Mercedes finishes 1,3 and Red Bull 2,5 in first race of the 2021 campaign.
SAKHIR, Bahrain—Trailing Max Verstappen for most of the race, Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a last-minute challenge to hold off the Dutchman to win the Grand Prix of Bahrain Sunday night by seven-tenths of a second. Valtteri Bottas finished in third.
It was the first time in five years that Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, had won the season’s opening race.
The race began with Sergio Perez stalling on the formation lap, which eventually was an electrical issue that the Mexican managed to restart but had to begin the race from the pit lane. Verstappen, following another formation lap because of Perez’s incident, took the early lead of the race–even after Haas F1’s Nikita Mazapin spun out at turn three, which brought out the safety car for the next three laps. Verstappen continued to lead as Pierre Gasly lost his Alpha Tauri’s front wing, resulting in a quick virtual safety car period.
Mercedes expected Verstappen to pit on lap 15, but the Dutchman continued for another three laps but could not widen the gap on Hamilton. When Verstappen finally came into the pits, Hamilton took over the lead but could not shake off Verstappen and had to pit on lap 29, losing his lead again. Verstappen led Hamilton by 18 seconds by the 32nd lap but had to pit for the 2nd and last time, giving the lead back to Hamilton for good.
But Hamilton struggled with grip, and Verstappen, with 16 laps to go, kept creeping closer to the Briton. And only with three laps to go, he came within striking distance. But on his pass of Hamilton, Verstappen went too wide and was cautioned by the race stewards to yield the lead back to Hamilton or risk a penalty. Verstappen cooperated, and Hamilton continued to keep the lead and, eventually, took victory by just seven-tenths of a second.
For Hamilton, it was a relief, but glad that there is someone who can challenge him this season.
Lewis Hamilton: What a difficult race that was. Stopping early, we know was going to be difficult, and Max (Verstappen) has had an amazing performance all weekend. It had to take something special. We suffered in that last stint and having tires at the end of the race, typical, and Max was all over me at the end, and I just about managed to hold him off.
For Verstappen, the disappointment showed, but he knew that there are many more races to run. “It is, of course, a shame,” he said, “But it is a positive because it gives us a fight with them (Mercedes). I think that is great, starting the year like that. Overall, I got to finish the race on a positive.”
Bottas took third, but it wasn’t easy. Lando Norris temporarily took third place before Norris had to pit, and Bottas regained the third position. Norris eventually took fourth overall, with Sergio Perez–after all his earlier issues–ended up a fine fifth in the Red Bull.
Both Ferrari and McLaren took double points as Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh for McLaren, and Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished sixth and eighth, respectively, for the Scuderia. In his first rookie race, Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda took ninth in the Alpha Tauri, while Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten in his Aston Martin.
Besides Mazepin, Fernando Alonso was the only other retirement in the race as his Alpine entry suffered brake issues on lap 32.
Formula 1 now has a three-week break before resuming on April 18 at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola, Italy.
