Lewis Hamilton will start from his 98th career pole position alongside teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Bahrain Grand Prix in pursuit of his 11th win of the season. Join The Roar from 1:10am (AEDT) for live blog coverage of the race in Sakhir.
Three races remain in what has been an unprecedented year for Formula One, and while the world championships have already been decided, there is pride at stake and the minor placings are to still hotly contested.
Bahrain is typically visited near the start of the season, but on the COVID-affected 2020 calendar it forms the beginning of a Middle Eastern triple-header. This morning’s race is the first of two races to be contested at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The 5.4-kilometre circuit in the desert has become a mainstay of the championship since 2004 and a favourite since transitioning to a night race in 2014, that year’s race an epic wheel-to-wheel battle between former Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Cooler conditions under lights typically favour Mercedes, and it is difficult to go beyond Lewis Hamilton in what would be a fourth Bahrain victory in such a dominant season for the now seven-time world champion.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas will be fighting for pride in these final races, while failed championship rival in Max Verstappen will vie for Red Bull Racing’s first victory in Bahrain since 2013.
Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid, with Hamilton on pole ahead of teammate Bottas. Only six of the last 15 winners in Bahrain have come from pole position, which might give the Finn some hope.
There’s slight hope too for Red Bull Racing, which locked out the second row of the grid, Verstappen ahead of Alex Albon. It may finally give the team some strategic options in order to challenge the dominant Mercedes cars.
All cars that qualified in the top ten managed to get through to Q3 on the medium tyre, which will therefore be the rubber they start the race on. The soft compound suffers high degradation here, but even the medium and hard compounds may struggle if stretched in their stints.
In the battle for third in the constructors standings just 24 points separate Racing Point, McLaren, Renault and Ferrari. Sergio Perez leads this contingent on the grid in fifth ahead of both Renault drivers, but the two Ferrari cars and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz failed to make the top ten.
Can Hamilton be stopped in Bahrain? Or will the champion continue his charge towards a record-equalling 13th win for the season by year’s end?
Tune in for live blog coverage on The Roar from 1:10am AEDT for another exciting race under lights at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lights out: 1:10am (AEDT)
Venue: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
TV: Fox Sports
Online: Kayo Sports, Foxtel
Previous winner: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Grid
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing), 4. Alexander Albon (Red Bull Racing)
5. Sergio Perez (Racing Point), 6. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)
7. Esteban Ocon (Renault), 8. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
9. Lando Norris (McLaren), 10. Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri)
11. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), 12. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
13. Lance Stroll (Racing Point), 14. George Russell (Williams)
15. Carlos Sainz (McLaren), 16. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
17. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), 18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
19. Romain Grosjean (Haas), 20. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Well that then wraps up this live blog of the Bahrain Grand Prix. What a crazy race and again it is difficult not to express the relief that Grosjean is ok after that horrifying incident at the start. Not long before we're back at this track, but at a different layout for the Sakhir Grand Prix in seven days time. Until then, thanks and ciao!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
A nice touch from the fans then to vote Romain Grosjean as the Driver of the Day.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 332 - Lewis Hamilton 201 - Valtteri Bottas 189 - Max Verstappen 102 - Daniel Ricciardo 100 - Sergio Perez 98 -- Charles Leclerc 86 -- Lando Norris 85 -- Carlos Sainz 85 -- Alexander Albon 71 -- Pierre Gasly 59 -- Lance Stroll 42 -- Esteban Ocon 33 -- Sebastian Vettel 26 -- Daniil Kvyat 10 -- Nico Hulkenberg 4 --- Kimi Ráikkönen 4 --- Antonio Giovinazzi 2 --- Romain Grosjean 1 --- Kevin Magnussen 0 --- Nicholas Latifi 0 --- George Russell
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 533 - Mercedes AMG 273 - Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 171 - McLaren Renault 154 - Racing Point Mercedes 144 - Renault 131 - Scuderia Ferrari 97 -- Scuderia AlphaTauri 8 --- Alfa Romeo Racing 3 --- Haas Ferrari 0 --- Williams Mercedes
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
POST-RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by Paul di Resta HAMILTON - "It was such a shocking image to see [the Grosjean crash]. So grateful that the halo worked." "Shows an amazing job that F1 and the FIA have done over time." "Physically was very demanding and they [Red Bull] had a lot of speed today." VERSTAPPEN - "We just lacking a bit. I tried to keep it close, but we weren't aggressive enough with the strategy." ALBON - "It was a bit of luck involved with Sergio. It feels good and I'm happy." "I felt like the last few races have been getting better and better."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 57-LAP BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 1 L. Hamilton 2 M. Verstappen (Fastest Lap) 3 A. Albon 4 L. Norris 5 C. Sainz 6 P. Gasly 7 D. Ricciardo 8 V. Bottas 9 E. Ocon 10 C. Leclerc 11 D. Kvyat 12 G. Russell 13 S. Vettel 14 N. Latifi 15 K. Räikkönen 16 A. Giovinazzi 17 K. Magnussen RET S. Perez RET L. Stroll RET R. Grosjean
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX! A faultless drive in an incident marred race for the seven-time world champion. Max Verstappen crosses the line in second and will gain an extra point for fastest lap. While Red Bull get both cars on the podium, with Alex Albon inheriting third after a power-unit failure for Sergio Perez near the end of the race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 57/57: SAFETY CAR FINAL LAP
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 56/57: SAFETY CAR Mercedes standing by for a pit-stop, but Hamilton does stay out ahead of Verstappen and now Albon, who's inherited third.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 55/57: SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED What a heartbreaking race for Racing Point with both cars now out of the race and a huge chunk of points lost in the constructor's championship. This could mean that the race could finish under the Safety Car, with not enough laps remaining and time for the lapped cars to unlap themselves.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 54/57: Sparks coming from underneath Ricciardo's Renault and it could be something stuck under that car? But worse is the smoke coming from the rear of Perez's Racing Point! And the rear of that car is on fire.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 53/57: 5 LAPS TO GO in what has been quite the hectic race. For those who missed it, the race was red flagged for over an hour after repairs were needed to a barrier on the outside of Turn 3 - following a fireball wreck, with Romain Grosjean's Haas being cut in half upon contact. Thankfully the driver was OK, apart from some minor burns and having been taken to hospital with suspected broken ribs.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 52/57: Sainz is past Gasly at last and into sixth for McLaren! Some handy points coming McLaren's way for the constructor's championship battle.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 51/57: Bottas meanwhile hasn't really made an impression on Ricciardo for eighth. The gap remains at 4.6 seconds.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 50/57: HAM VER PER ALB NOR GAS SAI RIC BOT OCO LEC KVY GIO RUS VET LAT RÄI MAG is the shape of the field. Stroll and Grosjean are out of the race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 49/57: Verstappen sets another fastest lap with a 1:32.014.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 48/57: Gasly still holding onto sixth on those old hard tyres, as the McLaren of Sainz continues to close the gap to just 2 seconds.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 47/57: Verstappen takes an additional pit-stop, as he had enough of an advantage over Perez in third. This will no doubt be for them to go for the fastest lap of the race. But it does kind of concede the race over to the current leader in Hamilton.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 46/57: Vettel now all over the rear of Russell in the Williams in their fight for fourteenth. Magnussen loses another place, as Räikkönen takes seventeenth off the Haas driver.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 45/57: Replays showing Vettel making a move on Magnussen for fifteenth. While we see Norris pass Gasly for fifth, with the AlphaTauri driver yet to make another pit-stop.