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The result, the first time McLaren have won the home race of their Bahraini main shareholders, leaves Norris three points ahead of Piastri at the head of the championship.

There are also strong links between the UK and Bahraini royal families, with King Hamad of Bahrain visiting King Charles in Windsor in November 2024.

He said that King Charles, addressing the Bahraini monarch, had praised him for being “guided by his concern and care for his people.”

But the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, a human rights group run by Bahraini exiles, estimates that the pardon freed more than half of the country’s prison population, including more than 600 political prisoners.

A senior Bahraini official described it as “a social call.”