Our great and grape preview of the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Result is here, and it was a first win for Sergio Perez after George Russell dominated most of the race but was let down by a chaotic tyre stop or two.
There was a first podium for Esteban Ocon, and more disappointment for Valtteri Bottas.
And plenty, or something in between.
So sit back and enjoy the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Result Review
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Result – THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. Normally it is five or ten, so you know it was a good race if there’s more than ten.
We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football. But not as good. But hey, if you missed the race how can you complain.
Lap 1 – Making the rest look like amateurs, George Russell gets the best of the start and beats Valtteri Bottas into the first corner, Bottas’ fishtailing bunches up Perez, Verstappen and Leclerc behind and going into the second set of corners Perez turns in hard on Leclerc, and the scuffle forces Verstappen off and into the barriers. Leclerc and Veratappen are out, Perez at the back of the field. Two main challengers to the Mercedes out, at least Russell is at the front to make the next 80 odd laps interesting. Safety Car comes out to allow them to clean that mess up.
Some notable first lap movers. Sainz 8th to 3rd and Norris 19th to 10th
ORDER – RUS BOT SAI RIC KVY STR GAS OCO VET NOR
Lap 7 – Race resumes, perfect restart from Russell. Sainz briefly takes second from Bottas into the first corner but keeps it only for a straight.
Lap 8-10 – Norris overtakes Vettel for 9th. Albon can’t overtake Vettel for 10th (eventually h does), Perez gets past another driver without running into them this time. Meanwhile, proving how much difference a decent car makes, Russell leads with ease at the front.
Lap 14 -Sainz leading a train of five cars for third, including Ricciardo, Kyvat, Stroll, Gasly, Ocon. Currently about four seconds behind the second Mercedes of Bottas. At this stage the realisation is starting to sink in, that despite this track basically being a few straights connected together and lots of DRS, there’s going to be stuff all overtaking. Yawn, and we mean yawn as it is 3:30am in some parts of the watching world.
ORDER – RUS BOT SAI RIC KVY STR GAS OCO NOR ALB
Lap 18 – With Albon running 10th and barely setting the world on fire and Perez involved in taking out the Red Bull of Verstappen at the front, what does that mean for the second seat next season. Surely Albon can’t hang on now. Of course three laps after writing this line Albon nails Norris in a great move. What the f— would we know. Perez gets past Albon a lap later, perhaps Albon was too scared to battle him, although getting Perez to take him out could have looked worse for Perez and hence helped him keep his seat next year.
Lap 25 – Valtteri Bottas sets a fastest lap to that point to remind everyone that he is still relevant despite remaining behind his temporary team mate. Meanwhile, talking of disappointment, Albon announces over the radio that his car is quicker but not raceable. As he falls away from the Racing Point of Perez in 10th.
Lap 28 – Cars start pitting, giving one hope that something will break up the next two-thirds of this race. With such a small lap it is going to be hard to keep up for a little bit. Or we need a better attention span. Although, it is 3:45am. Ricciardo loses fourth place (net) to Kyvat who smashes out a fastest lap undercut. Cars in the Sainz train came out behind Vettel in 7th after their pit stops.
Lap 37 – Mercedes and a few of the top ten yet to pit, with Ricciardo looking to have been put on the least efficient strategy which happens from tiem to time.
ORDER – RUS BOT STR OCO PER ALB SAI KVY RIC GAS
Lap 42 – A slow motion look at George Russell in the coverage does little to keep the eyes open. He has gradually pushed away from Bottas with a tenth just about every lap. He leads by 2.6 seconds. Meanwhile further back and no hope of winning Ocon and Stroll pit from their top six positions. They briefly entertain the viewers with a battle after their pitsops. Speaking of another Renault, Ricciardo can’t get past Kvyat, and they are both falling well behind Sainz.
Lap 46 – Russell pits from the lead, and no problems with his pitstop which is great.
Lap 50 – Bottas pits and emerges 8 seconds behind Russell. Job done for Russell. We wonder if he wins, how many drivers have driven more than 30 odds races and scored their first points with a win. Yes a handful of drivers have won on debut, but who would have scored their first win after nearly two seasons without scoring a point before hand. Not many If any. Although, a few laps later he radios in saying power on the straight is low.
Lap 55 – Latifi’s WIlliams becomes the first non-Perez affected retirement of the race. It “brings out” the Virtual Safety Car. Sainz and Ricciardo pit for new tyres, and stuff themselves on strategy for the rest of the race.
Lap 57 – Lance Stroll’s dad can’t help his son from a bold overtaking move from Sergio Perez after the Canadian runs wide pressuring Ocon for third. A lap later, Perez takes third in an equally bold move. Perez is now third and 25 seconds behind Bottas.
ORDER – RUS BOT PER OCO STR ALB SAI RIC KVY GAS
Lap 62 – An abandoned broken front wing courtesy of new boy at Williams Jack Aitken brings out the Safety Car. Replays show Aitken was super lucky to just have a missing front wing after going wide and sliding into the barrier on the last corner.
Lap 63 -J ust to underline Bottas’ luck (whether he makes it or not) the Mercedes sneak in for a quick tyre stop under VSC. Russell’s goes off without a glitch while the Finn’s stop is a disaster. He rejoins behind Perez, Ocon and Stroll.
Lap 64 -What’s this? Russell is coming back into the pits a lap later. Looks like wrong tyres were put on originally. He sadly rejoins behind Bottas. What a complete balls up that quick tyre change ended up being. Maybe Mercedes are no good without Lewis Hamilton. It looked real amateur hour in replays. They’ve stuffed the unlosable race with a pitstop they didn’t need.
