Racing Point’s Sergio Perez came back from a first lap crash to win the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix comfortably over Renault’s Esteban Ocon in second and Perez’s Racing Point teammate, Lance Stroll in third. It was the first-ever Formula One victory for Perez.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and George Russell – sitting in for Covid-19-stricken Lewis Hamilton – locked out the first row with Bottas as the pole-sitter with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc immediately behind them. On the first lap, Perez tried to pass Leclerc but Leclerc hit Perez on the corner, forcing Verstappen to go wide and into the barrier – both Leclerc and Verstappen were knocked out of the race while Perez was forced to pit to change tires and re-entered the race in last place.
On the subsequent re-start, Russell led Bottas and that was how it remained for the next 50 laps while Perez gradually made his way back up through the field. A crash by Williams’ driver Jack Aitken brought out a yellow flag and Mercedes elected to pit both Russell and Bottas leading to a Keystone Kop-like scene where both cars were stacked up in the pit lane and Bottas’ tires were mistakenly put on Russell’s car and he was released before Bottas entered, the mistake was discovered and – 27 seconds later – Bottas was fitted with old, hard tires on his car, essentially sealing his race fate. Russell had to return to the pit for the correct tire and re-entered the race in fourth place behind Perez, Ocon and Stroll.
While Bottas was doomed on his old, hard tires, Russell still had a chance to win the race and was making up ground and passed Bottas, Stroll and Ocon until suffering a tire puncture on his rear left tire on Lap 78 that forced him to pit and dropped into 15th place and eventually finished in ninth place behind Bottas.
Perez went on to win by a comfortable margin over Ocon and Stroll for his first Formula One victory.
2020 Sakhir Grand Prix Top 10
1] Sergio Pérez Racing Point
2] Esteban Ocon Renault
3] Lance Stroll Racing Point
4] Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren
5] Daniel Ricciardo Renault
6] Alexander Albon Red Bull
7] Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri
8] Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
9] George Russell Mercedes
10] Lando Norris McLaren