THE BIG PICTURE: McLaren is still the team to beat. But others keep knocking on the door. Let's hope they finally open it.

EVENT: The crowd is bigger. Relatively speaking. But hey, they got one outlandish, fun fireworks show at the end of the race. So, there is that.

TRACK: Maybe old, rough pavements (and heat) is the way to go.

QUALIFYING: Piastri stays hot beating out the surprising Russell, Norris messes it up, Leclerc is the Ferrari star, Verstappen was never happy with his car, Tsunoda makes it to Q3 second time out, and Sainz finally outqualifies Albon.

RACE: The no passing fear quickly went out the window in this race. And those display of sparks whenever clumps of cars fanned out to pass was quite a show.

START: Leclerc is hurt by the medium tires as Russell barges through, Norris is like lightning going from sixth to third in two turns (buy oh, no, he lined up ahead of his box!), Antonelli gets aggressive, Verstappen gets off poorly, all while Piastri controls the field from the front.

PIASTRI: Calm, cool, and collective. Like always. Pole, victory, and fastest lap. Oscar is stating his claim as the team's number one, and McLaren can't ignore it any longer.

NORRIS: While Lando makes mistakes in qualifying, a silly error lining up for the start, and general poor race craft, leaving folks to question his "favorite" status as a driver champion contender.

MCLAREN: Good luck managing this driver situation.

RUSSELL: Quietly, through solid consistency and always taking what is offered, George has established himself as the most serious contender to the Mclaren duo.

LECLERC: Charles continues to have the better of his seven-time world champion teammate.

VERSTAPPEN: There's only so much magic Max can do with this car.

TSUNODA: Yuki is starting to fulfill what he was promoted to do. Qualify and finish closer to Verstappen. Still a bit to go, but it's getting closer.

RED BULL: Pit go light wasn't a go. Then the tires weren't a go to get off the car.

GASLY: A yeoman job in the Alpine this weekend, and scored the team's first points of the season.

OCON: Esteban was spectacular in the Haas.

BEARMAN: Oliver wasn't too shabby either in that Haas, coming from the last grid position to 10th place and a point.

HULKENBERG: Yet another plank wear DQ victim.

SAINZ: Appeared to finally be getting the grip on the Williams until Tsunoda rammed a hole in his side.

HADJAR: Isack had the better of his teammate all weekend.

ALONSO: Only four drivers have yet to score a point. There of them are rookies. The other is Fernando.

FIA: A lot of ticky-tack penalties.

F2: Spaniard Josep Marie Martí went from 11th to the win in the sprint race amidst a furious final five laps. Irishman Alexander Dunne wins the feature race, the 200th race for this version of the FIA Formula 2 series.

F3: Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov held off a frantic pack on a last lap restart to win the sprint race. Brazilain Rafael Câmara started from pole, lost the lead early, then regained the lead en route to his second consecutive feature win and fastest lap to keep his points lead. He has not scored in any sprint race, but has scored maximum points in the two feature races.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Lunge.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 50 -- Oscar Piastri's career is now 50 races old. In that time, he has four wins, garnered 13 podiums, and helped get one constructors' championship.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Sir Jackie Stewart drove his 1973 championship winning Tyrrell 006 for an exhibition lap. This reunion combines F1's 75th anniversary, the 60th anniversary of Stewart's F1 debut, and 10 years of his charity, Race Against Dementia (his wife suffers from it), founded in 2016.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: Showing highlights of the battle, the @F1 official site:

There's some lore behind this one.

Carlos Sainz goes wheel-to-wheel with his Ferrari replacement Lewis Hamilton during a great battle in Bahrain.

#F1 #BahrainGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Lewis Hamilton telling his team in scientific, technical terms what he thinks of the hard tires, "This tire sucks."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Oscar Piastri when asked how he would perform in the RB21, "I'm quite happy that I'm driving a McLaren and not a Red Bull."

SCHEDULE: The end of the season's first triple header is at Jeddah, the so-called street circuit which is faster than some road circuits.

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