"It was a mystery," claims Piastri as he reflects on McLaren's dominant form in Bahrain

Having taken his second pole position at yesterday's qualifying session in Bahrain, McLaren's Oscar Piastri said that it was a "mistery" even for the Woking-based team to enjoy a frightening dominance across the practice sessions.

McLaren were once again miles ahead of the field in FP3, setting up what looked like a two horse race for pole. Both made it to Q3 with ease, but chose to run used tyres at the start of the shootout despite having two fresh sets at their disposal.

Although Mercedes and Ferrari managed to close in on McLaren for the final stages of qualifying, Piastri delivered when it mattered to take his second career pole position after having secure his maiden pole in Suzuka a week ago.

However, Norris couldn’t follow suit as he made a crucial mistake in Turn 1 on his final push lap. his mistake meant that he didn’t just miss out on pole, he wound up a lowly sixth – a surprising result considering how strong McLaren looked all weekend.

Asked about his second run in Q3, Piastri has noted that his MCL39 has performed well across the entire race weekend in Sakhir.

"Yeah, very happy. I think the car all weekend has been in a good place. Maybe not in FP1, but I don't think anyone's car was very good in FP1. Since then I felt very comfortable all weekend.

"This morning, given the track conditions, it was a pretty solid performance and the car was very similar this afternoon, so I'm very, very happy with the job we've done. I'm proud of the job that I've done. I feel like I've put in a lot of good laps when I needed to and to come away with pole is obviously very nice.

Piastri found nearly four tenths between the first run in Q3 and the second run which was necessary given George Russell's brilliant final push lap. Asked where he found that improvement, Piastri said: "A little bit everywhere I think. I honestly can't remember exactly where, but just little bits around the lap.

"The first set I had in Q3 had done kind of an out lap on the red flag in Q2 and I don't know if that made a difference or not, but when you leave the garage and they're not nice and shiny like they normally are, maybe there's a psychological thing as well. So yeah, just found a little bit of time everywhere and it was a very solid lap. Maybe a little bit wide in 13, but the rest of the lap was pretty solid. So I'm very happy.

Elaborating on how difficult it was to manage the qualifying session given the decreasing track temperatures and the gusting wind, the Melbourne-born driver confirmed the challenges posed by the changing conditions.

"It was tough. I think the timing of the red flag was quite awkward because it was right on the limit for being able to do two runs and no one had set a lap at that point. And being at our end of the pit lane, getting out of the pits can take nearly five minutes sometimes, so you have to factor that in.

"We went pretty risky and just went for the one lap and it was enough obviously. That was a tricky point that you needed to get right, because otherwise your weekend was pretty much in the bin. I'm glad we managed that. Q3 was a little bit more simple, just the two runs. Yeah, very happy.

Asked about Mercedes' performance, Piastri said that he had expected the rivals to close in on McLaren come qualifying.

"After I saw him doing donuts in FP3, yes. I think the performance we had in FP3 was even a mystery to us and we knew everyone would get a lot closer. It's been kind of up and down for everybody. One session seems to be Charles that's challenging us, then George.

"Max was quick at certain points. It sort of seemed like everyone was peaking at different times. Still had to be on my toes because a tenth and a half was a bit closer than I expected after this morning, definitely.