F1 was back in Bahrain this weekend for another night race around the circuit. This time it was around the outer loop layout for the FORMULA 1 ROLEX SAKHIR GRAND PRIX 2020. It was a thrilling race as Sergio Perez secured his first career victory after a late pit blunder by Mercedes, despite an early collision with Max Verstappen.
George Russell got away well off the line, taking the lead from Valtteri Bottas on the run to the first corner. Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen had good starts but couldn’t get around the slower Bottas. Verstappen near got between the two Mercedes cars in the main straight but Bottas closed the gap. Bottas got loose in the second corner, bunching up Charles Leclerc, Verstappen and Perez.
Going into the fourth corner, Leclerc attempted to dive up the inside of Perez, but he locked up and spun the Racing Point. Verstappen went wide around the corner to avoid the collision, but he got onto the gravel and skidded into the barrier.
The collision took out two major runners: Verstappen and Leclerc. It also hindered Perez, who was able to rejoin the race, but dropped to the rear of the pack.
Further back in the field, Kimi Raikkonen spun in turn 3. He managed to avoid any collisions and was able to rejoin the race once he was facing the right direction.
The safety car was deployed to allow the marshals to clear the stricken cars from the gravel in turn 4.
When the race resumed, Carlos Sainz had a brilliant restart from P3, challenging Bottas around the outside of the first corner. He got by the Mercedes, but missed the third corner. Bottas retook the position as the McLaren cut over the kerbs on the inside of the corner.
After the restart, Perez had made a good recovery from his early crash with Leclerc. He had caught up to a battle for P9 between Alex Albon and Lando Norris. On lap 21, Albon was able to get by Norris and Perez was able to follow the Red Bull through. The following lap, the Mexican was able to get by Albon in turns 4 and 5. With that overtake, he found himself in P9.
About a quarter of the way through the 87 lap race, the pit window opened for the drivers who started on the soft compound tyres. Norris was one of the first drivers to dive into the pit lane after losing P9 to Albon and Perez.
Lance Stroll managed to stretch his soft tyres well over the expected performance, to the half way point in the race. This was the pit window for the drivers who started on the medium tyres. Esteban Ocon pitted on lap 43 for a set of hard compound tyres, attempting to undercut Stroll.
Stroll pitted the following lap, taking a set of the fastest medium compound tyres. He came out of the pit lane narrowly ahead of Ocon, but Stroll’s tyres were not yet up to temperature. The duo were battling wheel-to-wheel in turn 4 and 5. Ocon was able to get by Stroll.
At the front of the field, Russell completed his first pit stop with Mercedes for a set of hard tyres to bring him to the end of the race. He had a minor power unit issue coming out of the pit lane, but his team was able to rectify the issue. Bottas pitted 4 laps later for the same compound.
On lap 55, Nicholas Latifi parked his ill Williams car on the inside of turn 8. This brought out the virtual safety car. Many drivers took the opportunity to take a cheap pit stop under the VSC. Sainz and Ricciardo are two of those drivers that attempted to do that, but the VSC ended just as they entered the pit lane.
On the restart, Perez was able to get by Stroll, who locked up and ran wide in a corner. Perez was able to get by Ocon the following lap in the first sector, taking a podium position.
The VSC was deployed again on lap 62, after Jack Aitken spun in the final corner and knocked off his front wing when his clipped the barrier. The VSC was changed to a safety car because there was no gap to put the marshals out on the track to clean the debris.
Russell and Bottas dove into the pit lane for a pit stop under the safety car, but the double stack caused some confusion in the Mercedes pit box. Russell was given a set of medium tyres and sent on his way, but the tyres were Bottas’ set of tyres. Bottas was getting his tyre change, but someone on the team appeared to notice that they were putting on a set of Russell’s tyres. They aborted the pit stop and put Bottas’ old tyres back onto the car.
Bottas rejoined the field in P5. Russell joined him in P5 when the team pitted him to change to the proper set of tyres. Although using an incorrect set of tyres is against the regulations, teams can avoid a penalty by fixing the issue within a few laps, which Mercedes did.
After all the chaos, Perez inherited the race lead, in front of Ocon and Stroll. Perez had a good restart, extending his lead to over 2.5 seconds.
Further back, the two Mercedes were battling with each other. Russell was side-by-side around the outside of his teammate in turn 6, getting by his teammate on the inside of turn 7. With his teammate put in his mirrors, Russell was able to cruise by Stroll and Ocon with ease, making it back into P2 and just 3.5 seconds behind the leading Racing Point.
Further behind, Bottas was hopeless on his old tyres, rapidly dropping down to P9. But Bottas was not the only Mercedes with bad luck. Russell was called into the Mercedes pit box for the fourth time in the race, this time for a slow puncture. This dropped a disappointed Russell out of the points.
This virtually secured Sergio Perez’s first ever career victory. Esteban Ocon also scored his first F1 podium, standing on the second step of the podium. Lance Stroll secured his third career podium rounding off the top 3.
The fight for P2 in the World Drivers’ Championship will go down to the season finale in Abu Dhabi as Bottas finishes in P8 and fails to gain enough points on Max Verstappen.
Although it’s probably little consolation to the young Brit, George Russell did manage to pick up a P9 finish and with it his first career points. He picks up 2 points for his position and an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.
There’s now just one race left in what has been a crazy 2020 season. The F1 teams and drivers will be racing the final time this year in Abu Dhabi next weekend on December 13.
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Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
