F1: Hamilton beats Verstappen to a thrilling finish at Bahrain

March 28, 2021 March 28, 2021

The 2021 season was finally under way with the Bahrain GP, only the third time the country has hosted the opener, with Fernando Alonso winning the previous two. Track conditions were a lot colder than in qualifying, and the wind was gusting up around 16km/h, so an exciting race was expected.

Sebastian Vettel’s race was going to be difficult, after it was deemed he didn’t slow down for the yellow flags in qualifying, both from Mazepin’s spin and Sainz retirement. As a result, he was pushed back five places to 20th on the grid.

Sir Lewis Hamilton was aiming for his 96th career win, whereas Max Verstappen was hoping to take his 11th. The grid lined up with 10 previous race victors, and four previous champions.

There was a delayed start, leading to an extra formation lap, after Sergio Perez experienced electronic difficulties, and had to start from the pit lane. The Red Bull driver had to have his steering wheel changed, as did Honda compatriot Pierre Gasly, due to electronic abnormalities.

As the late great Murray Walker would say, “five lights and its go, go, go”. Hamilton and Verstappen both made great starts, with Max defending into Turn 1. The rookie Nikita Mazepin, driving for Haas, lost the back through Turn 2 and crashed into the barrier and out of the race, bringing out the new Aston Martin Vantage safety car. Valtteri Bottas lost third to Monegasque-racer Charles Leclerc.

After the restart, where Verstappen held the field back almost until the line, it was the same again, with the Dutchman holding off Hamilton. Gasly, after a brave manoeuvre round the outside of Turn 4, lost his front wing, and the other Haas driver of Mick Schumacher spun, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.

Verstappen was informed of minor differential issues, which prevented him putting the power down cleanly, but he pulled away from Hamilton on the restart, and quickly opened a two second lead.

Bottas got by Leclerc into what would be a lonely third place. Perez, who started last and pitted for mediums under the safety car, put the newer rubber to good use, making up six positions by lap nine.

Fernando Alonso, the second oldest driver on the grid, was the first to pit, trying to undercut Lance Stroll, with most of the other racers pitting soon after. Mercedes, trying a different strategy to Red Bull, put Hamilton on the hard compound tyre, as they had no new Mediums left, and it seemingly worked, with the Brit going 2.9 seconds faster on his out lap.

After the first pit stop sequence, Hamilton led Verstappen, Bottas, Perez and Norris to make up the top five, with Vettel, as high as fifth briefly, dropping to 17th as Aston Martin pushed for a one stop strategy.

In the second sequence, Hamilton came in with 28 laps remaining for a new set of hards due to their quick wear. Bottas entered the pit lane soon after, but was held up as his front right wheel got stuck, and came out in third. Unfortunately for Alpine, Alonso retired on lap 34 from 10th place.

The race at the front started to heat up in the last 10 laps, as Verstappen, on new hard tyres, closed on the leader Hamilton, with Bottas a distant third, driving his own race for the bottom step of the podium.

Vettel made a strange error, locking up and running into the back of Esterban Ocon after the Alpine driver passed the Aston Martin driver into Turn 1. Vettel would be given a 10-second penalty for this error.

Verstappen caught the Mercedes on lap 53, lined it up and passed him round the outside of Turn 4, but, due to a possible track limits infringement, had to give the place back, with that being how they finished.

Bottas pitted for new tyres and succeeded in getting the fastest lap, with Perez finishing his first race with Red Bull in fifth place behing Lando Norris, not a bad result bearing in mind where he started.