Lewis Hamilton has won the Bahrain Grand Prix, a race that was overshadowed by an opening lap crash for Romain Grosjean.
The red flag was immediately deployed after the Haas driver careened into the wall on the exit of Turn 3 following contact with Daniil Kvyat, which saw his car split in half.
The front section of the car breached the barrier and erupted into flames, however Grosjean was able to escape and was taken to hospital for further evaluation.
After a delay of over an hour and forty minutes, the race restarted but a Safety Car was deployed after Lance Stroll was flipped upside down by Kvyat – Stroll too walked away from the accident.
With Verstappen running behind in second, Hamilton pitted for a second set of Mediums on Lap 19, before swapping onto the Hards on lap 39.
Verstappen was under five seconds behind Hamilton for much of the race and unable to challenge, before making an extra stop towards the end for fresh Medium tyres to take the fastest lap.
Perez misfortune, Albon takes second podium
After running in the top three for much of the grand prix, Perez was denied a consecutive podium finish after his Mercedes power unit gave way in the dying laps of the race.
The incident allowed Alexander Albon, who was trailing in fourth by three seconds, to sweep through and add a second career podium to his tally as he fights for his seat at the energy drink-backed squad for 2021.
Racing Point walks away from the race with zero points, keeping the battle for third in the Championship wide open, as McLaren scored fourth and fifth with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz respectively.
Renault, who are also contenders for the third spot, scored a double points finish as Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon crossed the line in seventh and ninth respectively.
Pierre Gasly managed to make the end of the race with just one pit-stop served, and scored sixth place for himself and AlphaTauri.
Disaster day for Bottas and Ferrari
Valtteri Bottas was only classified in eighth position at the chequered flag, with his race hindered by a puncture he took on after the restart following the red flag period.
The Finn made a number of pit stops during the grand prix and had a second puncture in the final laps under the Safety Car, and now sits just a handful of points ahead of Max Verstappen for second in the Championship.
Ferrari took one solitary point from the race courtesy of Charles Leclerc, who was the last car to be lapped by the end of the race.
His team-mate Sebastian Vettel endured a challenging grand prix, running towards the back of the field for much of the race, describing his car as “undriveable”.
The four-time World Champion eventually finished 13th, ahead of Nicholas Latifi, the Alfa Romeo pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, while Kevin Magnussen was the last of the classified runners.
2020 Bahrain Grand Prix – Race Result
| # | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | LAP |
| 2 | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +1.254 |
| 3 | A. Albon | Red Bull | +8.005 |
| 4 | L. Norris | McLaren | +11.337 |
| 5 | C. Sainz | McLaren | +11.787 |
| 6 | P. Gasly | AlphaTauri | +11.942 |
| 7 | D. Ricciardo | Renault | +19.368 |
| 8 | V. Bottas | Mercedes | +19.680 |
| 9 | E. Ocon | Renault | +22.803 |
| 10 | C. Leclerc | Ferrari | 1L |
| 11 | D. Kvyat | AlphaTauri | 1L |
| 12 | G. Russell | Williams | 1L |
| 13 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1L |
| 14 | N. Latifi | Williams | 1L |
| 15 | K. Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1L |
| 16 | A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1L |
| 17 | K. Magnussen | Haas | 1L |
| 18 | S. Perez | Racing Point | DNF |
| 19 | L. Stroll | Racing Point | DNF |
| 20 | R. Grosjean | Haas | DNF |
