LANDO NORRIS saved a chaotic weekend to bag third place in Bahrain after a false start and a disastrous qualifying session.
The British 25-year-old served a whopping five-second penalty for a clear infringement at the beginning of the race, which
His teammate produced an expert drive to finish in first, over 12 seconds ahead of who Norris was desperate to overtake but couldn't quite make it.
stuck the knife with Norris’ false start as replays showed the Dutchman, who started one place behind him in seventh, said on his team radio: “Lando is over his grid box”.
British 25-year-old Norris had suffered a woeful qualifying where he finished in sixth but soared into third place at the start of the race, leaving Charles Leclerc for dust in fourth as Piastri peeled off into a comfortable lead in first.
It was too good to be true as the stewards spotted his mistake, but he gritted his teeth and fought back to deservedly stand on the podium.
The produced a solid performance with Leclerc finishing in fourth and in fifth.
During the race, on lap 11 Norris and Verstappen pitted and the Dutchman was left fuming as the red light on Red Bull’s pit gantry stayed on once the tyre change was finished with the pit lane clear.
Norris didn't lose too much ground from the penalty and was still in the game in third on lap 18.
Italian teenager overtook four-time world champion Verstappen on lap 20, with no answer from the Dutchman.
Hamilton’s turn came next as he overtook Jack Doohan and then Verstappen with a brilliant double move on lap 22.
Verstappen was seething and said on his team radio: “I can't even brake anymore, it's just ridiculous.”
The Ferraris finally came alive and Leclerc squeezed past Norris for third and Hamilton slipped past Antonelli for fifth.
Verstappen was pulling his hair out when he suffered yet another pit stop nightmare after a game with hard tyres did not pay off.
A sticky front-right tyre left him in the pits for a whopping 6.2 seconds and he rejoined in 19th place.
On lap 32, the safety car was deployed after there was debris on track after a battle between Yuki Tsunoda or Carlos Sainz’s car at turn three, and all of the top five pitted.
Hamilton showed the young bucks how it’s done with an epic overtake on Norris when the safety car had cleared.
The driver appeared to nip back ahead but he went off the track and had to give the place back – but he went back ahead of the seven-time world champ a few laps later.
Verstappen was storming up the places, and was back in seventh, where he started, with 17 laps to go.
The fight for the final podium spot was on as Norris was snapping at the heels of Leclerc in third place.
The McLaren driver very nearly nipped past with eight laps to go but Leclerc held him off by the skin of his teeth but Norris eventually had him.
Russell was in a spot of bother late on as he was investigated for “accidentally opening DRS” and was having problems with the dash on his car anyway as Norris was hunting him down.
The McLaren driver had his last chance as he went wheel-to-wheel with Russell on the final lap but the Mercedes man just held him off.
Norris' world title advantage is down to just three points over his teammate as it stands.
Meanwhile, Verstappen's deficit has grown to eight points, with Russell currently 14 points back.
