Sergio Pérez achieves his first F1 victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix

Race winner Sergio Pérez of Mexico and Racing Point celebrates on the podium during the Sakhir F1 Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit on December 6, 2020 in Bahrain, Bahrain.

Sergio Perez took his first Formula One victory for Racing Point after Mercedes pit stop confusion and a puncture denied super substitute George Russell a near-certain first win on his debut with the world champions.

The 22-year-old Briton, who parachuted to replace Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time world champion tested positive for Covid-19, looked comfortably in control after snatching the lead from his teammate at the first corner. .

But a pit stop error, which initially put him in fifth place, and then a puncture that hit him as he returned to second position and chased Perez for the lead, ended his hopes.

That left Perez, who found himself at the back of the field at the end of the first lap after contact with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, free to cross the line 10.5 seconds behind Renault’s Esteban Ocon.

Mexican teammate Lance Stroll was third, giving the podium an unfamiliar feel.

“I’m speechless,” said Perez, who is out of the race after next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and hopes to land the seat alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull by 2021.

“I hope I’m not dreaming … ten years it took me. I don’t know what to say, after the first lap, the race is over.”

“But we just didn’t give up.”

Pérez, who jumped to fourth place in the overall standings after Sunday’s race, is the first Mexican driver to win a race since Pedro Rodríguez claimed victory at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.

It was also the first victory for Silverstone-based Racing Point since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, when the team competed as Jordan.

The 30-year-old also becomes the second winner for the first time this season after Pierre Gasly secured his first Formula One win for AlphaTauri at the Italian Grand Prix in September.

If Perez’s advance from 18th to 1st was a fantasy, Russell’s career had the makings of a nightmare. The Briton seemed to easily have the measure of Bottas, who appeared to be his only real rival after Leclerc and Verstappen crashed on the first lap.

Contact with Pérez broke Leclerc’s suspension as Verstappen, trying to avoid them, went off the track and crashed into the barriers.

But hopes of a fairytale first victory for the Briton, who would otherwise be Williams’ driver, were dashed on 62 of 87 laps.

Mercedes drove Russell and Bottas to the pits together in a “double pile” under the safety car.

But they put some of Bottas’ tires on Russell’s car and forced him to return to the pits one lap later.

That left Russell behind Bottas despite a slow stop for the Finn, but the 22-year-old outscored the four-year Mercedes veteran with a bold move on the restart for fourth place.

Three laps later he overtook Ocon for second place and chased Perez when a puncture forced him to pit for the fourth time, ending any chance he might have had.

However, voted driver of the day, he charged back to score his first points in Formula One with a ninth place behind Bottas. He also took the point offered for the fastest lap.

The Briton, however, is being investigated by the stewards for the tire confusion.

Bottas finished a disappointing race in eighth. Mercedes has already won both championships for the seventh year in a row, and Hamilton claimed his title in Turkey last month.

The race was interrupted by two safety cars and a virtual safety car.