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.


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 | | ![]() | 87 | - | |
2 | | ![]() | 87 | 10.518 | 10.518 |
3 | | ![]() | 87 | 11.869 | 1.351 |
4 | | ![]() | 87 | 12.580 | 0.711 |
5 | | ![]() | 87 | 13.330 | 0.750 |
6 | | ![]() | 87 | 13.842 | 0.512 |
7 | | ![]() | 87 | 14.534 | 0.692 |
8 | | ![]() | 87 | 15.389 | 0.855 |
9 | | ![]() | 87 | 18.556 | 3.167 |
10 | | ![]() | 87 | 19.541 | 0.985 |
11 | | ![]() | 87 | 20.527 | 0.986 |
12 | | ![]() | 87 | 22.611 | 2.084 |
13 | | ![]() | 87 | 24.111 | 1.500 |
14 | | ![]() | 87 | 26.153 | 2.042 |
15 | | ![]() | 87 | 32.370 | 6.217 |
16 | | ![]() | 87 | 33.674 | 1.304 |
17 | | ![]() | 87 | 36.858 | 3.184 |
| ![]() | 52 | |||
| ![]() | 0 | |||
| ![]() | 0 | |||
View full results |
F1 Sakhir Grand Prix fastest laps
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | 80 | 55.404 | 230.214 | ||
2 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | 60 | 56.563 | 1.159 | 1.159 | 225.497 |
3 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | 69 | 56.789 | 1.385 | 0.226 | 224.599 |
4 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 56 | 56.887 | 1.483 | 0.098 | 224.212 |
5 | | ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | 56 | 56.905 | 1.501 | 0.018 | 224.141 |
6 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | 57 | 56.979 | 1.575 | 0.074 | 223.850 |
7 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | 80 | 57.001 | 1.597 | 0.022 | 223.764 |
8 | | ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | 52 | 57.056 | 1.652 | 0.055 | 223.548 |
9 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | 80 | 57.165 | 1.761 | 0.109 | 223.122 |
10 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | 53 | 57.220 | 1.816 | 0.055 | 222.908 |
11 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | 85 | 57.270 | 1.866 | 0.050 | 222.713 |
12 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | 75 | 57.350 | 1.946 | 0.080 | 222.402 |
13 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 56 | 57.375 | 1.971 | 0.025 | 222.305 |
14 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | 85 | 57.388 | 1.984 | 0.013 | 222.255 |
15 | | ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | 56 | 57.392 | 1.988 | 0.004 | 222.240 |
16 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | 57 | 57.516 | 2.112 | 0.124 | 221.760 |
17 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | 56 | 57.742 | 2.338 | 0.226 | 220.892 |
18 | | ![]() | 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 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | S | 4 | M | 46 | H | 40 | ||||
2 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | M | 41 | H | 46 | ||||||
3 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | S | 45 | M | 45 | ||||||
4 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | S | 31 | M | 27 | M | 32 | ||||
5 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | S | 32 | M | 26 | H | 32 | ||||
6 | | ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | M | 47 | H | 15 | S | 25 | ||||
7 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | S | 30 | M | 28 | H | 34 | ||||
8 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | M | 53 | H | 13 | H | 38 | ||||
9 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | M | 49 | H | 17 | M | 4 | M | 21 | S | 12 |
10 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | S | 20 | M | 34 | M | 33 | ||||
11 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | S | 31 | M | 29 | H | 36 | ||||
12 | | ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | M | 33 | H | 23 | S | 9 | S | 27 | ||
13 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | M | 26 | H | 28 | M | 33 | ||||
14 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | M | 23 | H | 31 | M | 8 | S | 25 | ||
15 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | S | 26 | M | 28 | S | 36 | ||||
16 | | ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | M | 31 | H | 23 | M | 5 | S | 28 | ||
17 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | S | 31 | M | 22 | S | 14 | S | 27 | ||
| ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | S | 27 | M | 25 | |||||||
| ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | S | 3 | |||||||||
| ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | S | 3 | |||||||||
View full results |
F1 Sakhir Grand Prix as it happened
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