The story of each driver's Bahrain GP on a weekend that, ultimately, only one story truly mattered after Romain Grosjean's miraculous escape from his lap-one crash. Get well soon, Romain
Tuesday 1 December 2020 19:13, UK
We'll find out in due course whether or not last Sunday was Lewis Hamilton's final appearance of the season, but the Bahrain GP very much showed everything you need to know about how good the sport's seven-time world champion has been this year.
There was no let-up in performance two weeks on from wrapping up that deserved historic crown in Turkey. He qualified on pole by three tenths of a second and then expertly controlled all the different stages of an elongated Sunday, only headed for one lap when he made his first pit stop. "I was flat out the whole way trying to keep them [Red Bull and Max Verstappen at bay]. It's physical," said Hamilton, who managed tyre wear and all the race variables as expertly as we've come to expect.
An 11th win from 15 races might have looked routine to the untrained eye but in those conditions, and on that kind of Sunday, it certainly wasn't. Let's hope the season's top performer can return for one final 2020 showing in Abu Dhabi next week.
Rating out of 10: 9.5
Six second-place finishes from 15 races is a very handy strike rate given Red Bull's pace deficit to Mercedes, but you sense Max Verstappen is getting rather frustrated by that position now - particularly as on most of those occasions he has never really had a chance of catching the leading Mercedes despite getting the maximum out of his Red Bull. Sunday was one of those days.
Verstappen qualified 0.4s behind Hamilton - which was a bit of a surprise considering his fastest time in final practice - and then even after getting past Valtteri Bottas at the start, Red Bull just never had the pace to compete with Hamilton. Verstappen, consistently around 5s off the lead, criticised his team for not being "aggressive" enough with strategy, while an uncharacteristically slow second pit-stop - five seconds instead of the usual two - certainly didn't help. But would Verstappen have won this race? Doubt it.
His 0.6s advantage in qualifying, and half a minute lead over Alex Albon in the race before the late Safety Car says it all about Verstappen's form at the moment. He just needs a bit more from his car to make the difference.
Rating out of 10: 9
Yes, Alex Albon wouldn't have finished on the podium here for just the second time in F1 without the cruel late engine fire that stopped Sergio Perez, but he'll certainly take it. And why not? After all, he lost out on even greater results through little, if any, fault of his own in Brazil last year and Austria this when spun around by Lewis Hamilton.
What's for sure is that the 24-year-old needed this - and you'd suspect it will certainly be noted by his Red Bull bosses that his weekend didn't go into a tailspin when he crashed heavily in second practice and lost most of that key session.
Fourth on the grid, albeit 0.6s behind team-mate Verstappen, was a solid recovery and he followed that up with an error-free Sunday, even if Perez did seem to have the measure of him until that sudden lap-54 turnaround presented him with third.
Rating out of 10: 7.5
Lando Norris has understandably struggled to hit the heights of early 2020 - scoring your first F1 podium in the first race of the season will do that - but Bahrain offered a very welcome boost for the young Brit. This was his second best result of the season, one he wouldn't have expected given a slightly below-par qualifying saw him line up on the grid in ninth.
He made up for that, and then some, on Sunday - aided by a great start as he made his way up to fifth after five laps. He controlled his pace from there, rarely threatening those above but never in danger from behind. Nicely done, Lando - who is now ahead of his team-mate in the standings and has an outside shot at fourth.
Rating out of 10: 8.5
Carlos Sainz is finishing his two-year McLaren stint very strongly and was fifth for the third time in the last five races here, despite what had appeared a weekend-wrecking setback in qualifying when his car's rear brakes failed and spun him out at the start of Q2.
He qualified 15th on the grid but, with little choice but to attack from there with an out-of-position car that had looked quick through practice, started on the soft tyres - and, wow, did it pay off. Into the points by the fifth lap, Sainz was third when he eventually pitted on lap 21 after an impressive length stint on that supposedly brittle compound. Returning in 11th, he soon picked off the Renaults and ran strongly on his medium-hard finishing strategy to end up on team-mate Norris' tail.
Rating out of 10: 9
Pierre Gasly has proved many times this season that when given a good car, he can deliver strong results - and he did just that in Bahrain as AlphaTauri returned to the upper-midfield after a difficult wet Turkey. Gasly impressively out-qualified both McLarens and his team-mate by over a tenth to set himself nicely in the grid, and then displayed better race pace than the Renaults to shine on Sunday.
That's now four top-six finishes in eight races for Gasly - who only had three in his previous 32 for Red Bull's sister team. One of the stars of F1 2020.
Rating out of 10: 8.5
Narrowly back into fourth in the Drivers' Championship courtesy of Perez's misfortune, but it may be difficult for Daniel Ricciardo to stay there on the evidence of the Bahrain GP. Outpaced by both their key rivals, Racing Point and McLaren, Ricciardo still finished one place lower than he qualified despite the troubles for Perez and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.
