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The actual 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix ended up being secondary to the relief that Formula 1 had avoided tragedy and that Romain Grosjean had managed to escape his terrifying wreckage with only minor injuries – but as always, the show still went on.
There’s not much left to play for at the front with both titles wrapped up, but all eyes are on the midfield – where one driver starred in what could be key to deciding which team gets the third place, and the millions that come with it.
Agree or disagree with Edd’s ratings? Don’t forget that you can debate with him at 5.30pm UK time by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
Please note that the early red flag gave all drivers the option to change tyres, which is counted as a pitstop in the strategy. The positions gained on the first lap is based on starting position compared to restart position, which was dictated by positions early on the first lap.
Started: 1st
Finished: 1st
Qualifying
Practice laps: 80
Gap to team-mate: -0.289s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.027s
Went into qualifying looking under pressure from Verstappen, but turned in a dominant performance – topping Q1, Q2 and Q3. That his pace advantage left Bottas scratching his head speaks volumes, although by his own admission there were still gains to be had in Turn 1 and Turn 6.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops: medium/medium/hard
A consummately dominant victory, leading all but one lap and only losing out on fastest lap thanks to Verstappen’s extra pitstop. Any time the Red Bull driver looked even vaguely threatening, Hamilton stemmed the threat and had pace in hand to control the race.
VERDICT: Utterly in control in qualifying and the race. What more can you say?
Started: 2nd
Finished: 8th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 85
Gap to team-mate: +0.289s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Bottas was happy with his final Q3 lap having initially lagged behind Verstappen on first-run times, but a little surprised to see that it added up to a deficit of almost three-tenths to his team-mate. He was 0.112s down on Hamilton after the first two sectors, but couldn’t carry the same speed into Turn 13 and ended up well behind – but still ahead of Verstappen.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 2
3 stops: medium/hard/medium/medium
After slipping to sixth at the first start thanks to wheelspin, the luckless Bottas picked up a puncture through no fault of his own between Turns 3 and 4 at the second start and dropped to 16th after stopping for hards.
Being buried in traffic made tyre management difficult and he had to make two further stops, but made on-track passes on Vettel, Latifi, Leclerc and Ocon – as well as jumping Russell, Raikkonen, Kvyat strategically – to pick up eighth when Perez retired despite another puncture under the late safety car.
VERDICT: A step behind Hamilton’s level but hugely unlucky.
Started: 15th
Finished: 13th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 74
Gap to team-mate: -0.016
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.150
Like his team-mate, Vettel found it difficult to get the Ferrari well-balanced and even on his final Q2 run was struggling with understeer at points and a lack of rear grip at others. But he did outqualify Leclerc in dry conditions for the first time since the third race of the season in Hungary.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
3 stops: medium/hard/medium/hard
Made a decent start but found himself boxed in through the first and second corners and was shuffled down to 15th but was awarded 10th for the restart. After a poor restart lap, he dropped to 15th again and lost that position to the recovering Bottas at the first corner on lap 12.
Vettel then spun on the power coming out of Turn 11 and described the car as “undrivable”. From last, he passed Raikkonen, Latifi and Magnussen, as well as jumping Giovinazzi to take 13th.
VERDICT: Passable on pace but never recovered from ill-luck on the first lap and his later spin.
Started: 12th
Finished: 10th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 73
Gap to team-mate: +0.016s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.249
Having struggled to get the car well-balanced throughout practice, it was no surprise to see him continue to have difficulties in qualifying. He started to lose time when the rear stepped out as he attempted to pull the car to the right out of Turn 1 and was a quarter-of-a-second off his best in sector 1, costing him a Q2 place.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
3 stops: hard/medium/hard/hard
Went on the attack at the two starts and made Vettel unhappy with how aggressive he was on both of them, but the highlight was the way he battled past Ricciardo and Gasly on the second start lap.
Inevitably, he couldn’t stay there and was quickly shuffled back but picked up a consolation point when Perez retired.
VERDICT: Maximum attack didn’t pay off in qualifying, but was more effective in the race.
