Hamilton cruised to victory in Bahrain ahead of Verstappen and a very lucky Albon. The Race was marred with incidents, most notably Grosjean’s explosive crash on lap 1.
Gut Wrenching Start
It was a strong start for Hamilton, but as the cars came through sector 1, an explosion was sighted on the right hand side of the track. Grosjean had been tagged by Kvyat and his car was ripped in two after a collision with the Armco. He was pulled from the flaming wreckage and immediately air lifted to hospital. As of writing it is thought that he has minor burns and broken ribs.
Grosjean’s sickening crash dominated the thoughts of everyone watching. It took an hour and a half to fix the destroyed barrier and the cars lined up in a new formation. Verstappen was now starting behind Hamilton as Bottas fell back to 4th on the opening lap.
First Restart
As the lights went out for the second time, Hamilton stormed off the line while Verstappen and Perez remained in formation. Bottas battled to retain 4th while behind Stroll flipped his car onto it’s roof. The Racing Point was tapped by Kvyat and was launched into the air. He very calmed reported the issue to his team and climbed out with ease.
The safety car came out again and Bottas had to pit after picking up a puncture, demoting him to the back of the grid. The safety car stayed out until lap 9, not a full racing lap had yet taken place.
Second Restart
Hamilton bolted while Verstappen came under attack from Perez. Ocon and Leclerc had a wheel to wheel battle for 6th. Ricciardo and Sainz joined the battle and formed the start of a huge midfield train.
On Lap 12, Sainz performed an ambitious lunge to take 7th from Leclerc. The two future team-mates continued the battle through sector 1, but the McLaren won out. Leclerc then dropped to 10th while Kvyat was given a 10 second penalty for his incident with Stroll.
At the back of the pack, Bottas was struggling to get in front of 12th placed Raikkonen. The Mercedes is known for not following other cars particularly well and, like the Italian GP, Bottas was paying the price.
Hamilton stopped on lap 20 and this was the first of a large wave, Verstappen pitted a lap later and re-joined 7 seconds adrift.
Meanwhile, Norris had silently climbed up to 5th during a superb run, ahead of the two Renaults. Bottas had to pit for a second time a few laps later, his afternoon was going from bad to worse.
Tense Strategies
As the race plateaued Hamilton’s, lead was being chipped away by Verstappen. while Perez behind was 17 seconds adrift. Bottas continued to struggle and only managed to break into the points on lap 33. It took a further 11 laps for Bottas to overtake Ocon in 9th and he would not perform another overtake for the rest of the session.
After another round of pit stops, Verstappen started to close the gap to Hamilton in front. The two cars had picked different strategies and the reigning world champion was on the harder tyre. But, surprisingly, Verstappen pitted again with 10 laps to go. With Bottas languishing behind, Verstappen was desperate to make as many points as he could toward 2nd in the championship. He achieved the fastest lap a few laps later and earned another point.
Chaotic Ending
The battle for 3rd in the constructors was heating up. Perez looked set to earn a huge amount of points, but Norris and Sainz were running in 5th and 7th respectively, and Sainz was slowly reeling in 6th place Gasly. Sainz found his way past with 6 laps to go. A huge result considering that he started 15th.
Gasly appeared to have a problem following the overtake, as the cars behind started to take 2 seconds a lap out of his buffer.
However, heartbreak for Perez as smoke started pouring out of the back of his car. It was made worse as the smoke turned into flames, bringing out the safety car. An unfortunate end to a superb race from the Mexican. Albon took 3rd in the process, a reward for an unsighted solid drive.
The race ended behind the safety car.
Lewis Hamilton took his 95th victory in dominant style ahead of the two Red Bulls. Just behind, the McLarens capitalised on Racing point’s double DNF and stormed back into 3rd in the constructors. Gasly nursed his car to 6th, aided by the safety car.
A memorable race, but for the wrong reasons. However, this highlights the incredible safety measures and justifies not only the halo, but the build quality of the cars themselves. Romain Grosjean received driver of the day, but I believe that award truly belongs to Drs Ian Roberts and Alan van der Merwe whose heroic actions may have saved the life of not just a racer, but a father and a husband.
Full race results
- Hamilton
- Verstappen +1.254
- Albon +8.005
- Norris +11.337
- Sainz + 11.787
- Gasly +11.942
- Ricciardo +19.368
- Bottas +19.680
- Ocon +22.803
- Leclerc +1Lap
- Kvyat +1Lap
- Rusell +1Lap
- Vettel +1Lap
- Latifi +1Lap
- Raikkonen +1Lap
- Giovinazzi +1Lap
- Magnussen +1Lap
- Perez DNF
- Stroll DNF
- Grosjean DNF
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
