The critical area Russell and Mercedes must ace in Sakhir GP

Given George Russell's shock call up to drive for Mercedes in the Sakhir Grand Prix, there's plenty of extra scrutiny on the Black Arrows' fortunes this weekend. One area deserves special attention come his race outing against Valtteri Bottas.

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For a dead rubber event, the penultimate round of the 2020 Formula 1 season has an unusually high number of storylines to track. And the main one for the Sakhir Grand Prix is at Mercedes, where Valtteri Bottas has been joined by George Russell after Lewis Hamilton's positive test for COVID-19 following his win in the first Bahrain race.

The headlines after the first two practice sessions of F1's third repeat venue visit in this most unusual of seasons - although of course this weekend action is taking place on the shorter, 2.202-mile 'outer loop' layout - show that Russell is on top.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.