Started: 3rd
Finished: 2nd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 63
Gap to team-mate: -0.596s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.051s
The anticipated pole position challenge didn’t materialise and despite being ahead of Bottas after the first runs in Q3, Verstappen wasn’t able to consolidate the position on his second lap. On his final lap, he didn’t find time early on and then lost time off the final corner as he struggled for rear grip, ending up 0.125s behind Bottas.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP.1
3 stops: medium/hard/medium/hard
Got up to second at the start but there was little he could do about Hamilton’s pace. He was frustrated to be the one responding to Hamilton’s first in-race stop rather than forcing the issue, but when Red Bull pulled the trigger first for the next stop a slow tyre change cost him more time. A late change to take fastest lap earned him an extra point
VERDICT: Left a little on the table in qualifying and did what he could in the race.
Started: 4th
Finished: 3rd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 63
Gap to team-mate: +0.596s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.015s
After a heavy shunt on Friday necessitated a chassis change, Albon recovered solidly in qualifying to earn fourth place. But he was still sixth-tenths off Verstappen and fortunate to be ahead of Perez, who lost time on the dash to the line. He appeared to leave most time on the table through the tight Turn 8 and 10.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
3 stops: medium/medium/medium/hard
Although Perez made a sharper start and jumped ahead, Albon had a better getaway than Bottas so held fourth at the first start – retaining the position at the second start.
On an orthodox strategy, effectively a two-stopper but with an extra first ‘pitstop’ at the red flag, he couldn’t do anything about Perez but cleared traffic when he needed to and picked up his second F1 podium when the Racing Point expired late on.
VERDICT: Recovered decently from his Friday crash, but despite a decent race drive was unable to do anything about Perez.
Started: 9th
Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 65
Gap to team-mate: N/A
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.151s
While Norris was only 15th in Q1, he aborted his final lap once it was clear nobody behind could improve and would have been more comfortable otherwise. Having done the first Q3 run on used softs, he expected a bigger step in rear grip on his final lap but a big wheelspin moment out of Turn 1 cost him time and, potentially several places on the grid.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
2 stops: medium/medium/hard
His first start was superb, scything between Gasly and Ocon only to be squeezed into Turn 2, picking up front wing damage and losing two places.
The red flag allowed him to replace the wing and gave him those two places back and he jumped Ricciardo off the line at the restart. Bottas’s early puncture and Perez’s late retirement turned sixth into fourth.
VERDICT: Slightly underachieved in qualifying and had a little fortune in the race but otherwise drove well.
Started: 15th
Finished: 5th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 76
Gap to team-mate: N/A
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: N/A
Sainz was one of just three drivers to have only one run in Q1, comfortably making Q2. But as he started his first flying lap in Q2, he had a brake-by-wire failure at Turn 1. The rears locked solid, pitching him into a spin that ended his qualifying and left him with just one set of medium Pirellis for the race.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
3 stops: soft/soft/medium/hard
Sainz went into the race a set of mediums light thanks to the failure in qualifying, so gambled on starting on softs. This proved an inspired move and allowed him to make up two places at each of the two starts to run 11th.
He wasted no time once the sustained green flag racing started, picking off Gasly, Ricciardo and Leclerc early on having already gained a place to Bottas’s puncture. He passed Ocon and Ricciardo after his first in-race tyre stop having run all the way to lap 21 on softs, and had to get back ahead of Gasly, who made one stop less, in the final stint. That, plus Perez’s retirement, added up to fifth place.
VERDICT: Bad luck ruined qualifying, but brilliantly clinical in the race.
Started: 6th
Finished: 7th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 66
Gap to team-mate: -0.002s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Ricciardo only had one set of fresh softs for Q3 having required two runs in Q1, without which the team reckoned beating Perez and therefore even Albon might have been possible. But after Renault got on top of oversteer problems, Ricciardo was still able to unleash good pace in Q3.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stop: medium/hard/hard
The first start went fine but wheelspin at the second start dropped him to ninth. Bottas’s puncture handed him a place, but Ricciardo ran deep at Turn 11 on lap nine and let Sainz past.
He overtook Leclerc during that stint and picked up another place when Perez retired late on, but couldn’t challenge the McLarens properly. The late safety car likely cost him sixth as he was just 1.2s behind Gasly, who was on rubber 11 laps older, when it appeared and effectively finished the race.
VERDICT: Had a bigger advantage over Ocon than qualifying suggested, as the race showed, but although a poor restart and difficult early laps compromised his race.
