Lewis Hamilton won the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix for Mercedes ahead of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.
| Pos | # | Driver | Car | Laps | Time/gap | Difference | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 56 | 1hr 32m 03.897s | ||
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 56 | 0.745 | 0.745 | |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 56 | 37.383 | 36.638 | |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 56 | 46.466 | 9.083 | |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 56 | 52.047 | 5.581 | |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 56 | 59.090 | 7.043 | |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 56 | 66.004 | 6.914 | |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 56 | 67.100 | 1.096 | |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 56 | 85.692 | 18.592 | |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 56 | 86.713 | 1.021 | |
| 11 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 56 | 88.864 | 2.151 | |
| 12 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 55 | 1 lap | 1 lap | |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 55 | 1 lap | 10.700 | |
| 14 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 55 | 1 lap | 1.859 | |
| 15 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 55 | 1 lap | 10.585 | |
| 16 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 55 | 1 lap | 48.265 | |
| 17 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 52 | 4 laps | 3 laps | |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 51 | 5 laps | 1 lap | |
| Not classified | |||||||
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 32 | 24 laps | 19 laps | Brakes | |
| 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 0 | 56 laps | 32 laps | Accident | |
Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas
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2021 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Why one driver says there’s no easy solution to F1’s ‘messy’ track limits problem
- Verstappen: Lost win in Bahrain “is not going to matter” if we have fastest car
- The classic rivalry for ‘best of the rest’ and six more Imola talking points
- Tsunoda surprised to make bigger impact in Europe than Japan after debut
- Ocon: We need to extract the maximum from the car to score points
Jere (@jerejj)
28th March 2021, 17:44
Many good things in this race. Hopefully, the entire season would be similar, although I doubt it.
medman (@medman)
28th March 2021, 17:44
They try to cripple the Mercs, Lewis is having none of it.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
28th March 2021, 17:45
Gosh. Verstappen and RB showing they’re not quite used to this front running thing. Naive strategy, and Verstappen not smart to do his major overtake when there was a lapped car next to them, going wide was inevitable. Well done Hamilton… this could be good
Ki Chi (@kichi-leung)
28th March 2021, 17:48
Shades of Hungary 2019. Also Max on pole but did not go on to win!
Mauro (@)
28th March 2021, 17:45
“Leave it to me Bono”
Lewis Hamilton
That defines the race
DeanR (@deanr)
28th March 2021, 17:47
BOOM!!!
Blaize Falconberger (@)
28th March 2021, 17:45
Juicy end to the race…. More of this please…
DeanR (@deanr)
28th March 2021, 17:46
What a cracker for a season opener! GET IN THERE LEWIS!!!! Kudos to Max. What a fight we are going to see.
Dom (@3dom)
28th March 2021, 17:47
What a race! Didn’t expect that end battle to go on for so long. Thought Verstappen was nailed on for the win after the last pit stops. Exceptional drive by both him and Hamilton. Really looking forward to them dining it out for the rest of the season! Now time to catch my breath! Phew!
slowmo (@slowmo)
28th March 2021, 17:48
Great race, outstanding drive by Hamilton and Verstappen showed maturity obeying the team instruction when he passed off track. Unlucky for Verstappen but he will get a win soon given the small pace advantage of the Red Bull.
I was going to lambast Bottas but he did have a terrible pit stop that wrecked any slim chance he had of finishing higher. The midfield looks immense this year and well done to Norris.
Paulo Gomes
28th March 2021, 17:49
so Hamilton can use beyond the track, but Max can´t … very clear rules !
Pp
28th March 2021, 17:56
+1
DeanR (@deanr)
28th March 2021, 17:56
Wah wah wah wah. Just appreciate genius when you see it. Both Lewis and Max were awesome today. The Wiley experience of Lewis won out. He may not next time. Deal with it.
Klon (@)
28th March 2021, 18:12
Actually, he will. Today is the closest the WDC will be all season.
ChrisVB
28th March 2021, 17:57
Indeed, when he went for his second set of hard tyres, Hamilton was shown going of track like 4 times. No problem apparently.
slowmo (@slowmo)
28th March 2021, 18:09
Well it wasn’t until the stewards said it was and then he wasn’t the one who ran wide. Maybe Red Bull shouldn’t have whined about it earlier in the race and that move would have stuck.
Dom (@3dom)
28th March 2021, 18:10
The stewards said the were policing track limits at turn 4 during qualifying and not during the race. Then they changed their minds mid race. Several drivers were exceeding track limits until that point but were instructed not to mid-race. But it is a completely different thing to pass a car when you’re off the track. Overtaking off the track has always been prohibited!
ChrisVB
28th March 2021, 18:43
Ok, I just don’t understand why track limits shouldn’t always be respected.
When I posted, I hadn’t seen the full race yet.
ian dearing
28th March 2021, 19:01
So you are saying Max never once went outside of 4 other than when he overtook?
Nelson
28th March 2021, 21:47
Max? Max Vercrashman had the best car, was in his best days, but failed, again. And again, again, again, forever! He’s not the racer you think he is! One among several.
jlb
28th March 2021, 17:49
rob
Blazzz (@blazzz)
28th March 2021, 17:49
Am I the only one who was reminded of the duel in the desert in 2014? Rosberg with the faster tyres, chasing Hamilton on the harder compound. If Max wants this championship, he will have to take it from Hamilton. But today, Hamilton put some manners on the wonder boy.
