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Clear. Dry. Air + 21 … 20С, track + 24 … 22С
The second stage of the Sakhir track was interesting. Short, uncommon for Formula 1 track setup – less than a minute per lap. In the absence of a world champion who has dominated for several years, two young drivers make their debut at the same time, a race a few hours after sunset.
The day after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton felt bad, the Covid-19 test came back positive and the team had to quickly find a replacement for the Sakhir Grand Prix.
Mercedes decided to test behind the wheel of the champion car, the participant of its youth program, George Russell, who was replaced in Williams by Formula 2 Jack Aitken, and instead of the injured Roman Grosjean in Haas F1, Pietro Fittipaldi played, both drivers made their debut the Grand Prize.
Russell topped the protocol on Friday, Verstappen posted the fastest time in the third practice session and Bottas won qualifying, momentarily ahead of George in an unfamiliar car. Max showed the third time: the first three conceded by 56 thousandths.
Bottas and Russell occupied the entire front row of the starting field, Verstappen and Leclair started the race with second, Perez and the best result of the season Kvyat – with third.
Two pilots, Lando Norris and Pietro Fittipaldi, started from the back row to replace the power plant.
As in the first Grand Prix at the Sakhir track, Pirelli chose the three “intermediate” lineups: the Hard, Medium and Soft roles were C2, C3 and C4.
Among the top ten, only Mercedes drivers started on Medium, the rest chose Soft. Behind them Magnussen, Latifi, Aitken and Raikkonen started the Soft career, but most preferred Medium.
.jpg "Start of the Sahir Grand Prix")
At first, Russell edged out Bottas to lead the race. Leclair collided with Pérez. Avoiding the collision, Verstappen flew into the gravel, crashing into the barrier. Leclair and Verstappen got out, Pérez drove to the pits, changed the tires and returned to the track last.
The security car got out.
Top ten for safety car: Russell – Bottas – Sainz – Riccardo – Kvyat – Paseo – Gasli – Ocon – Vettel – Norris.
On the sixth lap a restart was announced. Russell retained leadership and was able to escape. Sainz got ahead of Bottas, but he was deflected and Valtteri restored his position.
On lap 8, Norris passed Vettel for ninth place.
On lap 11, Albon passed Vettel on the second attempt for 10th place.
Top ten on lap 15: Russell – Bottas – Sainz – Riccardo – Kvyat – Stroll – Gasley – Ocon – Norris – Albon.
On lap 16, Latifi and Giovinazzi overtook Magnussen.
On lap 20, Elbon and Pérez beat Norris.
On lap 21, Norris changed the tires. After recovering from last place in twenty laps, Pérez edged out Elbón for ninth place.
On lap 25, Raikkonen changed tires, on the 27th – Giovinazzi and Magnussen, on the 28th – Kvyat and Latifi, on the 29th – Sainz and Gasli, on the 30th – Riccardo.
Returning to the track, Kvyat picked up the pace and beat Riccardo.
On lap 32, Vettel and Aitken made a pit stop, at 33 – Fittipaldi, at 42 – Okon, at 43rd Stroll. Lance returned to the track in front of Ocon and Esteban beat him.
On lap 46, Russell changed tires, on lap 48, Pérez and Albon, and on 50, Bottas. Valtteri returned to the track in second place, eight seconds behind his teammate.
On lap 52, Gasley made a pit stop. Albon beat Norris for ninth place.
Top ten on lap 53: Russell – Bottas – Sainz – Kvyat – Riccardo – Ocon – Stroll – Perez – Albon – Norris.
On lap 54, Kvyat made a pit stop.
On lap 55, Latifi stopped the car at the exit of the eighth turn and withdrew from the fight.
For their evacuation, a virtual security machine mode was announced. Norris, Vettel and Giovinazzi pitted. When swapping the left front wheel with Vettel’s car, there was a problem. On the next lap, Sainz, Riccardo and Raikkonen changed tires.
On lap 57, Pérez overtook Stroll and on 58 Okon, climbing to third place.
On lap 61, Aitken turned around at the last corner, after hitting the barrier, the car lost its front wing, remained on the track and Jack entered the pits, changing the tires and the nose cone.
The security car got out. Mercedes decided to make a double pit stop, but if Russell’s car was repaired fast enough, then Bottas’ pit stop lasted 27 seconds (they couldn’t find tires of the required set, as a result they reinstalled him with the old tires) and returned to track fifth.
A few seconds later Russell was called back to the pitstop – he was given tires from different sets and had to be replaced again. After the end, the stewards will review this infraction.
Top ten for safety car: Pérez – Ocon – Paseo – Bottas – Russell – Sainz – Riccardo – Kvyat – Gasley – Elbon.
A restart was announced on lap 68. Pérez retained the lead. Albon got ahead of Gasley.
On lap 70, Russell edged out Bottas for fourth place.
On lap 72, Russell edged out Stroll for third place, Elbon – Kvyat in the fight for eighth place.
On lap 73, Russell edged out Ocon for second place and sped after Perez.
On lap 78, Sainz and Riccardo passed Bottas.
On lap 78, an engineer reported to Russell of a puncture in the left rear wheel, and he changed the tires again, returning to track 14.
Top ten on lap 80: Pérez – Ocon – Paseo – Sainz – Riccardo – Elbon – Kvyat – Bottas – Gasley – Norris.
On lap 82, Russell edged out Raikkonen, Aitken edged out Fittipaldi.
On lap 84, Russell edged out Vettel for eleventh place.
On lap 85, Norris edged out Gasley for ninth place.
On lap 86, Russell overtook Gasley to return to the top ten.
Sergio Pérez won the Sakhir Grand Prix with the first victory of his career.
Esteban Ocon finished second, for the first time in his career to get on the podium, Lance Stroll finished third. The Double Racing Point podium has seriously bolstered the team’s position in the fight for third place in the constructors’ championship.
The season will end next week with a race in Abu Dhabi.
Race results
| Pilot | I send | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1 C. Perez | Racing point | 1: 31: 15.114 | 202,513 | 2 |
| 2. E. Okon | Renault | +10,518 | 202,124 | 1 |
| 3.L. Walk | Racing point | +11,869 | 202,074 | 1 |
| 4. K. Sines | Mclaren | +12,580 | 202,048 | 2 |
| 5. D. Riccardo | Renault | +13,330 | 202,021 | 2 |
| 6.A. Elbon | Red Bull | +13,842 | 202,002 | 2 |
| 7.D. Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +14,534 | 201,976 | 2 |
| 8.V. Bottas | Mercedes | +15,389 | 201,945 | 2 |
| 9.D. Russell | Mercedes | +18,556 | 201,829 | 4 |
| 10.L. Norris | Mclaren | +19,541 | 201,792 | 2 |
| 11.P. Gasley | AlphaTauri | +20,527 | 201,756 | 2 |
| 12.S. Vettel | Ferrari | +22,611 | 201,680 | 3 |
| 13. A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +24,111 | 201,625 | 2 |
| 14. K. Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +26,153 | 201,550 | 3 |
| 15. K. Magnussen | Haas | +32,370 | 201,322 | 2 |
| 16. D. Eytken | Williams | +33,674 | 201,275 | 3 |
| 17.P. Fittipaldi | Haas | +36,858 | 201,158 | 3 |
Best circle: George Russell (Mercedes) 0: 55.404 (80 laps, 230.214 km / h)
Reasons for retirements
| Pilot | I send | Circles | The reason |
| M. Verstappen | Red bull racing | 0 | shock |
| S. Leclair | Ferrari | 0 | shock |
| N. Latifi | Williams | 52 | skin problems |
