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Lewis Hamilton scored his 11th victory of the season in a Bahrain Grand Prix, notable for a violent and fierce accident by Haas driver Romain Grosjean.
Grosjean was rushed to the hospital with burns to the back of both hands after his car went through barriers on the first lap.
The burning Haas was caught sideways in the barrier, nearly 30 seconds passed before Grosjean cleared as medical teams rushed to help.
Hamilton was in control at all times to beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
A unique and horrible accident
The Grosjean accident was an incident that had not been seen in many years.
The Franco-Swiss activated it himself after veering dramatically across the track between turns three and four and colliding with Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha Tauri.
That sent him hurtling toward the barriers, which he struck at an angle that wouldn’t normally create such a dramatic effect.
But the car broke through the layers of the barrier, and the generated torque split it in two, the engine and gearbox stopped to one side.
The chassis fracture exposed the fuel tank and the car, now housed in the barrier, burst into flames.
Grosjean was in hell for several seconds before he managed to break free and was helped across the barrier by FIA medic Ian Stewart, who was in the medical car that rushed to the scene.
Grosjean initially sat in the medical car before being helped into an ambulance and then flown to the hospital, where he was confirmed to stay overnight.
Another victory for Hamilton
The Grosjean incident led to a prolonged stoppage as the shattered metal barriers were replaced by concrete ones.
Shortly after the restart, there was another incident as Kvyat rolled Lance Stroll’s Racing Point and landed upside down, but the driver was unharmed.
That got the safety car out and it was only on lap 9 that the race finally got off to a good start.
Hamilton, who had turned his pole into lead at the first corner, made no mistakes at the restart and was able to control the race from there.
But he said it was “not as easy as it seemed,” and said he had trouble handling the tires and felt under pressure from Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver criticized his team, saying bolder decisions about pit time could have allowed him to put more pressure on Hamilton.
“We had the tires to put them under more pressure today, but we didn’t,” he said. “I don’t know why we were so conservative.”
The Briton’s victory matches his previous best record in a season and means he can match the all-time record of 13 wins in a year, currently held by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, if he wins the last two races.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was on his way to a good third place and his second podium in two races until an apparent engine failure with three laps to go promoted Red Bull’s Alex Albon.
The Mexican’s retirement was a huge boost for Renault and McLaren in the fight for third place in the constructors’ championship, as McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz moved up to fourth and fifth, and the Renault’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon to seventh and ninth. , with Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly in sixth place.
Pérez’s failure meant the race ended under the safety car.
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas made a poor start from the front row and had a desperate race thereafter.
The Finn was sixth on the red flag for the Grosjean crash, but was promoted to fourth at the restart as a result of the point at which the officials decided to take positions.
But Bottas suffered a slow puncture on the first lap of the race and had to pit for new tires. He was only able to recover to eighth place.
Albon had not been able to challenge Pérez before the Mexican’s retirement, while both McLaren drivers recovered well from difficult qualifying sessions, and Sainz in particular produced good handling after starting on the soft tire, passing several cars.
Pérez’s retirement brought Charles Leclerc to the last point in 10th place after a dismal race for Ferrari, for whom Vettel could only manage 13th place.
Driver of the day
What happens next
For the penultimate race of the season next weekend, F1 stays in Bahrain but will use a new layout, the so-called outer track, which is short and fast and is a step into the unknown.
What they say
Hamilton: “It was physically very demanding. With the break we had at the beginning, you put yourself in a mentality of going out and making a good start, but with that 45-minute wait we had, it’s so easy to get out of the zone.” . “
Verstappen: “I was a bit lacking. I tried to stay close but they were ahead and we didn’t have a response and we really weren’t aggressive enough with the strategy, we also had a slow pit stop. It is what it is.” Second is not so bad. “
Albon: “Obviously it was a bit of luck with what happened to Sergio (Pérez). He had a good race, but the guys did an incredible job preparing the car. A double podium for us and I’m happy.”
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