The MCL39 is "an incredible car to drive," claims Piastri after his dominant victory in Sakhir

On the back of his first hat-trick (pole, win and fastest race lap), McLaren's Oscar Piastri insisted that McLaren's 2025 F1 machine, the MCL39 is an "incredible car to drive."

Starting from the pole position, Oscar Piastri won the Bahrain Grand Prix to give McLaren its maiden victory in a what could be considered its second home race.

The Australian looked to be in control of proceedings all through the Bahrain Grand Prix, displaying a dominant pace in all conditions. After the safety car, the Melbourne-born driver built up an enormous gap from the Mercedes of George Russell to take his fourth Formula 1 win, thus equalling the total scored by Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander who founded the team in 1966.

Asked to comment on his race weekend in Bahrain, the Melbourne-born driver insisted that he was delighted with the performance of his car with the exception of the opening practice that was a tricky session for everyone due to the very low-grip conditions.

"It's been a great weekend – maybe not FP1, because that was pretty diabolical for everyone, but FP2 onwards has been very, very strong. I awas happy after qualifying yesterday and I think that made quite a big difference today. So yeah, very, very pleased with how the weekend’s gone and happy to come away with another win.

Piastri started the race on Pirelli's soft tyres before switching to the yellow-banded medium rubber. When the safety car was deployed triggered by the clash between Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz, McLaren bolted on another set of mediums on Piastri's car.

"I mean, we kind of thought most people would start on the Soft. You know, George only had one Medium and one Hard, and there were quite a lot of people around us that were in the same boat. So yeah, we felt starting on the Soft was going to be the best option, and I think it was the right choice in the end.

"So pleased with how we managed everything. I think we had the pace today to be able to manage things pretty well. But yeah, I think we made all the right calls.

Although he did not encounter many issues during the race, his drink bottle malfunctioned. Asked about the issue, Piastri said that he could cope with the gremlin, but McLaren will need to iron the issue out for this weekend's race in Jeddah.

"No, it didn’t work. I don’t know what happened. It worked on the lap to grid and then when we plugged it in for the race it was still working a little bit, but I had to draw the water out pretty forcefully, let’s say. And then once the race got underway, I couldn’t get any water through the straw.

"So that wasn’t ideal, but you know, Bahrain is not the most physical race of the year. If it had happened next week, it would have been a much bigger drama, but we'll make sure it's fixed."

Asked about how he felt in his car at the Bahrain International Circuit, Piastri has revealed that while his MCL39 is sometimes tricky to drive, he was very comfortable behind the wheel of his McLaren for the majority of the Sakhir weekend.

"I think both have been good. I’ve been happy with how I’ve driven all season so far. Maybe not all the results have been exactly what I wanted, but I think this weekend has definitely been the result I wanted. So yeah, been proud of the job that I’ve been doing and very proud of the job the team’s done.

"Obviously the car is in a great place. Still has its moments where it bites, but for a lot of the time it’s an incredible car to drive and clearly very quick. So yeah, very proud of the work we’re doing. This has been a track that’s not been kind to us in the past, so to have a weekend like we have had this weekend is a really meaningful result – outside of the victory.

"I mean, this weekend I felt comfortable with it. I think there have been times where it’s been tricky, definitely. But I would say for the most part, I’ve been pretty happy with the car, to be honest. Clearly it’s got a lot of pace.

"We’ve kind of known from pre-season testing that there’s some things that we wanted to iron out, but I think we’ve done a very good job of doing that. And yeah, I think for myself, I’ve been comfortable – especially this weekend – in what the car’s been able to do. And I think the team’s been doing a great job," concluded Piastri.