F1 Driver Ratings: Bahrain 2020

It was not about the racing or the result at Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix after Romain Grosjean’s first lap crash which saw the Haas driver escape major injury after a horrifying accident.

Lewis Hamilton made it 95 wins with a dominant performance, although Max Verstappen did push him hard at times but ultimately had to settle for second.

It was heart-break for Sergio Perez who suffered a power unit failure with four laps to go, promoting Alexander Albon into third position.

As always, the order below is the finishing order of the Grand Prix.

2020 Bahrain Grand Prix – Sakhir

Lewis Hamilton: 9.5/10

Max Verstappen: 9/10

Alexander Albon: 6.5/10

Lando Norris: 8/10

Carlos Sainz: 9/10

Pierre Gasly: 8/10

Daniel Ricciardo: 7.5/10

Valtteri Bottas: 3.5/10

Esteban Ocon: 7/10

Charles Leclerc: 7.5/10

Daniil Kvyat: 7/10

George Russell: 8/10

Sebastian Vettel: 6.5/10

Nicholas Latifi: 6/10

Kimi Räikkönen: 6.5/10

Antonio Giovinazzi: 5.5/10

Kevin Magnussen: 6/10

RETIRED

Sergio Pérez: 9.5/10

Lance Stroll: 4.5/10

Romain Grosjean: 4/10

Sergio Perez is my driver of the weekend. It was a fine effort in qualifying and his trademark tyre management came to great use in the grand prix.

The Mexican was able to manage the gap to Alexander Albon and pulled out a margin before each pitstop to withstand any undercut threat. His power unit failure was gutting and could prove very costly in the fight for third place in the constructors’ championship.

I have to speak about medical driver Alan van der Merwe and Dr Ian Roberts. We hardly ever notice the medical car but Romain Grosjean’s accident showed exactly why the medical car follows the field on the opening lap.

The imagery of the fire and Grosjean scrambling over the barrier is simply shocking and it still stuns me watching it 24 hours later. To stay composed and not panic in that situation was so difficult but it was necessary to get Grosjean to safety.

Without those procedures and the practice and preparation that goes on behind the scenes which we never speak about, we may have had a very different outcome.