P6 and P8 converge: MilitaryMaple18 beats Forestal by 0.156s in Bahrain

MilitaryMaple18 won Bahrain's E1 race from P6, beating P8 starter ForestalWaif1 by 0.156 seconds. It was the second-closest finish IMS had recorded through Season 3 Round 3.

The winner gained five places and the runner-up six. Wadz51 completed the podium from P2, making the smallest grid movement of the three—and left Bahrain first in E1 on 60 points.

Eleven combined places end in 0.156 seconds

Forestal's P8-to-P2 gain was larger than MilitaryMaple's P6-to-P1 movement, yet the official order placed the Red Bull driver ahead by less than two tenths. Wadz51 finished another 2.186 seconds behind Forestal.

Only TheMekanic17's 0.111-second Baku win over Rochamoya was closer in the historical comparison. Bahrain sat ahead of Japan's 0.214, Jeddah's 0.275 and Brazil's 0.288-second finishes.

The podium winner and standings leader diverge

MilitaryMaple won the race, but Wadz51's 20 points lifted the Ferrari driver to first in E1 on 60, four ahead of Darth Ussh. Bahrain altered the weekend order and the cumulative order in different ways.

The race's enduring image is numerical rather than invented: two drivers starting outside the first three rows, gaining 11 places between them and reaching the line 0.156 seconds apart.