Started: 7th
Finished: 9th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 69
Gap to team-mate: +0.002s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Ocon has lamented the fact he’s often been on the wrong side of a small gap to Ricciardo in qualifying and he was just two-thousandths off his team-mate this time. He had the advantage through sector 2, through the two slow corners in particular, but Ricciardo was quicker in the final sector.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
3 stops: medium/medium/medium/hard
Ocon took the restart eighth having initially lost a place to Norris at the start and ran sixth in the first stint. But the pace wasn’t good enough to stay there and he slipped behind Sainz, Gasly, who made one stop fewer, Ricciardo and the recovering Bottas
VERDICT: Did a good job in qualifying but was not quite on Ricciardo’s level in the race.
Started: 8th
Finished: 6th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 86
Gap to team-mate: -0.170s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.034s
While he was a little surprised to be jumped by the Renaults in Q3, Gasly reckoned this was one of AlphaTauri’s strongest qualifying weekends of the year. But he did give away a fraction in the first sector, potentially enough to have got him ahead of the Renaults.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
2 stops: medium/hard/hard
Lost a place to Norris at the initial start, taking the restart ninth and settling into that spot after initial battles with Leclerc (which he won) and Ricciardo (which he lost) and having the place gained to Bottas’s puncture cancelled out by Sainz getting ahead.
He gambled on doing the race on effectively one stop (the first tyre change being under the safety car) and was under threat from Ricciardo late on when the safety car was deployed and probably saved his place.
VERDICT: As quick as ever and managed the hards well, but Perez’s retirement improved his result by at least two places.
Started: 10th
Finished: 11th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 88
Gap to team-mate: +0.170s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.041s
Kvyat had to switch back to the higher-mileage engine he used on Friday after a problem was detected, but it didn’t appear to hold him back as he reached Q3 for only the third time this season. As usual, he was not quite at Gasly’s pace, with the main difference in the two slow corners in the middle sector.
Race
Penalties: +10s (causing Stroll collision)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 5
3 stops: medium/soft/hard/hard
Kvyat could have done nothing about his part in Grosjean’s crash, although his losses in that first, brief, phase of racing defined his day.
He legitimately attempted to pass Stroll at Turn 8 at the restart, although was a little hesitant once he’d launched the move and earned a 10-second penalty. While his pace on the hards wasn’t great, he at least finished ahead of the Class C cars and Vettel.
VERDICT: Half-a-step behind Gasly on pace, unlucky at the start but the decision to attack Stroll ruined any chance of a recovery.
Started: 5th
Finished: 18th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 75
Gap to team-mate: -0.663s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.114s
Just lost out on fourth place to Albon by 0.048s after losing a tenth through the final three corners, albeit as a result of going relatively hard on the rear tyres earlier in the lap. But given the set-up was focused on protecting the tyres in the race, this was an excellent effort.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
3 stops: medium/medium/hard/hard
Made a superb start to catapult into third ahead of Bottas and Albon and kept control of the position almost to the finish.
Spent 50 laps in the top three and a further three just behind during the first in-race round of pitstops, but missed the crucial final four laps after suffering an agonising engine failure.
VERDICT: Good in qualifying but outstanding in the race – and desperately unlucky.
Started: 13th
Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 75
Gap to team-mate: 0.663s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.878s
Looked to be at least as fast as his team-mate, and potentially quicker, but was the only driver to have his sole Q2 attempt on used mediums as a result of having already used a set for his first run in Q1. And it showed, as he lost almost three tenths through the first three corners as he struggled for rear grip. He complained about a “miscommunication”, suggesting he’d have used softs to safely make Q3 had he realised there was not time for two runs.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
1 stop: medium/medium
Had a characteristically aggressive opening lap at both restarts, but the second didn’t work out so well. Stroll lost out to Sainz through the sweepers, then Kvyat went for the inside at Turn 8. The Racing Point driver turned in and was pitched onto his ‘roof’.
VERDICT: His underlying pace looked good but tyre choice in Q2 was poor, but he had a minority stake in the clash with Kvyat given he knew he was vulnerable to attack having lost time battling through the sweepers
Started: 17th
Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 50
Gap to team-mate: +0.319s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
After sitting out FP1 in favour of Robert Kubica, Raikkonen never looked to have Giovinazzi’s single-lap pace and ended up three-tenths off him in qualifying with two-thirds of the gap in the middle sector. But he was at least happier with the car than during practice.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
3 stops: medium/medium/hard/medium
Raikkonen picked up minor front wing damage at the first restart when he made contact with Giovinazzi, who had been squeezed to the right by Stroll on the run towards the first corner.
