Sundaram Ramaswami
While the world steadily prepared to celebrate George Russell as a race winner at the Sakhir Grand Prix, his ill luck in the latter stages meant Sergio Perez became the hero we didn’t need but definitely deserved.
An iconic race which brought many firsts in Formula 1, here are all the numbers from the 2020 Sakhir GP –
GENERAL –
- Last week’s winner, Lewis Hamilton didn’t feature on a race grid for the first time since 2007, a streak of 265 Grands Prix.
- Hamilton’s absence at Sakhir meant it was the first time the eventual world champion that year missed a race weekend since Michael Schumacher sat out the 1994 Italian GP after he was banned for ignoring black flags in the preceding round. A more recent memory would be Fernando Alonso not starting the controversial 2005 US GP after the Michelin tyres were deemed unsafe for the race, although the Spaniard did participate in the practice and qualifying sessions.
- Two drivers made their maiden race starts of the season, Pietro Fittipaldi & Jack Aitken. The last time that occurred mid-season was at the 2010 Singapore GP when Nick Heidfeld and Christian Klien were picked instead of Pedro de la Rosa and Sakon Yamamoto respectively.
- None of the podium finishers started in the top 3 of the starting grid, a first since the 2016 Spanish GP.
- This was the first time a driver starting outside the front two rows won the race at Bahrain.
- The 2020 season has seen two new teams and two new drivers winning a race, the first time since 2009 and 2012 respectively.
- Thirteen different drivers have taken a podium trophy this year, similar to the 2012 F1 season.
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RACING POINT –
- Sergio Perez became the second Mexican to win a Grand Prix after Pedro Rodriguez won the Belgian GP in 1970.
- There were more similarities to that race apart from Mexicans emerging victorious. Just like at Sakhir, three drivers led the race and the winning driver led the last 24 laps.
- Perez has had to wait the longest in an F1 career before securing his maiden race victory – 190 races.
- He also became the only driver in F1 history to win a race after ending the first lap in last position. Nelson Piquet’s effort at the 1987 Mexican GP were quite similar when he was dead last after colliding with Alain Prost on lap 1, yet crossed the chequered flag first. However, victory was handed to Nigel Mansell as the race had been split into two heats and Mansell held a larger time gap.
- Perez will end the season either 4th or 5th in the drivers’ standings and currently has 125 points to his name. His previous best in the drivers’ championship was 7th with 101 points (2017).
- Lance Stroll has stood on the podium on 3 occasions (Azerbaijan 2017, Italy 2020, Sakhir 2020), but has never had the privilege to share the rostrum with a current or former world champion, including Lewis Hamilton.
- Racing Point registered their maiden victory in F1, becoming the 36th team to do so. This was also their first-ever double podium.
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RENAULT –
- Esteban Ocon became the 214th different driver to finish on the podium in F1.
- He also ended a 35-year long wait for Renault, as their last French driver to score a podium finish was Patrick Tambay at the 1985 San Marino GP.
- Ocon’s top-2 finish was Renault’s best race result since Robert Kubica came second at the 2010 Australian GP.
- Daniel Ricciardo scored points for the 10th successive race this season, his longest points-scoring streak since 2016.
McLAREN –
- Carlos Sainz’s P4 finish at Sakhir was his best race result since the 2020 Italian GP, and also his sixth consecutive top 7 finish.
- The Woking-based team are 10 points behind Racing Point in the standings with one race to go.
RED BULL –
- Alex Albon’s sixth-place finish meant Red Bull Racing have now gone past the 5000-points mark in F1.
- Max Verstappen’s first-lap retirement on Sunday was his 5th in F1. The Dutchman has retired in 4 of his 6 races in Bahrain.
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MERCEDES –
- George Russell’s debut race for champions Mercedes ended in tragic fashion, but he earned his first F1 points after 37 long races. The only drivers who took longer were Jonathan Palmer (42) and Nicola Larini (44).
- Russell was on par to become the first driver since Giancarlo Baghetti in 1961 to open his championship points tally in the form of victory. Russell could have also joined the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio who won his debut race for Mercedes in 1954.
- The Brit led 59 laps of the race and is only behind Lewis Hamilton (618) and Valtteri Bottas (189) in terms of laps led in 2020.
- Valtteri Bottas has 16 pole positions in F1, out of which he has won just five. His last victory from pole came at the season-opener in Austria this year.
- The Finn has ended 8th or lower on four occasions this year. Three of those came in the last three races, during which he has collected just 8 points.
- Mercedes accumulated just 7 points on Sunday, their worst race result since the 2012 Brazilian GP when both cars have finished the race.
FERRARI –
- Charles Leclerc’s last race retirement came at the 2020 Italian GP, another race which saw a driver winning for the first time (Pierre Gasly), while Lance Stroll finished third on that occasion as well.
- Ferrari have a 41-point deficit to Renault going into the last race of the season, and will most likely finish 6th in the constructors’ standings, their worst championship result since 1980. The interesting point is they won the championship two years later. Can we dream about 2022 then?
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