by his race engineer that something was wrong with his DRS, and that he would be instructed when to manually operate it. To add to the woes, the display on his steering wheel completely blacked out.

While driving without the info needed, he was being chased by Norris who was within less than a second in the final laps, having to defend with aging soft tires.

Antonelli, on the other hand, contributed to the action with numerous overtakes, with some attempts neater than the others. He was shown the black and white flags for exceeding track limits.

He finished 11th, missing out on points for the first time this season.

3. Pit stops and strategy were so un-Red Bull. We normally expect the fastest pit stops and the best strategy from Red Bull. Surprised everyone this time.

Max Verstappen’s first stop took 4.2 seconds, while Yuki Tsunoda’s took 4.7 seconds, both instances caused by a malfunctioning exit light. All for the sake of automation. How about considering bringing back the lollipop man?

The Dutchman’s car being fitted with hard tires, meanwhile, didn’t look like the right call. And it wasn’t. Almost everyone (except Ferrari for its last stint on both cars) avoided this tire.

Making his second stop for medium, Verstappen’s front right didn’t want to come off, dropping him in the order.

Max crossed the line is sixth, adding a valuable eight points to his tally (69 and third in the standings), while Tsunoda brought home his first points for Red Bull in ninth.

4. Haas turns disastrous qualifying into a double points finish. After getting into Q3 for the first time in his F1 career in Suzuka, Ollie Bearman was the slowest and qualified 20th. Esteban Ocon, meanwhile, crashed at the start of Q2, ending up in 14th.

Both fortunately had a solid race. An early pit-stop strategy followed by a long stint paid off for Ocon, finishing in eighth. Bearman had a good start—P20 to P15 on the first lap. He finished 10th, a strong drive starting last.

The five-point haul puts Haas fifth in the team standings, one point up Williams (20 to 19), which had a weekend to forget.

5. Alpine finally on the board. Pierre Gasly looked like a man on a mission in qualifying, yielding Alpine’s best result so far this season—P4 (after Antonelli’s drop from fourth to fifth).

The Frenchman ran as high as fifth in the race, before running in sixth for the most part. Verstappen right behind him made for some good entertainment, with Gasly trying his best to keep him there, only to be overtaken right at the end.

Still, seventh gave Alpine precious first points of the season, putting them ninth in the standings ahead of Sauber.

The next race is the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix this weekend, the last of a triple-header before F1 heads to Miami. McLaren still has the advantage, and we expect a closer fight between Mercedes and Ferrari.