2020 Sakhir Grand Prix

2020 Sakhir Grand Prix
Race 16 of 17 in the 2020 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	6 December 2020
Official name	Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020
Location	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.543 km (2.202 mi)
Distance	87 laps, 307.995 km (191.379 mi)
Weather	Clear
Attendance	0
Pole position
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	0:53.377
Fastest lap
Driver	George Russell	Mercedes
Time	0:55.404 on lap 80 (lap record)
Podium
First	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes
Second	Esteban Ocon	Renault
Third	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix is a Grand Prix that took place at Bahrain, Sakhir 1 week after the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The race was won by Sergio Pérez of Racing Point, who took his first Formula One victory and Racing Point's only win as a constructor. Esteban Ocon finished second for the Renault team to claim his first podium in Formula One, while Pérez's teammate Lance Stroll finished third, giving Racing Point their only double podium finish as a constructor. Pérez became the first Mexican Formula One driver to win a race since Pedro Rodríguez won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix. Racing Point became the first British constructor to win a race since Lotus F1 at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. Recovering from a first-lap spin, Pérez won having inherited the lead on lap 64 of the race after longtime race leader George Russell fell foul of a pitstop error when Mercedes brought in both of their drivers under the Safety Car which was deployed on lap 62 after Jack Aitken who was substituting for him at Williams for this weekend spun and slammed into the wall on the main straight on the previous lap lap 61 which broke his front wing off and left debris on the circuit which initially forced the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) to be deployed so that the marshals could remove the debris safely, but on the following lap after the VSC had been deployed for roughly a minute, because a convenient gap in the on-circuit traffic could not be found in order to allow the marshals to come out onto the circuit to in order to remove the debris safely the Virtual Safety Car was then upgraded to a full Safety Car in order to create a convenient gap in the on-circuit traffic to allow the marshals to remove the debris safely before he then suffered a late puncture.

With his win Perez also became the 1st ever Formula 1 driver to win a world championship grand prix after running in last place at the end of the opening lap of a world championship grand prix.

Also as the race lasted for 87 laps the event had the highest lap count of a world championship grand prix since the Australian Grand Prix in 1995 which lasted for 81 laps.

Russell drove for Mercedes at this event rather than for his usual team Williams because he substituted for World Champion Lewis Hamilton who was ruled out of the event 4 days before the event started because he was legally required to self-isolate for 7 days after he tested positive for COVID-19 just 1 day after he won the Bahrain Grand Prix on the previous day.

The race also had 1 other Safety Car deployment which lasted from lap 1 to lap 6 after Charles Leclerc collided with Sergio Pérez as he tried to pass him at turn 4 and Max Verstappen then went off and slammed into the wall as he tried to avoid the damaged Ferrari and 1 other Virtual Safety Car (VSC) deployment which lasted for 90 seconds after it was deployed on lap 54 after Nicholas Latifi suffered electrical problems and stopped his car by a access road on the straight after turn 9 and ended on lap 55.

Because of his enforced absence from this event after he tested positive for COVID-19, this was the first race without Lewis Hamilton since the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix and it was also the first race without Romain Grosjean since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix after he suffered severe burns to his hands and feet in a massive crash on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix which took place 7 days earlier when he collided with Daniil Kvyat as he tried to pass him coming out of turn 3 and he slammed heavily into the wall and the force of the impact with the armco barrier severed the barrier and tore his car in half before it then caught fire which forced the race to be red flagged for 81 minutes.

Because of his injuries which also ruled him out of the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the following weekend Haas's reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi substituted for him at both this event and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix thus this meant that the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix would turn out to be his final Formula One Grand Prix before he announced his retirement from Formula 1 as he moved to compete in the IndyCar Series from 2021 onwards initially on a partial schedule for Dale Coyne Racing which excluded the oval events because of the negative memories of his massive crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020 which left him with severe burns to his hands and feet.

By substituting for the injured Grosjean at Haas for this event Pietro Fittipaldi became the fifth different member of his family to have started a world championship Formula One Grand Prix after his maternal grandfather and 2 time Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, his great-uncle Wilson Fittipaldi (Emerson's brother), his second cousin Christian Fittipaldi (Wilson's son) and his uncle Max Papis (Emerson's son-in-law because he is married to his youngest daughter from his first marriage Tatiana).

At this event Russell's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who took pole position at this event with a time of 53.377 seconds broke the record for the fastest ever pole position lap time at any world championship grand prix in Formula 1 which was previously held by Niki Lauda at the French Grand Prix in 1974 when he took pole position at that event with a time of 58.79 seconds.

This marked only the 2nd time in Formula 1 history since the Formula 1 World Championship started in 1950 that a driver took pole position for a world championship grand prix with a lap time of less than 1 minute.

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	0:53.904	0:53.803	0:53.377	1
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	0:54.160	0:53.819	0:53.403	2
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	0:54.037	0:53.647	0:53.433	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	0:54.249	0:53.825	0:53.613	4
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	0:54.236	0:53.787	0:53.790	5
6	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	0:54.346	0:53.856	0:53.906	6
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	0:54.388	0:53.871	0:53.957	7
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	0:54.450	0:53.818	0:54.010	8
9	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	0:54.207	0:53.941	0:54.154	9
10	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	0:54.595	0:53.840	0:54.200	10
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	0:54.309	0:53.995	N/A	11
12	23	Alex Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	0:54.620	0:54.026	N/A	12
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	0:54.301	0:54.175	N/A	13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	0:54.523	0:54.377	N/A	14
15	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	0:54.194	0:54.693	N/A	191
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	0:54.705	N/A	N/A	15
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	0:54.796	N/A	N/A	16
18	89	Jack Aitken	Williams-Mercedes	0:54.892	N/A	N/A	17
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	0:54.963	N/A	N/A	18
20	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas-Ferrari	0:55.426	N/A	N/A	202
107% time: 0:57.677
Source:

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	87	1:31:15.114	5	25
2	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	87	+10.518	11	18
3	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	87	+11.869	10	15
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	87	+12.580	8	12
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	87	+13.330	7	10
6	23	Alex Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	87	+13.842	12	8
7	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	87	+14.534	6	6
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	87	+15.389	1	4
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	87	+18.556	2	31
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	87	+19.541	19	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	87	+20.527	9
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	87	+22.611	13
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	87	+24.111	14
14	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	87	+26.153	18
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	87	+32.370	15
16	89	Jack Aitken	Williams-Mercedes	87	+33.674	17
17	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas-Ferrari	87	+36.858	20
Ret	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	52	Oil leak	16
Ret	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	0	Accident	3
Ret	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	0	Collision	4
Fastest lap: George Russell (Mercedes) – 0:55.404 (lap 80)
Source:

Notes:

^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.