A difficult second start, when he dropped from sixth to ninth, set him back and then he found himself racing team-mate Esteban Ocon after his early first stop. He was eventually released ahead of the Frenchman but was not able to make up further ground up the field from there.
Rating out of 10: 7.5
After a miserable 14th in Turkey, Valtteri Bottas must have thought the only way is up for F1 2020's final three races. But Bottas was off the pace all weekend in Bahrain, while an early forced pit-stop for a puncture - having already lost two places at the start - dropped him back into the pack and effectively ended his hopes of beating the fast midfield runners let alone his rivals up front.
Couple Hamilton's pace advantage over Bottas with unlucky Sundays like this, and it's no wonder that the points gap is what it is. The Finn has a big chance to capitalise this weekend, though, with Hamilton absent.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
The best performance news from Esteban Ocon's Bahrain was his best qualifying showing in the dry relative to team-mate Ricciardo all season. The 0.002s deficit to Renault's outgoing team leader suggests the Frenchman is getting more confident with the RS20, which is still a pertinent factor late in this season with the current cars carried over to a large extent to 2021.
Ocon overtook Ricciardo at the lap-two restart to run sixth but was passed back after the first stops and then steadily lost touch. "We have plenty to review from the race as the McLarens were a bit quicker than us," said the Frenchman heading towards Bahrain Two - and that debut for F1 on the short 'Outer' track layout.
Rating out of 10: 7
Charles Leclerc, who was out-qualified by Sebastian Vettel but lunged past his team-mate at the restart, crept into the points on Sunday thanks to Perez's late retirement, which was the most Ferrari deserved on a weekend where they were the seventh-fastest team.
After losing a race win thanks to reliability issues of his own in Bahrain in 2019, Leclerc - only four points off fourth in the championship - won't have too much sympathy.
Rating out of 10: 7
Eleventh and zero points was a disappointing end to what up until Sunday had been a promising weekend for Daniil Kvyat. Unlucky at the original start and his initial radio anger towards Romain Grosjean quickly subsided when he saw the scale of the Frenchman's accident. On the restart, he was found at fault for the Turn Eight clash that flipped Lance Stroll's Racing Point upside down. He didn't agree with the stewards' judgement on that nor the costly 10-second penalty that compromised his race further.
Rating out of 10: 6
"It's not a point but it is the maximum that we could do," said George Russell, who will surely end that points drought soon with just a little more luck, and a little more pace from his Williams car. 0.9s ahead of his team-mate in qualifying - where he made it through to Q2 for the ninth time this season - before beating his rivals, and a four-time world champion, in the race, Russell continues to shine.
Rating out of 10: 8
Thirteenth place was back to the bad old ways of 2020 for Sebastian Vettel, after that ray of podium light in Istanbul. Outqualified Leclerc again, but was overtaken by his team-mate at the start - a move down the inside he definitely wasn't impressed by - and then described his SF1000 as "undriveable" in the opening stint. Near the back of the field, things improved a little from there after his first stop but not enough for points.
Rating out of 10: 6
Beating both Alfa Romeos and Kevin Magnussen's Haas from last on the grid marked a good evening's work for Nicholas Latifi, although he slipped behind Russell at the second restart despite initially getting ahead. Qualifying closer to Russell will be the target for this weekend and beyond.
Rating out of 10: 7
Kimi Raikkonen was optimistic about his chances on Sunday despite starting down in 17th, but "sadly my race was compromised early on as I got damage in both starts." It was a long evening after that.
Rating out of 10: 6
16th place doesn't quite do Antonio Giovinazzi justice. The Italian, who had a great launch at the start, was running up in 12th before Alfa Romeo unsuccessfully gambled with a stop during the late Safety Car period.
Rating out of 10: 7
Kevin Magnussen was understandably thinking of just one thing after the Bahrain GP: his team-mate. "To see him survive that is frankly a miracle," said K-Mag, who started a place ahead of Grosjean on the grid in 18th. "I'm just happy that we've still got Romain."
Rating out of 10: 6
Would have thoroughly deserved back-to-back podiums and one hand on fourth in the Drivers' Championship after his form through the weekend, but it ultimately wasn't to be for Sergio Perez this time thanks to that rare yet cruel Mercedes engine fault. But as Sergio said himself, there were bigger things to focus on, and indeed be thankful for, in Bahrain as he left the track on Sunday night.
Rating out of 10: 9.5
Since pitting from the lead at the Turkish GP, things really haven't gone to plan for Lance Stroll. Bahrain was the opposite of a bounce-back weekend as he qualified 13th - not helped by his team supposedly fitting the wrong tyres in Q2 - while his race was over after the restart after his Racing Point was flipped over following a collision with Kvyat.
Rating out of 10: 5.5
There's no review to make or score to give here, the only thing that mattered from Romain Grosjean's weekend was his emergence from those frightening flames and the swift confirmation that he had escaped serious injury. Get well soon, Romain.
