Results
Formula 1 Sakhir GP
2020 F1 Sakhir Grand Prix race results
Sergio Perez won a dramatic Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain for Racing Point, which was turned on its head following a huge pitstop blunder by Mercedes and a late puncture for George Russell.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Dec 7, 2020, 5:46 PM
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Mercedes’ Russell grabbed the lead with a brilliant launch off the startline, as pole-sitting teammate Valtteri Bottas toiled to fend off a quick-starting Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Perez after a big slide at Turn 2. But a safety car was required almost immediately, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc collided with Perez at Turn 4 and Verstappen understeered into the barrier in avoidance of their clash.
Perez was the only one of the trio to continue, dropping to the tail of the field and pitting for fresh rubber.
Russell restarted in the lead from Bottas, ahead of Carlos Sainz (McLaren), Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) and Lance Stroll (Racing Point). Sainz drove around the outside of Bottas for second at Turn 1, but ran wide and gave the place back. That allowed Russell to get outside of Bottas’s DRS range.
Perez battled his way rapidly back into the top 10, pulling off an awesome move on Red Bull’s Alex Albon at Turn 4.
Kvyat undercut past Ricciardo for fourth place, after Renault called the Australian in too late during the first round of pitstops, while Ocon did the same to Stroll.
Despite a post-pitstop panic when he had to change an engine setting due to “no power”, Russell gained by stopping several laps before Bottas, extending his lead to over 8s.
On Lap 55, Nicholas Latifi’s stranded Williams brought out a brief virtual safety car, Sainz just missing the window to pit during this phase, so dropped from third to seventh when he stopped for a second time.
Perez was the man to watch, carving past teammate Stroll when he outbraked himself at Turn 4, then passing Ocon for a spot on the podium.
Debutant Jack Aitken caused a second safety car, when he ran wide and lost his front wing at the final corner.
Mercedes double stacked Russell and Bottas, and mixed up its tyre sets, causing a very slow stop for Bottas, who rejoined on the tyres he pitted on, but requiring Russell to pit again – as he’d been fitted with the wrong rubber.
That promoted Perez to the lead, ahead of Ocon and Stroll. Bottas restarted fourth, ahead of Russell, who passed him with a committed move at Turn 7.
Russell outbraked Stroll for third at Turn 1 on Lap 72, and picked off Ocon for second a lap later on the run to Turn 4. But Perez had pulled out a 3s lead, before Russell suffered a rear puncture with eight laps to go, dropping him to 14th. On his old tyres, Bottas too plummeted down the order.
All the Mercedes drama allowed Perez to take his maiden F1 win, well clear of Ocon and Stroll. Sainz recovered to finish fourth, ahead of Ricciardo, Albon, Kvyat and Bottas. Russell recovered to finish ninth with fastest lap.
F1 Sakhir Grand Prix race results
Cla Driver Laps Time Interval 1 Sergio Perez
87 - 2 Esteban Ocon
87 10.518 10.518 3 Lance Stroll
87 11.869 1.351 4 Carlos Sainz Jr.
87 12.580 0.711 5 Daniel Ricciardo
87 13.330 0.750 6 Alex Albon
87 13.842 0.512 7 Daniil Kvyat
87 14.534 0.692 8 Valtteri Bottas
87 15.389 0.855 9 George Russell
87 18.556 3.167 10 Lando Norris
87 19.541 0.985 11 Pierre Gasly
87 20.527 0.986 12 Sebastian Vettel
87 22.611 2.084 13 Antonio Giovinazzi
87 24.111 1.500 14 Kimi Raikkonen
87 26.153 2.042 15 Kevin Magnussen
87 32.370 6.217 16 Jack Aitken
87 33.674 1.304 17 Pietro Fittipaldi
87 36.858 3.184 Nicholas Latifi
52 Max Verstappen
0 Charles Leclerc
0 View full results
F1 Sakhir Grand Prix fastest laps
Cla Driver Chassis Engine Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 George Russell
Mercedes Mercedes 80 55.404 230.214 2 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes Mercedes 60 56.563 1.159 1.159 225.497 3 Sergio Perez
Racing Point Mercedes 69 56.789 1.385 0.226 224.599 4 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo Ferrari 56 56.887 1.483 0.098 224.212 5 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari Ferrari 56 56.905 1.501 0.018 224.141 6 Daniel Ricciardo
Renault Renault 57 56.979 1.575 0.074 223.850 7 Daniil Kvyat
AlphaTauri Honda 80 57.001 1.597 0.022 223.764 8 Alex Albon
Red Bull Honda 52 57.056 1.652 0.055 223.548 9 Carlos Sainz Jr.
McLaren Renault 80 57.165 1.761 0.109 223.122 10 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri Honda 53 57.220 1.816 0.055 222.908 11 Lando Norris
McLaren Renault 85 57.270 1.866 0.050 222.713 12 Esteban Ocon
Renault Renault 75 57.350 1.946 0.080 222.402 13 Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo Ferrari 56 57.375 1.971 0.025 222.305 14 Lance Stroll
Racing Point Mercedes 85 57.388 1.984 0.013 222.255 15 Jack Aitken
Williams Mercedes 56 57.392 1.988 0.004 222.240 16 Kevin Magnussen
Haas Ferrari 57 57.516 2.112 0.124 221.760 17 Pietro Fittipaldi
Haas Ferrari 56 57.742 2.338 0.226 220.892 18 Nicholas Latifi
Williams Mercedes 29 58.206 2.802 0.464 219.132 View full results
F1 Sakhir Grand Prix tyre history
Cla Driver Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 1 Sergio Perez
Racing Point Mercedes S 4 M 46 H 40 2 Esteban Ocon
Renault Renault M 41 H 46 3 Lance Stroll
Racing Point Mercedes S 45 M 45 4 Carlos Sainz Jr.
McLaren Renault S 31 M 27 M 32 5 Daniel Ricciardo
Renault Renault S 32 M 26 H 32 6 Alex Albon
Red Bull Honda M 47 H 15 S 25 7 Daniil Kvyat
AlphaTauri Honda S 30 M 28 H 34 8 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes Mercedes M 53 H 13 H 38 9 George Russell
Mercedes Mercedes M 49 H 17 M 4 M 21 S 12 10 Lando Norris
McLaren Renault S 20 M 34 M 33 11 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri Honda S 31 M 29 H 36 12 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari Ferrari M 33 H 23 S 9 S 27 13 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo Ferrari M 26 H 28 M 33 14 Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo Ferrari M 23 H 31 M 8 S 25 15 Kevin Magnussen
Haas Ferrari S 26 M 28 S 36 16 Jack Aitken
Williams Mercedes M 31 H 23 M 5 S 28 17 Pietro Fittipaldi
Haas Ferrari S 31 M 22 S 14 S 27 Nicholas Latifi
Williams Mercedes S 27 M 25 Max Verstappen
Red Bull Honda S 3 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari Ferrari S 3 View full results
F1 Sakhir Grand Prix as it happened
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