THE BAHRAIN GP IN 3 KEY MOMENTS
1 Halo averts catastrophe in Grosjean shunt
Divisive on its introduction in 2018, the Halo cockpit protection system unequivocally proved its worth during the Bahrain Grand Prix when Romain Grosjean emerged largely unscathed from a fiery accident in which he hit a trackside barrier while travelling at 137mph. The impact force of 53 times the force of gravity sheared the Haas in two as the front half sliced through the barrier.
This was an accident some 30 seconds in the making and with several contributory factors. Several drivers were out of position, either as a result of problems in qualifying (Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll) or poor starts (Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Daniil Kvyat). Bottas would later attribute his slow start to conservatism on the clutch paddle as he tried to avoid wheelspin; the result was that from second on the grid he lost out to Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo on the run down and through Turn 1, then had to slow up as Albon and Ricciardo fought it out ahead of him in Turn 2.
Behind Bottas, Ocon was trying to reassert himself alongside Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly. As Norris lifted to avoid hitting the back of the Mercedes, the others swooped and Gasly cut across the Mclaren’s front wing, breaking it. Norris’s loss of momentum meant his team-mate Sainz, now right behind after starting 15th, had to check up in turn.
Sainz’s sudden deceleration prompted the cars travelling three abreast behind him – Leclerc, Vettel and Stroll – into evasive action and Vettel inadvertently sent Stroll off-track to the right. The result was a concertina effect on the approach to the right-hand kink of Turn 3. As the stragglers then arrived on the scene, Grosjean jinked right in an attempt to pass but failed to notice Kvyat on his right, and it was this impact which sent Grosjean into the barrier after the exit of Turn 3.
The medical car arrived within 10 seconds, and from the initial impact to Grosjean’s extraction fewer than 30 seconds elapsed. New FIA regulations this year have doubled the time the drivers’ suits are expected to resist flames, from 10s to 20s, which may also have contributed to Grosjean escaping with only minor burns to his hands and ankles.
While this is a testament to F1’s safety procedures, room remains for improvement: this was the first of two occasions in which marshals crossed the track. On the second instance – when Pérez’s Racing Point halted with suspected ERS failure – the track was still ‘live’ and the marshal was almost hit by Norris as he crossed.
2 Traffic frustrates Verstappen’s pursuit of victory
Although Max Verstappen and Red Bull made all the usual right noises over the radio on the slow-down lap, saying second place behind Lewis Hamilton was the best they could have expected, later they would admit to misgivings. Both Mercedes cars only had one new set of hard-compound tyres for what was expected to be at least a two-stop race, a potential strategic weakness, and Hamilton was missing a tail-gunner after Bottas suffered a puncture early on.
After a long red-flag hiatus while the barriers were fixed, the grid was reset in the order the cars had passed the second Safety Car line on the original opening lap. That put Hamilton on pole from Verstappen, Pérez, Bottas and Albon, and the newly crowned champion led away from the restart with Verstappen in pursuit, and Pérez and Albon dwindling specks once Bottas stopped for tyres.
Verstappen hung on in the opening stint but what ultimately scuppered him was a long Safety Car period called on the opening lap, when Kvyat tipped Stroll onto his roll hoop at Turn 8. This meant the race didn’t get under way properly until the end of the eighth lap, enabling Hamilton to pit at the end of lap 19 for another set of used mediums without fear of Red Bull attempting an undercut: had Verstappen pitted earlier, he would have emerged in traffic.
After Verstappen stopped for his first set of new hards at the end of lap 20 he was able to match Hamilton’s pace. But when Red Bull went for the undercut at the next round of pitstops, bringing Verstappen in a lap earlier than Hamilton, the rightrear was slow to engage and the stops shook out with Hamilton 3.776s ahead. Without the slow stop Verstappen would have been on Hamilton’s tail.
Verstappen’s third stop might have given him an advantage in the closing laps, but the race was destined to finish behind the Safety Car after Pérez’s car expired, enabling Albon to inherit third.
3 Mclaren consolidates at Renault’s expense
Fourth and fifth place for Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz strengthened Mclaren’s grip on third place in the constructors’ standings as Racing Point lost both its cars and Renault failed to translate its superior qualifying pace into a strong race.
Norris took the restart ahead of Ocon, having got ahead before the red flag, then passed Ricciardo. Renault attempted an undercut by stopping its drivers early, on laps 16 and 17, but Mclaren responded quickly so Norris emerged still ahead. Ricciardo and Ocon spent much of the balance of the race fighting each other.
Sainz, from 13th on the reformed grid, made an unusual strategy of starting on the soft-compound tyres work, stretching them to the end of lap 21. That pitched him out just behind the Renaults and he made short work of both as Ocon appeared to be holding Ricciardo up.
Despite a slow second and final stop for hards on lap 39, Sainz still had the Renaults covered, and both Mclarens overhauled the one-stopping Alphatauri of Pierre Gasly in the closing stages.