Sergio Perez came through from a first-lap spin to win the first and only race on the Outer Circuit, giving Racing Point its only victory as a constructor.
Sergio Perez won the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix for Racing Point at the Bahrain International Circuit on 6 December 2020. Esteban Ocon was second for Renault and Lance Stroll third for Racing Point. It was Perez's first Formula One victory, and it came after George Russell's pit error and puncture.
Sergio Perez won the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix on 6 December 2020, giving Racing Point the only win in its history. The race was run on the Outer Circuit of the Bahrain International Circuit, a layout that has been used for a Grand Prix only once. Perez recovered from an early spin, inherited the lead on lap 64 and finished ahead of Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll.
Why was the Sakhir Grand Prix held?
The race was added to the calendar in August 2020, after the pandemic had forced most of the original fixtures to be postponed or cancelled. It was staged one week after the Bahrain Grand Prix at the same venue, and it ran behind closed doors.
Authorities made one exception to the closed doors. Local health workers and their families were given guest passes as thanks for their work during the outbreak. The race also carried a new name, the Rolex-sponsored Sakhir Grand Prix, and it marked the first running of an event under that title.
Two races in succession at the same venue was unusual for the sport, and the second one used a completely different track. That contrast was one reason the weekend drew attention, because teams had to adapt their set-ups within a few days.
A first-lap collision, a Mercedes pit mix-up and a late charge handed Racing Point its one and only win.
What made the Outer Circuit different?
The Outer Circuit was 3.543 km (2.202 mi) long, compared with 5.412 km (3.363 mi) for the Grand Prix layout used a week earlier. Drivers needed 87 laps to pass the 305 km (190 mi) minimum distance, and every lap in every session was completed in under one minute.
Drivers reacted strongly once they had completed Friday practice. Lando Norris compared the high-speed character of the track with the Thruxton circuit in the United Kingdom, while George Russell expected it to be bonkers. Carlos Sainz Jr. felt the layout came close to being unsafe, and Sebastian Vettel called it too short. Charles Leclerc said it took him back to his karting days.
The biggest worry was qualifying, when cars could be close together on a track where closing speeds varied hugely. Sainz and Max Verstappen both raised the issue, but the FIA made clear that its impeding rules would still apply, so any driver who obstructed a rival could expect a penalty.
Who was missing from the grid?
Lewis Hamilton missed the race after testing positive for COVID-19 the week before, the first Grand Prix he had not started since his 2007 debut. Romain Grosjean was also absent following his heavy crash in Bahrain, and Pietro Fittipaldi took his seat at Haas for the weekend.
George Russell moved into Hamilton's Mercedes, while Jack Aitken, who had been racing in Formula 2, was promoted to Williams for his Formula One debut. Aitken has not made another Grand Prix start, so this remains his only appearance at that level. Pirelli supplied its C2, C3 and C4 dry tyres, which sit in the middle range of compound hardness.
How fast was pole position?
Valtteri Bottas took pole with 53.377 seconds, the shortest pole lap in Formula One history. That eclipsed the old mark of 58.790 seconds, which Niki Lauda had recorded at the 1974 French Grand Prix. Russell was second in his first qualifying session for Mercedes, only 0.026 seconds behind.
Bottas did not improve on his second run, yet the time was enough. Lando Norris was sent to the back for exceeding his power unit allowance, and Pietro Fittipaldi was also required to start from the back, though he would have qualified last in any case.
Practice had hinted at Mercedes pace. Russell had topped both Friday sessions, while Verstappen was fastest in Saturday's session, and the grid order reflected the strength of the leading cars on a track that was still changing.
How did the race start?
Russell got away cleanly and led into the first corner, with Bottas second. Behind them, Leclerc, Verstappen and Perez fought for third, and the first-lap contact between Leclerc and Perez brought out the safety car. Both Leclerc and Verstappen were out of the race before the field had settled.
Leclerc braked late into turn four and clipped Perez, which sent the Racing Point driver spinning and damaged the front-left suspension of Leclerc's Ferrari. Verstappen took the wide line to avoid the trouble, but he could not stop his car hitting the barrier on the outside of the corner. The safety car followed, and both drivers retired.
Perez continued after a tyre change, but he dropped to the back of the field. Leclerc was later handed a three-place grid penalty for the Abu Dhabi race because of his part in the incident, a sanction that would matter in the final rounds of the season.
How did the Mercedes pit mix-up change the race?
On lap 63 Mercedes called both cars in together, at the same moment that a virtual safety car was upgraded to a full one. Confusion over which tyre crew should work first meant that Russell left the pits on Bottas's front tyres, while Bottas then waited almost half a minute before leaving on the set he had arrived with.
Russell had to make another stop the following lap to get onto tyres of his own. The errors dropped Bottas to fourth and Russell to fifth, behind Perez, Ocon and Stroll. Mercedes put the confusion down to a radio failure, and the stewards concluded that a monetary fine was the right punishment.
The FIA later changed the tyre usage rules for 2021, so drivers and teams would no longer risk disqualification for fitting the wrong tyres to a car. The episode had shown how a single crossed wire in the pit lane could decide a result.
How did Russell fight back?
Once the safety car ended on lap 69, Russell's fresher tyres allowed him to pass Bottas, Stroll and Ocon by lap 73, when he took second behind Perez. A rear-left puncture on lap 78 sent him in again, and he rejoined in 14th before recovering to ninth.
That ninth place gave Russell his first World Drivers' Championship points, plus a point for the fastest lap. His fastest lap of 55.404 seconds beat the record for the quickest fastest lap in a race, the previous best of 1:00.00, which Jody Scheckter had posted at the 1974 French Grand Prix.
How did Perez win the race?
Perez inherited the lead on lap 64, when Russell's pit stop error and puncture took him out of the battle at the front. From there Perez controlled the race and won for Racing Point, the first victory of a Formula One career that had spanned 190 races.
Perez claimed afterwards that he might have kept Russell at bay before the Briton's stop for the puncture, and he argued that Racing Point had won on merit. Russell, for his part, said he believed he had the pace to win the race outright.
The result strengthened the calls for Perez to be given a Red Bull seat for 2021, in place of Alexander Albon. Perez also became the first Mexican driver to win a race since Pedro Rodriguez took the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.
Who finished on the podium and why did it matter?
Perez won, with Ocon second for Renault and Stroll third, giving Racing Point its only double podium as a constructor. Ocon's result was his maiden Formula One podium, and it came in a race that had seen Mercedes errors and several retirements.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pole | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 53.377 seconds, the shortest pole lap in the sport |
| Winner | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | First Formula One win, after 190 races |
| Second | Esteban Ocon | Renault | Maiden Formula One podium |
| Third | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | Most recent podium for a Canadian driver |
| Ninth | George Russell | Mercedes | First points, plus a point for the fastest lap |
| Retired | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | Oil leak on lap 54, having started 13th |
The double podium lifted Racing Point to 40 points and back into third in the constructors' table, a place it had lost to McLaren at the previous round. The last British constructor to win had been Lotus, at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.
What did the result mean for 2021?
The result boosted Perez's case for a Red Bull drive, and it prompted a tyre rule change for the following season. Russell's recovery impressed Mercedes with how he handled the pressure of the weekend, while Bottas faced criticism from the media and from his own team after being outpaced by his team-mate.
Ricciardo was frustrated, feeling that his team had given Racing Point the chance to win through strategic errors. Commentators praised Stroll's composure, and Damon Hill said he had driven beautifully, which summed up the view of a driver who had made the most of a difficult day.