That stop ended any chances he had of winning as an issue with the front-right caused him to be stationary for 10 seconds and drop down to P5. The Finn was better on his second stint, closing the gap to his team-mate and Verstappen, making life harder for Red Bull, but he didn’t have enough time to join the battle before being called in for his second stop. He then didn’t have enough pace to reel them back in. His start was far from ideal as he was passed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, and by the time he got back into P3, the two ahead of him had already pulled away. Valtteri Bottas: Hamilton vs Verstappen is the fight that everybody has been talking about in the off-season, and there was little from the first race to suggest that Bottas can make it a three-horse race, although that wasn’t entirely his own fault. Still, he’ll learn from that, and he remains as good as he was in every other area, we’re in for quite the title fight this year…we hope. Not for the first time in his career, Verstappen should have perhaps been patient and waited until the start of the next lap instead of trying to force his way past around the outside. The only blotch on his performance came in his final stint as he took far longer than expected to catch the leader, and when he finally did, passed him illegally before handing back the place and failing to do so again. To his credit, he drove perfectly for much of the race, nailing his getaway three times in the early stages to stay ahead of Hamilton before building up a decent lead over the Brit. Max Verstappen: At the halfway point of the race, it looked like it was going to the perfect opening weekend of the season for Verstappen, but he just couldn’t deliver when it mattered most. Verstappen would have headed into the race confident that he could beat his rival and make a statement of intent, but Hamilton showed that even if he has a slower car, he’s going to put up one hell of a fight.
Under enormous pressure, he barely put a foot wrong. Lewis Hamilton: He may be 36, but the reigning World Champion has immediately made it abundantly clear that, beginning his quest for an eighth title, he’s as good as ever.Īfter Max Verstappen stormed to pole position by four-tenths in a car that seemed a good deal faster than the Mercedes, Hamilton would have to produce something of a miracle to beat the Dutchman and, after struggling to challenge at the start, he did just that in his final stint of the race.Īs he so often has in his career, the Brit found the perfect balance between pace and tyre management to nurse his set to the end while staying ahead of the charging Red Bull behind him. These two put on one hell of a show for us today. It’s fair to say that Formula 1 returned in style with a thrilling season opener, and so too did some drivers, including the best of 2020… Esteban Ocon took the final point in 10th.Everybody wants to hit the ground running at the start of a new season, and here’s who we think did and didn’t do so in Bahrain. Sebastian Vettel was sixth, taking his best result since last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh.ĭaniel Ricciardo made his only pit stop under the VSC for Magnussen, and ended up ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.
DRIVER OF THE DAY F1 DRIVER
Gasly was fifth, and Tsunoda was on course for a strong haul of points before a black and orange flag for a DRS issue forced the Japanese driver into the pits and out of the points late in the race. The seven-time World Champion made overtakes on the AlphaTauri’s of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly to come home behind team-mate Russell. Lewis Hamilton made a late recovery to cross the line in fourth place, having pitted under a VSC caused by Kevin Magnussen’s retirement. Leclerc has now dropped further behind in the Drivers’ standings, sitting 34 points behind Verstappen in third place, with Perez moving to second place.įerrari has also lost more ground to Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, and is now 80 points down on their rivals. The subsequent Virtual Safety Car saw team-mate Leclerc pit for fresh tyres, however the Monegasque driver’s day was undone by a hydraulic issue, forcing him to retire for the second time in three races. Running in fourth place and dropping back from the leading trio, Sainz reported a brake-by-wire failure as he approached Turn 4 on lap nine of the race.
Ferrari implodes early onĬarlos Sainz was the first retirement from the race, as he pulled into an escape road early on in the grand prix.
That left Verstappen and Perez to take first and second at the chequered flag, with George Russell crossing the line in third, taking his third podium of the season. In the following laps, the two Red Bull cars pitted for fresh Hard tyres and ran in second and third, however they moved up the order when Leclerc retired with an issue.
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