A change of front wing at his first proper pitstop cost Raikkonen time but he picked up further damage, which meant he was unable to fight the Williams drivers of Giovinazzi. Picked up 15th place and third in ‘Class C’ when Giovinazzi made his late stop.
VERDICT: Solid enough in qualifying but unfortunate in the race.
Started: 16th
Finished: 16th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 70
Gap to team-mate: -0.319s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
He was on course to make Q2 after the first runs in Q1 thanks to set-up improvements after FP3, but didn’t find as big a performance step between runs as those around him and missed out by just 0.027s. He almost made it, but his run off the final corner was compromised by running wide and left him 16th.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
3 stops: medium/medium/hard/soft
Giovinazzi got as high as 11th in the moments before the red flag, but took the restart 14th. He lost positions when he had to back off after being squeezed between Stroll and Raikkonen – the two Alfa drivers making contact – on the run to Turn 1 and dropped to the back.
He passed Magnussen when the Haas driver suffered wing damage on the restart lap, undercut his way past Latifi, then overtook Raikkonen. But while trying to make what was effectively a one-stopper work and on shot rubber, he was passed by Russell on the lap the safety car was deployed. The gamble to stop for fresh softs he never used in anger cost him 13th place.
VERDICT: The faster Alfa Romeo driver in qualifying, he drove well in the race but the result was compromised by bad luck and the late tyre change.
Started: 19th
Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 72
Gap to team-mate: +0.027s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.220s
He was set to outpace Magnussen on his final qualifying lap until he ran wide at Turn 13, although given the lack of pace of the under-developed Haas he had no chance of doing anything better than 18th.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
0 stops: hard
His race lasted only seconds after turning across Kvyat out of Turn 3 and spearing into the barrier. Despite the size of the impact and the fire, Grosjean was able to extract himself with mercifully minor injuries.
VERDICT: All that really matters is that he survived, but given his mercifully minor injuries it would be wrong to overlook his contribution to the accident on what wasn’t one of his finest weekends.
Started: 18th
Finished: 17th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 68
Gap to team-mate: -0.027s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Magnussen was ahead of Grosjean based on the first runs in Q1, but appeared to struggle a little at the start of the lap for front grip before matching his team-mate’s pace through the middle sector then getting ahead. But there was no way to make up the three-tenths gap to Raikkonen.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
4 stops: medium/hard/hard/hard/soft
Tried to make gains at the two starts but in the concertina caused by Stroll’s roll he clipped Vettel’s rear-left tyre with his front wing and had to pit for a replacement. That put him on the back foot in what was already the slowest car in the field, resulting in a predictable 17th and last of those running at the finish.
VERDICT: On a hiding to nothing in the slowest car in the field, but did what he could despite the front-wing misfortune.
Started: 20th
Finished: 14th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 80
Gap to team-mate: +0.888s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Latifi never looked like matching Russell’s pace, as has been the case all season, although the gap was larger than practice suggested it would be in Q1.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
3 stops: hard/medium/medium/hard
Both Williams drivers struggled off the line but the second restart was better for Latifi, who briefly looked to have taken the Class C lead at the safety car restart after passing Raikkonen on the run to the first corner.
By his own admission, he was too conservative on the brakes into Turn 1, allowing Raikkonen to repass and Russell to follow him through. Latifi undercut his way back past Raikkonen later on but lost a position to Giovinazzi strategically – but the Alfa driver’s late stop handed Latifi 14th place.
VERDICT: Poor in qualifying, but aside from what he called his misjudgement at the saftety car restart, drove one of his better races.
Started: 15th
Finished: 12th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 45
Gap to team-mate: -0.888s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +1.924s
Russell put in another mighty lap to reach Q2 for the ninth time this season having been in the dropzone after his first attempt. For Q2, he used a set of softs that had been used for a sighter lap in Q1, but given they’d already had some life taken out of them, he didn’t have the grip to set a representative time.
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 3
3 stops: medium/medium/hard/medium
Despite his poor launch at the first start, Russell made up positions at the second time of asking and held 12th for much of the first stint.
On the orthodox strategy, he showed decent race pace and managed to pass Giovinazzi for the Class C lead at Turn 1 on the same lap the safety car was deployed and effectively ended the race.
VERDICT: Outstanding in Q1, then drove a fine race to the best possible result.
