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Formula 1 Bahrain GP
Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix race results: Hamilton beats Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton won a pulsating Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir for Mercedes on Sunday, the first race of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Mar 28, 2021, 5:31 PM
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Mercedes ran a different strategy with Hamilton that gained him the lead after he undercut Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the first round of stops. But Red Bull didn’t react, running a medium-medium-hard tyre strategy to Hamilton’s medium-hard-hard that looked to swing back in its favour in the second half of the race. Verstappen had to pass Hamilton on track in his final stint, the race climaxing with an on-track fight in the closing laps.
Despite getting ahead with four laps to go, Verstappen was told to hand the place back to Hamilton as he briefly leaving the track as he passed him. After that, Max was unable to get ahead again and Lewis hung on for a fine victory.
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Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix race results: How the race unfolded
After an aborted start for teammate Sergio Perez grinding to a halt on the formation lap, Verstappen led from pole position, chopping across Hamilton’s nose. Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin crashed out at Turn 3, bringing out the safety car but not before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started on the soft tyre as opposed to those in front, jumped ahead of Bottas at the exit of Turn 4 to snatch third.
Verstappen backed up the pack for the restart but held on from Hamilton and Leclerc. Pierre Gasly lost his AlphaTauri’s front wing after clipping Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren at Turn 5, while Mick Schumacher spun his Haas at Turn 4 and continued, all of which caused a brief virtual safety car to clear the track.
Verstappen got out of Hamilton’s DRS range by Lap 5, as Bottas reclaimed third from Leclerc using DRS. McLaren’s Lando Norris further demoted Leclerc on Lap 9. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso triggered the pitstop cycle, undercutting past Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, but paid the price later as he tumbled down the order.
In the lead battle, Hamilton pitted first, switching to hards (as he didn’t have any new mediums) but Verstappen stayed out as Hamilton reeled off a sequence of fastest laps. Four laps later, Verstappen suffered a slow stop on Lap 17, rejoining 7s behind Hamilton but on fresh medium tyres. He took his time in closing the gap, and was within 2s when Hamilton pitted again on Lap 29 for a new set of hard tyres to avoid being undercut himself.
Verstappen made his final stop with 16 laps to go, switching to fresh hard tyres and rejoining with a 8.5s deficit. He closed that gap down slowly, careful not to overheat his tyres, while Hamilton drove brilliantly on his 11-laps-older rubber. As the laps ticked down, Verstappen got into DRS range with five laps to go.
Verstappen passed Hamilton at Turn 4 with four laps to go, but he passed him off the track at the exit and handed Hamilton the position back. After a slide, Verstappen fell out of DRS range, but got it back starting the final lap. But Hamilton held on for a brilliant win.
Read Also:
- Hamilton: Bahrain GP "one of the hardest races"
- Verstappen "preferred" time penalty to letting Hamilton past
Bottas suffered a horrendously slow 10.9s second pitstop, but it didn’t cost him any positions such was the Red Bull/Mercedes advantage. Norris finished fourth, ahead of Perez, whose epic comeback netted him fifth. Leclerc finished sixth from Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, AlphaTauri’s rookie Yuki Tsunoda and Stroll.
Alonso retired on Lap 34 with a rear brake failure.
2021 Bahrain Grand Prix race results
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 - 2
Max Verstappen Red Bull 56 0.745 0.745 3
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 56 37.383 37.383 4
Lando Norris McLaren 56 46.466 46.466 5
Sergio Perez Red Bull 56 52.047 52.047 6
Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 59.090 59.090 7
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 56 1'06.004 1'06.004 8
Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 56 1'07.100 1'07.100 9
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 56 1'25.692 1'25.692 10
Lance Stroll Aston Martin 56 1'26.713 1'26.713 11
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 56 1'28.864 1'28.864 12
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 55 1 lap 13
Esteban Ocon Alpine 55 1 lap 14
George Russell Williams 55 1 lap 15
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 55 1 lap 16
Mick Schumacher Haas 55 1 lap 17
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 52 18
Nicholas Latifi Williams 51
Fernando Alonso Alpine 32
Nikita Mazepin Haas 0 View full results
2021 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix fastest laps
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 56 1'32.090 2
Max Verstappen Red Bull 41 1'33.228 1.138 3
Sergio Perez Red Bull 44 1'33.970 1.880 4
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 1'34.015 1.925 5
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 48 1'34.090 2.000 6
Lando Norris McLaren 38 1'34.396 2.306 7
Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 48 1'34.509 2.419 8
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 38 1'34.761 2.671 9
Lance Stroll Aston Martin 31 1'34.865 2.775 10
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 36 1'34.932 2.842 11
Charles Leclerc Ferrari 39 1'34.988 2.898 12
George Russell Williams 40 1'35.036 2.946 13
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 32 1'35.122 3.032 14
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 45 1'35.192 3.102 15
Esteban Ocon Alpine 33 1'35.250 3.160 16
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 26 1'35.566 3.476 17
Fernando Alonso Alpine 31 1'36.063 3.973 18
Mick Schumacher Haas 38 1'36.134 4.044 19
Nicholas Latifi Williams 16 1'36.602 4.512 View full results
2021 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix tyre history
Cla Driver Chassis 1 2 3 4 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes M 16 H 15 H 28 2
Max Verstappen Red Bull M 20 M 22 H 17 3
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes M 19 H 14 H 24 M 5 4
Lando Norris McLaren S 15 M 21 H 23 5
Sergio Perez Red Bull M 5 M 20 H 19 M 23 6
Charles Leclerc Ferrari S 15 M 20 H 24 7
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren S 16 M 19 H 24 8
Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari S 18 M 22 H 19 9
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri M 18 H 18 H 23 10
Lance Stroll Aston Martin S 15 M 16 H 28 11
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo M 13 H 16 M 27 12
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo M 12 H 18 M 25 13
Esteban Ocon Alpine S 13 M 18 H 24 14
George Russell Williams S 13 M 23 M 19 15
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin M 24 H 31 16
Mick Schumacher Haas M 14 M 19 H 22 17
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri M 7 H 15 M 23 H 13 18
Nicholas Latifi Williams S 14 M 18 M 19
Fernando Alonso Alpine S 14 M 18 H 3
Nikita Mazepin Haas M 0 View full results
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