Perez now leads after being last after his first lap shenanigans. Bottas is fourth and Russell is fifth. We will see how dominant the Mercedes are now, and how much of a racer George Russell is.
ORDER – PER OCO STR BOT RUS SAI RIC KVY GAS ALB
Lap 69 -Safety Car comes in, not before Lance Stroll nears smashes Ocon’s Renault up the rear end while warming up tyres.
Lap 70 – WOW. Bottas runs a little wide and Russell nails him a few corners later in the only twisty section in a braver than brave move. He needs to get moving to catch Perez at the front.
Lap 72 – Russell takes Stroll for third. It looked a little polite from the Canadian. Making it look even easier, Russell takes Ocon for second a lap later. Perez is around four seconds up the road with just over ten laps to go.
Lap 77 – Bottas is overtaken by Sainz, Ricciardo, Albon and Kvyat over the space of half a lap, which isn’t much on this track.
Lap 79 -Another tyre pitstop for Russell? He drops from second to 15th. What a letdown. For the race. For George Russell. Up yours Mercedes. Why can’t you ruin a race when Lewis Hamilton is leading by 40 seconds to make it interesting. At least a good news story for Perez winning his first race is on offer.
ORDER – PER OCO STR SAI RIC ALB KVY BOT GAS NOR
Lap 85 – George Russell making some progress and may get a point.
Lap 87 – Sergio Perez wins the Sakhir Grand Prix, coming from the back of the field, but did it easy in the end after the Mercedes took care of themselves. Joy for Ocon too with a first podium. Some consolation for George Russell with a 9th place finish, although there’s an FIA investigation into his tyres, and that could be taken from him anyway. Happiness for Perez’s win, and it doesn’t take long to realise that he doesn’t have a drive for next season.
FINAL ORDER – PER OCO STR SAI RIC
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix – RACE RATING
We rate the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 /10
The championship are decided with some shuffling to do further down, and no Lewis Hamilton means it gives everyone else a chance for a change.
ON TRACK ACTION – 5 /10
Patches of action on the track. The first lap wiping out Verstappen and Leclerc probably didn’t help. The late Mercedes tyres stop provided some almost on track action. Safety Cars helped.
ENDING 7 / 10
The tension of the Mercedes pitstops they didn’t need turned a Mercedes procession into a decent ending. George Russell’s pass on Bottas and chase of Perez in first was looking like a great ending was on the cards, but with Russell’s final pitstop the battle for the front was done. Joy for a Perez win smoothed over some of it.
OVERALL RATING 15 / 30
Looked like a Mercedes benefit, they stuffed themselves and Perez got a first win. A debate may rage over which Bahrain track to keep for the future. Still a little dull despite being mainly straights and DRS.
RACE RATINGS SO FAR
Austrian Grand Prix – 28/30
Styrian Grand Prix – 23/30
Hungarian Grand Prix – 15/30
70th Anniversary Grand Prix – 15/30
Eifel Grand Prix 11 / 30
Portuguese Grand Prix – 20 / 30
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – 22 / 30
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Result – Great & Grape
Here we go through the field and highlight the three drivers we think deserve a little extra love, and one driver whose had the grapest weekend of all.
These points get added to our Driver of the Season. 3-2-1 for the Great and minus one point for the Grapest races.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT – 1. GEORGE RUSSELL
Drove a fantastic race, and let down by a woeful pitstop that they didn’t really need. Nailed the start and led with ease. Nailed Bottas when he needed to after dropping down the field to change tyres again. Still got points after yet another pitstop.
THE GREAT – 2. SERGIO PEREZ
Took advantage of the opportunity and won his first race, which he did quite easily in the end when the Mercedes had taken care of themselves. Last after after the first lap incident with Leclerc and Verstappen, which we think his wild turn-in chop on Leclerc caused. But drove well thereafter and got a first win after 190 attempts. Also cemented his reputation as a go-to man when a race turns wild.
THE GREAT – 3 ESTEBAN OCON
First podium is a decent effort, got the better of his team mate with a better strategy, but was compeditive against him all weekend.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
PIETTRO FITTIPALDI – Finished his first race without fuss or anything noteworthy that made the coverage.
THE GRAPE – VALTTERI BOTTAS
As if being well covered by the rookie team mates for most of the race wasn’t bad enough, the final pitstop where he was almost given the wrong tyres and then handed back his old worn Hard tyres was an up yours from the F1 gods.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
Alex Albon – decent points finish may not be enough to save hus Red Bull/F1 career. Especially when one of is rivals is winning the race.
Sebastian Vettel – how bad is the Ferrari really.
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Result – 2020 Driver of the Year – The Martini Trophy
A feature on this website is determining the driver of the year.
This recognises not just the driver with the most amount of points at the end of the year, but factoring performance against their team mate, possibly outperforming the car, and a nod to our Great and Grape above. A full explanation is below the results.
The Martini Trophy is named after one of our favourite F1 drivers of all time, the underrated Pierluigi Martini.
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Results – Martini Trophy
Top qualifiers are awarded 3-2-1
Top finishes are awarded 5-4-3-2-1
Out-Race team mate only applies if they both cars finish or unless the other driver was a complete dick.
Best of Rest is the top driver not from Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari in race and qualifying
FirstLap is 0.2 / -0.2 for every position gained / lost on the first lap.
Good and Grape points are award 3-2-1 and -1 for drivers.
2020 Driver of the Year Points so far
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Result – Stats and Stuff
Here is a selection of our favourite stats from the season so far.
