The Grand Prix of Sakhir took place on 6th December, using a different configuration of the Bahrain International Circuit. The outer track was 3.543 km in length, with lap times of under a minute. The race would be 87 laps long and held at night, under the lights.
Lewis Hamilton was absent; he had contracted the Covid 19 virus and was self-isolating. His place was taken in the Mercedes team by Williams driver, George Russell. George was himself replaced by Williams test and reserve driver, Jack Aitken. Over at Haas, the seat of Romain Grosjean had been taken by their test and reserve driver, Pietro Fittipaldi, the grandson of double Formula One World Champion, Emerson.
All eyes were on Russell; the team played down expectations. He would do well to be within one second of Bottas. To add to the difficulty, Russell, at 6 ft 2, was considerably taller than any other Mercedes driver and he even had to wear a pair of racing boots one size smaller than normal to be able to fit. It turns out, Russell is a magnificent driver who knows how to rise to the occasion. Having topped the timings at FP1 and FP2, expectations were turned up to 11 for the qualifying session the next day. He almost made it, missing out on pole to Bottas by 0.026 seconds. Mr Saturday, as Russell is known for his excellent qualifying, did not disappoint. Verstappen was third in qualifying with Leclerc finding a brilliant lap to be 4th in the Ferrari.
Grid penalties applied to Norris, for a new engine, and Fittipaldi, whose car obviously had parts replaced as a result of the damage incurred in Grosjean’s accident. The final grid was as follows:
1. Bottas, 2. Russell, 3. Verstappen, 4. Leclerc, 5. Perez, 6. Kvyat, 7. Ricciardo, 8. Sainz, 9. Gasly, 10. Stroll, 11. Ocon, 12. Albon, 13. Vettel, 14. Giovinazzi, 15. Magnussen, 16. Latifi, 17. Aitken, 18. Raikkonen, 19. Norris, 20. Fittipaldi
Pole position time was 53.904 seconds. This was the shortest lap time since Niki Lauda set the record at Dijon in 1974.
The drivers lined up under the lights for the Sakhir Grand Prix. At the start of this Grand Prix, George Russell had not scored any world championship points. Would he go for the win, or settle into a support role and secure the points? We didn’t have to wait long for the answer.
Lights out and Russell made a great start and took the lead at the first corner. At the back of the grid Raikkonen spun. Then the hero of yesterday’s qualifying, Leclerc, undid all his good work by hitting Perez, spinning the Racing Point round so it re-joined the field in last. Leclerc was out and unfortunately, managed to take Verstappen with him. Max tried to avoid the spinning Racing Point but didn’t have room to get back on the track and hit the wall. The safety car was deployed as the Ferrari and Red Bull were removed from the track.
Behind the safety car, Russell led Bottas, with Sainz up to third followed by Ricciardo. Kvyat was next, with Stroll, Gasly, Ocon, Vettel and Norris rounding out the top ten. Magnussen was up to 11th, followed by Albon, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Aitken, Fittipaldi, Raikkonen and the luckless Perez finding himself in last place. He returned to the pits for fresh tyres.
The safety car ended at the end of lap 6.
On lap 7, Russell made the restart well, with Sainz and Bottas fighting for second. Bottas eventually prevailed but Russell had taken advantage and started to build a lead. Further down the road, Norris on his soft tyres, overtook Vettel for 9th place. The McLaren driver was putting in a great performance from his start at the back.
Lap 9 saw a duel between Albon and Vettel, with Vettel holding on to 10th place. By lap 10, Perez had managed to clear the back markers and was running in 12th. On lap 12 Albon got past Vettel and then Perez demoted Sebastian to 12th.
The race settled down and Russell started to build a lead over Bottas.
On lap 20 Albon got past Norris and Perez snuck through behind him, getting from last at the end of lap 1 to a points position. Norris immediately took a pit stop. Meanwhile Perez got past Albon and continued his impressive progress through the field.
Lap 27: Giovinazzi takes a pit stop, followed by Magnussen. Kvyat followed the next lap.
Lap 29: Sainz brings his McLaren into the pits, along with Gasly in the other Alpha Tauri.
By lap 30, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Magnussen and Raikkonen had already been lapped. Ricciardo made his first stop. Vettel pits his Ferrari on lap 32, followed by Jack Aitken in the Williams and Fittipaldi in the Haas.
Ocon pitted on lap 42 and switched to hard tyres. Stroll follows suit a lap later.
By the half way point at lap 43, the positions were as follows: Russell, Bottas, Perez, Albon, Sainz, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Gasly, Stroll and Ocon making up the top ten. Then Norris, Vettel, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Magnussen, Aitken, Raikkonen and Fittipaldi.
Lap 44 and Ocon’s warmer tyres enabled him to get past Stroll who had not yet had time to get heat into his tyres.
Lap 45: Mercedes bring in Russell from the lead. He is put onto a set of hard tyres.
Lap 48: Perez and Albon both take pit stops.
Lap 50: Bottas pits. He re-joins the race in second, behind Russell.
Lap 53: Gasly takes his second pit stop.
Lap 54: Kvyat pits from 4th place.
Latifi stops by the side of the track and a virtual safety car is deployed.
