The first race of the Sakhir Grand Prix proved to be a thriller, after an intense battle for the lead saw Yuki Tsunoda pass Nikita Mazepin and take a crucial victory, just fending off Guanyu Zhou who was on fresher tyres, although the Virtuosi had a 5 second penalty. However the battling behind resulted in Zhou having a big enough gap to maintain second.
Nikita Mazepin led most of the race but really struggled on his tyres at the end but he was really aggressive on the defence and is under investigation, just managing to fend off Felipe Drugovich for the final podium spot. Robert Shwartzman finished in fifth ahead of Callum Ilott, who lacked pace and finished in sixth.
Crucially Mick Schumacher managed to work his way from eighteenth to seventh, with fastest lap he maintains his championship gap. Mick Schumacher starts in second place for tomorrow’s race which gives him a good chance in the championship. Reverse grid pole goes to Jehan Daruvala, with the final points positions going to Dan Ticktum and Pedro Piquet.
All 22 cars finished in an action packed race.
Here is the result of the Feature Race round the Bahrain Outer.
RaceWeek 