Double Podium For Bulls In Bahrain!

A hugely dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix sees Max P2 and Alex P3.

Max took his 10th podium finish of the year and his sixth P2 of 2020, while Alex took the second top-three finish of his F1 career as the Bulls grabbed their first double podium finish since 2017 at the end of a hugely dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix that had to be restarted following a frightening, fiery crash involving Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

Max Sprays Champagne On The Podium

When the lights went out pole position driver Lewis Hamilton made a good start to take the lead. Front-row starting Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas got away poorly, however, and that allowed Max to steal second place through turn one. Alex also passed Bottas but was boxed in on the inside and he was passed by Racing Point’s Sergio Perez who went around the outside of the Mercedes to take P3.

Further back though things were going out of control as Racing Point’s Lance Stroll went wide on the right after turn three, one of the Alfa Romeos left the track on the left and Haas’ Romain Grosjean moved too swiftly across the track and made contact with the AlphaTauri of Daniiil Kvyat. The Haas went straight off track at high speed and through the Armco barrier. The car was torn in two and burst into flames.

Miraculously, Grosjean was able to clamber out of the burning wreckage, helped to safety by the FIA Medical Car crew. The red flags were immediately displayed.

Full credit to Ian and Alan and the guys down at the FIA. They are the heroes today, absolutely.

Grosjean, who was said to have sustained only minor burns to his hands and ankles, was eventually flown to hospital for further checks.

After an 80-minute delay the race began again but the second start was also incident-packed. Hamilton again got away well ahead of Max and Perez. Alex attacked Bottas and the Finn defended hard but further back there was contact between Stroll and Kvyat, with the result that the Canadian driver’s car was flipped upside down.

Stroll was unhurt but the safety car was deployed. During the caution Bottas pitted due to a puncture from debris and moved to hard tyres. The Finn’s misfortune moved Alex to P4 behind Pérez.

When the safety car left the track at the end of lap eight, Hamilton managed the re-start well to keep Max at bay as Perez prevented an Alex attack. Behind them Leclerc tried to pass Ocon for P6 but the Frenchman defended well to fight off the Ferrari.

Hamilton was the first of the leading cars to pit and the Mercedes driver moved to medium tyres. Alex pitted at the same time and made the same switch, before Max made his first stop a lap later to take on hard tyres.

Bulls In P2 And P4 At The Restart

At half distance, Hamilton led Max by 4.8 seconds, while Pérez was 16 seconds further back in P3, 3.7s ahead of Alex.

The man on the move during this phase of the race was McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard making his way past both Renaults to take P6 behind teammate Lando Norris.

The Bulls were the first of the leaders to make final pit stops, with both Max and Alex pitting at the end of lap 35. Max’s stop was slow though and if an undercut had been planned the delay scuppered that and when Hamilton pitted at the end of the next lap he re-emerged well ahead of Max.

Alex also failed to gain ground as when Pérez pitted he stayed P3 ahead of the Thai driver.

The race then settled again, and it looked like the order would stay the same until the chequered flag. With a sizeable gap back to Pérez, the Team opted to pit Max again in the closing stages and after taking on a set of medium tyres the Dutchman powered to the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:32.014 and an extra point.

Behind him, it looked like Alex would have to settle for P4, but with just a few laps to go Pérez’s engine let go and Alex swept past to claim the second podium of his career and the Team's first double since Japan 2017.

Behind Alex, Norris was P4 ahead of teammate Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly P6 ahead of Ricciardo, Bottas, Ocon and Leclerc.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2020: Race

Max And Alex Congratulate Each Other

Max Finishes P2 In Bahrain

Alex Laps The AlphaTauri

Getting Organised During The Red Flaf

Heading To The Grid For Race Start

Under Lights In Sakhir

Max Holds Off Perez At The Restart

Bahrain Podium Finishers

Alex Comes In For A Pit Stop

Max Leaves The Stop On Hards

Lights Out And Away We Go

Alex Holds Off Ricciardo

Alex Finishes P3 In Bahrain

What

Was

Said:

Max

We were all relieved that Romain was able to get out of the car himself and that any injuries were treatable and I hope he recovers quickly.

“It was of course a big shock to see the flames at the start of the race and you know it is bad when there is fire like that. We were all relieved that Romain was able to get out of the car himself and that any injuries were treatable and I hope he recovers quickly. It’s not nice to see those things happen but fortunately the safety is incredible with the suits and the halo really saved his life today by pushing the guard rail up over his head.

A double podium is a great result for the Team and well done to Alex as I am pleased for him.

"In the race I tried everything I could to stay with Lewis and there wasn’t much left to give but unfortunately we were just a bit too slow. I think we could maybe have put Mercedes under a bit more pressure but overall I think second is where we belong today with the pace of the car. A double podium is a great result for the Team and well done to Alex as I am pleased for him. The car seems to be working well here so we’ll see how next weekend goes on the different layout but hopefully we can find a bit more pace and get everything that’s possible.”

Alex

“Of course there’s a bit of luck involved today and Sergio drove a good race but we were there to capitalise on anything happening ahead and that’s exactly what we did so I’m really happy. The Team told me Sergio might have an engine issue and my first thought was if he’s dropping oil, I don’t want to be the first car behind him so I stayed off-line just in case and fortunately everything worked out. Considering the car damage we had on Friday, the guys did an amazing job to get everything ready for Saturday and it’s nice to repay them in this way.

"It’s been a good weekend for me pace wise and I’m happy with how it turned out. I feel like the last few races have been getting better and results just haven’t shown that but we’ve taken another step forward this weekend and I’m pleased. Next week we’re racing on a different layout but it’s a pretty similar circuit so hopefully we can expect more of the same. Like everyone in the paddock I was also very relieved to see Romain walk away from the car after the accident, it was shocking to watch back and the safety team did an amazing job today.”

Christian

Horner

“Firstly it’s a huge relief that Romain Grosjean is okay this evening and all credit goes to the FIA and particularly Ian, Alan and the marshals that were there without hesitation to help extract Romain from the car. They are truly heroes. We sometimes underestimate the role that the FIA play but today Romain owes his life to that collective work and the safety measures in place.

Max extracted every ounce of performance from the car and Alex drove another strong race.

"For our drivers, Max extracted every ounce of performance from the car with second place and our first podium at this track since 2013. We did an extra stop at the end, because we could, which helped us achieve an extra point for Fastest Lap. Alex meanwhile drove another strong race. He was unlucky to lose out a bit to Sergio at the start and there was very little between them today. Sergio’s misfortune was Alex’s good fortune, giving him third place on the podium to secure our first double podium since the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix.

Today’s result also secures second in the Constructors’ Championship for the Team.

"Today’s result also secures second in the Constructors’ Championship for the Team which is encouraging and it enables us to now focus on trying to get both drivers further up the standings in the remaining races.”

Bahrain

Grand

Prix

Race

Top

Position	Driver	Team
1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.
Lewis Hamilton	Max Verstappen	Alex Albon	Lando Norris	Carlos Sainz	Pierre Gasly	Daniel Ricciardo	Valtteri Bottas	Esteban Ocon	Charles Leclerc
Mercedes	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	McLaren	McLaren	AlphaTauri	Renault	Mercedes	Renault	Ferrari