Norris pits in the McLaren, followed by Vettel in the Ferrari. All advantage of taking the pit stop under the virtual safety car is undone by the Ferrari team once again failing to execute the stop well. The 6 second stop means Vettel loses all real hope of a points finish as a result.
The virtual safety car is ended swiftly, just as Sainz and Ricciardo enter the pit.
On lap 57 Perez takes advantage of a mistake by his team mate Stroll and takes 4th place. He follows it up with an overtake of Ocon for 3rd.
Lap 62: Jack Aitken goes off the track, spins, hits the barrier and loses his front wing. He pits immediately pits. The wing is out on the track and the virtual safety car is deployed again.
Mercedes bring in Russell with Bottas double stacked. Russell is sent out but there is a problem when Bottas moves forward for his tyre change. Frantic waiving from the pit crew as they remove his new tyres and replace his old, hard tyres (with Bottas’s front brakes on fire). This is a disaster.
Meanwhile the safety car has been deployed. Albon takes a pit stop.
Then Russell is called back to the pit stop. They have put a mixed set on Russell’s car. He re-joins the race in 5th place behind Bottas.
Mercedes have made a complete mess of the race and now have Bottas in 5th on a pair of used hard tyres and Russell behind him on fresh medium tyres. For once, Mercedes have outmanoeuvred themselves.
Amazingly, from being last at the end of lap 1, Perez is now in the lead. Ocon is in 2nd for Renault and Lance Stroll is 3rd in the other Racing Point.
There are 20 laps to go. The race is still under Safety Car conditions. The positions are as follows: Perez, Ocon, Stroll, Bottas, Russel, Sainz, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Gasly, Albon, Norris, Vettel, Giovinazzi, Magnussen, Raikkonen, Fittipaldi and Aitken.
The race goes green on lap 69.
Russell pulls off a terrific overtake on Bottas at turn 7 of lap 70. He sets off after Stroll in 3rd place. He overtakes him on lap 72. He has the fastest car on the track but is rapidly running out of laps.
Lap 73: Russell takes 2nd place from Ocon. With 13 laps remaining Russel is just over 3 seconds behind Perez.
On lap 77, with 10 laps to go, Sainz overtakes Bottas for 5th. Ricciardo follows him past. Despite Bottas trying to defend, Albon goes past him as well. Bottas has no tyres left and is falling back through the field.
Lap 78: Russell is called in for a pit stop with a puncture. Russell re-joins the race in 14th. Surely, after such a fabulous performance, he can’t end up without points. His frustration is obvious on the radio but his race engineer advises him to get his head down and focus. He starts to make his way back up the field, by overtaking Raikkonen on lap 82.
There are 5 laps to go. Perez leads, with Ocon 2nd and Stroll 3rd. Bottas is in 8th and struggling. Russell is down in 12th.
Lap 86: Russell gets past Gasly to take 10th place and a points finish.
At the start of the final lap, Perez is still comfortably in front and a lap away from his first win.
Russell overtakes to take 9th from Norris .
Perez wins his first grand prix. Ocon takes his first podium. Stroll in third gives Racing Point their first double podium.
Sainz was 4th then Ricciardo, Albon, Kvyat and Bottas in 8th. Russell was 9th and Norris took the final point in 10th. Gasly, Vettel, Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Aitken and Fittipaldi were the other finishers.
It later emerged that due to an issue with the radio message system, the team had fitted George Russell with Valtteri’s front tyres. This led to the Finn having to be refitted with his worn hard tyres and for Russell to be called in for a second pit stop to correct the problem. This led to a fine for the team but mercifully, Russell was not penalised.
No one could deny Sergio Perez his worthy victory. There is a reason that Perez has a handful of podium trophies, where others do not. He is a driver who takes his opportunities when they arise. He had his best opportunity for a win and he took it. He was a deserving winner.
Ocon got his first podium for Renault. Again, it was a well deserved result for a driver who has had some knock backs in the past and is in the process of rebuilding his career.
Stroll took another 3rd place and was a little disappointed that his mistakes cost him a higher finish. He is another driver who knows how to take his opportunities, however, and there is more to come from him.
Sainz was disappointed and frustrated after a pit stop call error cost him the opportunity to fight for the podium.
For Ferrari it was a bit of a non-event. Leclerc’s error on lap 1 ended his race and earned him a grid penalty for Abu Dhabi. Vettel’s 6 second pit stop put paid to his chances of a points finish.
The two rookies did pretty good jobs. Aitken at least managed to finish the race, unlike his teammate, and apart from the spin that lost his front wing, overall, it was a solid debut. Similarly, Pietro Fittipaldi achieved all that could be achieved. His team had to rebuild a car after Grosjean’s accident and set it up for a new driver. It was never going to be easy. Hopefully, he can consolidate his performance in Abu Dhabi.
George Russell demonstrated why he won the GP3 and F2 championships in back to back seasons. He did not show Hamilton to be less special; he showed himself to be another very special talent. Whilst we cannot blame Bottas for the tyre mix up which left him in a grip-free Mercedes going backward through the field, he has no excuses for the rest of the weekend. It is very clear that a 2021 season with Russell up against Hamilton in team Mercedes would be a very different proposition to a repeat of the last 4 seasons. A team like Mercedes should field the strongest driver line up possible. A true champion like Hamilton should welcome the challenge. It’s time for Toto Wolff to make some hard decisions.
By Clare Topic
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