A huge crash for Romain Grosjean on the first lap, where he made contact with Daniil Kvyat on the exit of Turn 3, and penetrated the armco barrier, splitting his Haas in half, was the big story of the race. All credit to the FIA, as the survival cell was more or less in tact, the halo and the roll-hoop also survived the impact, which enabled Romain to walk away from one of the biggest crashes seen in the modern era. The minor injuries he has will likely put him out for the remainder of the season but the important thing is is the fact he emerged from one of the worst crashes in recent memory.
After a lengthy red flag to repair the barrier, the race got underway, and there was a safety car after contact between Daniil Kvyat and Lance Stroll sent the Racing Point upside down and out of the race.
From then on it was a relatively uneventful race. Lewis Hamilton dominated proceedings and took the victory, unchallenged pretty much all race. Max Verstappen did what he could to get on top of him through undercuts but was not a match and a slow pitstop put him out of contention for the win, to the point he decided to pit and set the fastest lap.
Sergio Perez had held third more or less all race and looked on course for a podium. However he suffered heartbreak at the end of the race, when his engine let go, forcing him to stop out on track and bringing out the safety car, resulting in the race finishing under a safety car. This could’ve caused a lot of damage to Racing Point’s constructors championship, with both their rivals having two cars in the points.
Perez’s retirement allowed Alexander Albon to take the final podium position, his second in Formula One and a good comeback after his Friday crash. The two McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz finished in fourth and fifth, both with solid drives, ahead of Pierre Gasly who made a 1 stop strategy work to finish in sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo finished in seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who had another miserable race, dropping down the order on the first start and picking up a puncture on the second start. He recovered to eighth but this was another difficult race for the Mercedes driver. Esteban Ocon finished in ninth with Charles Leclerc rounding out the top 10.
Lewis Hamilton’s unassailable lead is now at 131 points. Valtteri Bottas is now starting to look at increasing threat from Max Verstappen, he is only 12 points ahead now. Whilst in the constructors McLaren have now moved ahead of Racing Point for third.
So Lewis Hamilton has taken another win but the major story of the race was Romain Grosjean emerging from a terrible crash with only minor injuries.
Here is the result of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
RaceWeek 