Lewis Hamilton won from pole after Romain Grosjean's Haas split in two on the first lap, a crash that halted the race for 80 minutes.
Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix for Mercedes from pole on 29 November 2020. Verstappen and Albon completed the podium for Red Bull after a first-lap crash for Romain Grosjean stopped the race for 80 minutes. Grosjean survived with burns to his hands.
Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position on 29 November 2020, but the race is remembered for the first-lap crash that split Romain Grosjean's Haas in two. Max Verstappen finished second for Red Bull and Alexander Albon third, after a stoppage of 80 minutes. The race was the first of two Grands Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit that month.
Where did the Bahrain race sit in the 2020 season?
This was round fifteen of the 2020 Formula One season, and the sixteenth occasion on which Bahrain had staged a championship race. It opened a back-to-back pair at the Bahrain International Circuit, and the Sakhir Grand Prix followed a week later on a different layout.
Its official title was the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020. It had originally been pencilled in as the season's second round, before the coronavirus pandemic reshaped the calendar. Organisers decided to hold it behind closed doors, although local health workers and their families were allowed to attend.
A first-lap crash that split a car in two ended with the driver climbing out, and Hamilton went on to win.
Why was the race delayed from March?
The original date of 22 March 2020 was lost when the pandemic spread. The race was postponed indefinitely on 13 March, and it was rescheduled for 29 November once the calendar had been reworked. In the gap, an online virtual race took place on the original date, and it was won by the Formula Two driver Guanyu Zhou.
The Bahrain round had been postponed before, in 2011, when that year's race was ultimately cancelled. This time the event went ahead, but authorities allowed no general spectators as cases rose in the country.
Who drove for whom in Bahrain?
Roy Nissany drove the Williams in the first practice session, taking the place of George Russell, while Robert Kubica deputised for Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo. Pirelli supplied its C2, C3 and C4 dry tyres, and it used the opening part of both Friday sessions to test compounds intended for 2021.
The prototype tyres did not win over everyone. Lewis Hamilton was particularly unimpressed, and other drivers were also critical of how the new compounds behaved during the running.
How did practice and qualifying unfold?
Hamilton set the pace in the first Friday session, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, and he also topped the second session with Verstappen next. That second session was red-flagged twice, first for a crash by Alex Albon and then because a dog had strayed onto the circuit.
Albon received a replacement chassis and carried on. The dog left the circuit unharmed through a gap in the marshal posts. Verstappen was quickest in Saturday's third practice session, ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.
Qualifying was stopped in its second stage after Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered a brake failure and came to a halt on the track. Hamilton took pole for the race.
What happened to Grosjean on the first lap?
On the first lap, Grosjean touched the AlphaTauri driven by Daniil Kvyat on the straight after turn three. His Haas ricocheted into the trackside barrier while travelling at 192 km/h (119 mph). Forces at impact were estimated at 67 g, and the car broke apart and caught fire at once.
The impact wedged the front half of the car into the barrier, and the rear half was torn away. The FIA later found that the fuel tank's inspection hatch had been dislodged and that the fuel supply connection had been ripped from the tank, letting a large amount of fuel escape into the fire.
Grosjean spent roughly 28 seconds in the flames while he climbed around the barrier to free himself. Alan van der Merwe, who drove the medical car, and the medical delegate Ian Roberts were first to him. The halo protected his head and body from the barrier, and Roberts reported that the helmet had kept smoke out of his lungs.
After treatment at the trackside medical centre, Grosjean was airlifted to the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital. He had second-degree burns to his hands but no broken bones. When footage showed him sitting in the medical car, the drivers and teams applauded in the pit lane.
How did the race restart and develop?
The race was suspended for 80 minutes. Debris was cleared, and the damaged barrier was rebuilt using concrete blocks. It restarted at 18:35 local time, with the drivers lining up in the order in which they had crossed the safety car line on the first lap.
The restart was not clean. Kvyat and Lance Stroll collided at turn eight, and Stroll's car was flipped upside down, although he was unhurt. Kvyat received a ten-second time penalty, and during the resulting safety car period Bottas picked up a puncture and had to pit for new tyres.
The safety car period ended on the ninth lap, and Hamilton pulled clear of the rest of the field. On the nineteenth lap he committed to a two-stop strategy, while Verstappen and Perez moved to hard tyres for a one-stop plan.
Why did the late safety car matter?
On lap 54, Perez's engine failed after turn 10 and caught fire, which brought out a double-yellow caution in that zone. A marshal then ran across the track carrying a large fire extinguisher, without permission from race control. A full safety car followed and stayed out until the chequered flag.
Lando Norris, who was passing the scene, avoided the marshal and later said he was the bravest man he had ever seen. Race director Michael Masi confirmed the marshal had acted against instructions, but he defended the action as instinctive given the earlier Grosjean fire.
The race finished under caution, which gave the closing laps a strange shape. Perez's retirement helped Albon into the final podium place, and Albon became the first Asian driver with more than one podium to his name.
How did the race finish?
Hamilton won from pole, his eleventh victory of the 2020 season, with Verstappen second and Albon third. The two McLaren drivers filled fourth and fifth, which moved their team above Racing Point into third in the constructors' standings. Those results came after the long stoppage and the safety car period that followed.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | From pole; eleventh win of 2020 |
| Second | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Finished behind Hamilton |
| Third | Alexander Albon | Red Bull | First Asian driver with more than one podium |
| Fourth and fifth | Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr | McLaren | Lifted McLaren to third in the constructors |
| Seventh | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | Seventh, behind Pierre Gasly; took fourth in the standings from Perez |
| Retired | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | Engine failure and fire on lap 54 |
Perez's retirement cost him fourth place in the drivers' table, which went to Ricciardo.
What did the crash change for the sport?
The crash led to criticism of how the broadcaster used replays, with Ricciardo being highly critical of the repeated footage. Formula One Management and Haas team boss Guenther Steiner both defended the decision to show it, while Toto Wolff said that had the injuries been more serious, Mercedes would have considered withdrawing its cars.
Sebastian Vettel, then a senior figure in the drivers' association, raised concerns about the collapse of the guardrail, even though the barrier was built to give way in a controlled manner and soak up energy. The FIA gave both marshals the President's medal for their bravery and quick reaction.
Grosjean released a video from hospital in which he credited the halo, a device he had criticised in the past. He attended the next race, at Sakhir, where he thanked his rescuers. In March 2021 the FIA published its investigation, which found that the fire was caused by the fuel supply connection separating from the safety bladder, and that the driver safety systems had worked as expected.