@SChecoPerez claims shock #SakhirGP victory as @MercedesAMGF1 crumble. #F1

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez clinched a shock Sakhir GP victory after a catastrophic Mercedes pit-stop error and then a puncture cost long-time race leader George Russell.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon finished second in-front of Lance Stroll, with the Mercedes pairing in eighth and ninth – Valtteri Bottas, also held up significantly in the pit-stop debacle, in-front of Russell.

Perez was cleared by the stewards and keeps his Sakhir GP victory from the post-race investigation by the stewards for the opening lap incident, which eliminated Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, in which Perez was spun around and dropped to the back of the field.

When the 87 lap Sakhir GP began, Pole-sitter Bottas and stand-in team-mate Russell got a great run off the line, but the former was slower in the second half and the latter pulled alongside, with Verstappen looking in-between the pairing.

Russell claimed the lead at the apex of the first corner, with Bottas forced wide and then slid at the turn two entry, which let Russell bolt free and bunched the pack behind.

This ended in contact behind at turn four when Perez swept into the fourth corner apex and got clipped by Leclerc who locked-up and suffered a broken front-left as a result of the collision with the Mexican spinning out in the process as the duo took out Verstappen at turn four which brought out the safety car.

Behind Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen was spun at the exit of turn three of the opening lap at the back of the field, before the tangle at turn four as the Finn dropped to last place.

Perez surprisingly had no damage but pitted for a fresh set of mediums.

When the race resumed after lap six, Russell lead the way well clear from the safety car control line whilst behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz got a great run on Bottas.

Sainz snatched second from the Mercedes driver, but the Spaniard dipped a wheel off the circuit at turn two allowing Bottas to reclaim the position.

At the end of the first lap at racing speed, Russell built a gap of 1.1 seconds, which he looked on increasing as the Mercedes pairing were the only ones running in the low 58 second barrier.

This quickly saw the F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers move away from Sainz, who lead a train of running during the initial stint of the Grand Prix, before Bottas was able to stabilise the gap when it reached 2.4 seconds on the 17^th tour.

Bottas edged towards Russell as the Mercedes duo were told they were well enough over their target for making a stop before the Briton was able to increase the gap again approaching one-third of the race distance.

As the rest of the top 10 runners in the field who started on the C4 softer rubber compared to the mediums on the Mercedes, pitted, the race leaders were soon lapping tailenders, which caused the gap between them to fluctuate.

Russell’s lead was 3.1 seconds when he stopped for a set of C1 harder tyres at the end of the 45^th tour, while Bottas remained out on track for another four laps.

Despite a sensor issue scare, which caused Russell to report “no power” over the radio on his out lap, this meant the significant undercut factor saw the Briton’s lead balloon to 8.5 seconds at the end of Bottas’ out lap.

Both Mercedes drivers were then warned about the suffering of their left-front track rod loads through the demanding turns seven and eight chicane, before the virtual safety car was deployed when Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi pulled off the circuit on the inside of turn eight and retired due to an oil leak.

Bottas cut the gap to Russell’s lead to under five seconds with solid pace on his harder compounds either side of the virtual safety car, but the race turned upside-down when a second safety car was deployed after Williams Racing’s Jack Aitken spun off at the last corner and knocked the front-wing off his FW43 racer.

The second VSC was upgrade to a full-course safety car caution so the debris could be cleared, and Mercedes called both drivers in for what turned out to be a disastrous double-stack pit-stop.

After Russell had a slightly slow stop, he was sent out with a mixed-set of mediums and had to be called in the following lap, whilst Bottas lost almost half a minute waiting as the Brackley-based outfit realised their error and sent him out on the same harder tyres he took at his first pit-stop.

The Mercedes pit-stop calamity meant that Perez, who pitted for hards before the first VSC, has quickly recovered up the order following his opening lap tangle, lead ahead of Ocon and Stroll – as those that had been following the Mercedes pairing who came in during the virtual safety car deployment.

The race went green again on the 69^th lap, with Perez moving clear as Russell ran behind Bottas before moving up to fifth place when his team-mate went deep at turn four on lap 70, which left Russell the opportunity to wrestle his way through over the bumps into the turns 7/8 chicane.

Russell made short work of Stroll and Ocon in successive laps shortly afterwards, which left the Briton with a 3.4 second gap to chase down Perez.

Russell posted a string of fastest laps, but then disaster struck as a slow-left rear puncture forced Mercedes to stop for a fourth time – for softs – and dropped the Briton out of winning contention.

Perez had maintained his pace and pulled clear of Ocon over the rest of the Grand Prix and came home to take a sensational maiden victory at the Sakhir GP by 10.518 seconds.

Stroll completed the final points place in a perfect weekend for Racing Point and ahead of Sainz who finished fourth as Bottas dropped down the field as the Finn’s harder tyres fell off the cliff, just before Russell came in to pit for his puncture.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon and AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat, then followed the Mercedes pairing of the aforementioned Bottas and Russell.

Russell had emerged from his final stop in 14^th but was able to use his fresher softs to his advantage to fly his way up to ninth and claimed his first points finish.

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top ten and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who finished 11^th and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was 12^th.

Alfa Romeo Racing duo Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen were 13^th and 14^th respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen taking 15^th.

Aitken and Haas F1 Team’s Pietro Fittipaldi finished their maiden F1 Grands Prix in 16^th and 17^th at the rear of the pack.

The Top Three

Sakhir GP Winner – Sergio Perez, #11, BWT Racing Point F1 Team, RP20: “I’m speechless. I hope I’m not dreaming…10 years it took me. I don’t know what to say, after the first lap, the race was gone. But we just didn’t give up. In the end my pace was good enough to hold off George.”

2^nd Place – Esteban Ocon, #31, Renault DP World F1 Team, R.S.20: “I cried across the line. We worked hard, we stayed motivated and we made it happen. It’s hard work but it paid off. Daniel has had a very solid season but I’m closing the gap to him and this podium is the cherry on the cake.”

3^rd Place – Lance Stroll, #18, BWT Racing Point F1 Team, RP20: “Amazing race for the team, a part of me is disappointed as I could have won. I went deep and Esteban got past me, and I didn’t have the pace. One of those things but it didn’t end too badly for Sergio…”

Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020 Race Results Classification (87 Laps)

* Provisional results. Note – Russell scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1060/bahrain/race-result.html

Click here for the 2020 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.

The final round of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads straight to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020 from Friday December 11-Sunday December 13 ending the Middle-Eastern triple-header to complete the 2020 campaign.

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