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 Saturday, had started from sixth and went through a chaotic recovery drive to claim a podium.

The British driver had earned himself a five-second penalty for starting out of his grid spot, before a messy race punctuated by mistakes in wheel-to-wheel duels throughout the race.

Norris ran wide while fighting Charles Leclerc at one stage and then went of the track to pass Lewis Hamilton at another, forcing him to hand the place back, in what looked like a messy race for the preseason title favourite.

Norris said he made “too many mistakes with the overtakes.

“It was a messy race from me and I’m disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren because that would have been lovely at home, it’s a tough one but still a few positives,” he said.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth respectively in the red cars, although the team’s brilliant strategy call — which saw it start its two drivers on tires offset to the rest in the top 10 — was undone slightly when a safety car came out at a vital moment, nullifying the strategies out in front. Until then, Ferrari had looked well placed to challenge for a spot on the podium.

Max Verstappen snatched sixth position from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly late on, but the Frenchman will still be buoyed to have scored Alpine its first points of the season.

Esteban Ocon made amends for his qualifying crash with a stellar drive to eighth, while Yuki Tsunoda scored his first points for Red Bull in ninth.

Oliver Bearman made it a double delight for Haas in 10th, continuing the American team’s strong start to the season.

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a thrilling race, which included late-braking moves and a wheel-to-wheel fight with Verstappen, but had to settle for 11th, perhaps highlighting some of the rougher edges still apparent in the 18-year-old rookie.

Liam Lawson was given two penalties which dropped him to 17th. A five-second for causing a collision with Lance Stroll, and a 10-second for colliding with Nico Hulkenberg towards the end of the race.