LB (@burden93)
28th March 2021, 17:50
F1 was the real winner today. We’ve waited a long time for a fight like that. You can’t help but feel Red Bull let this get away, they need to maximise the points while they have an advantage. Mercedes and Hamilton know how to maximise the result
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
28th March 2021, 17:51
I think Perez has already proven his worth. Where Albon would have been stuck in the traffic, Sergio just got on with it and made decisive moves to carve through the field. Hopefully he’ll have a more normal weekend next time out. I expect he’ll finish ahead of Valterri more often than not.
J_Olivier
28th March 2021, 17:57
Yes, his race already looked better than most Gasly and Albon’s races. He was able to overtake and take advantage of the pace of the car, something they failed to do most of the time.
lorrydriver1
28th March 2021, 18:05
You guys are jokers..Perez in a race winning car overtaking Alpine and Alfas is no achievement in Bahrain with the multiple DRS zones. Watch the next quali..If as expected he missed the Q3 cut again, then what? you cant be 1.3 sec behind Max every single FP session and expect to keep your drive..
David BR (@david-br)
28th March 2021, 17:58
@tommy-c It’s a good question to watch over the eason. Perez being slower in quali (than Bottas and maybe the McLarens/Ferraris) will put him always back in the first stint when Mercedes can squeeze Max out on his own. Coming back well for the end of the race maybe too late for Max even if Perez does eventually beat Bottas.
Lorrydriver1
28th March 2021, 20:22
Worse Perez may find himself behind the Alpha Tauri or forced to stat every race with the softs because he cant qualify on the mediums. Thats juts not good enough when your team mate is on pole. Did you see Max’s answer when he was asked about getting help from the second red bull? what we need is pace full stop. We juts need to be faster and we will win. Checo fans keep talking about managing tyres and competing with Bottas. The problem is Bottas is sticking to Hami and Max and Checo can’t. He is busy impressing his fans by fighting the Ferraris, Torro Rossos and Astons. Unfortunately that’s not what he was hired to do and remember Red Bull can see all the data that you dont see. A 1.3 second gap in FP is not good enough and he knows it. I noticed the team were very lukewarm about him today. My prediction is that he loses his drive before the end of the season.
TFLB (@tflb)
28th March 2021, 17:53
Strange strategy by RB – Bottas was pretty much out of the picture already so they didn’t need to be as un-proactive as they were.
Also, great drive by Norris, smashed Ricciardo out of the park really. And encouraging to see Alonso looking sharp and competitive. As for Vettel… well… picking up where he left off unfortunately.
Chris (@cgturbo)
28th March 2021, 17:56
So engrossed in the Max / Lewis fight I didn’t notice Yuki overtaking Lance for 9th!
Paul F (@)
28th March 2021, 17:56
Brilliant move by Lewis. Forcing Max wide into a corner he knew they were watching, that’s some good strategic thinking. And all props to Max’s driving as well. I think we’re in for a good seasons’ fight
slowmo (@slowmo)
28th March 2021, 17:59
I think you’ll find Hamilton didn’t force him wide. he left enough space for 1 car so the penalty was a slam dunk if he didn’t give it back.
slowmo (@slowmo)
28th March 2021, 18:11
Worth saying I was wrong and there was no space left but Verstappen was actually in front off track before Hamilton hit the exit curb so he didn’t run him wide. Verstappen just planted it and went for the off track speed.
slowmo (@slowmo)
28th March 2021, 17:58
I wish they’d get rid of the fastest lap extra point, it’ll be a free point for the last Mercedes/Red Bull in most races this year. It has also meant a grand slam is almost impossible now.
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
28th March 2021, 17:58
Congratulations Lewis! And Congratulations Mercedes! You have one hell of a fight on your hands this year!
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
28th March 2021, 18:05
For those who claim Max Verstappen is a better driver than Lewis Hamilton, this should be a wake-up call.
The king simply put manners on the pretender to the throne today.
In a much faster car that got pole position by almost 4/10’s, Max drove the same way he has always driven when the Red Bull wasn’t the class of the field – overtaking off the track.
If he wants to mount a serious title challenge, he will need to be a lot smarter.
If the positions were reversed, there is no way Max would have won the race. Hungary 2019 anyone?
ChrisVB
28th March 2021, 18:53
Yes, of course if somebody else qualifies before Hamilton it’s because the car is faster, not because the other driver is faster or because Hamilton was slower. If Hamilton qualifies 1st, it’s because he’s such a great driver. The fanboy is strong in this one.
Can’t you just say that Hamilton it’s a great driver without taking bad about others drivers?
On a serious note:
I can’t decide yet which car is the fastest this year. Mercedes and Red Bull seem quite equal.
Still surprised by the speed of McLaren.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
28th March 2021, 19:02
Don’t know what you, HAM fans, smoke… but I want it too!
Much faster car?! In race trim, that 0.4sec obviously disappeared! Mercedes was stronger on harder tyres, more raw power too, HAM was able to keep VER more than honest in the opening part of the race etc. When HAM entered the pits in lap14 he was less than 2sec behind VER!!! 4 laps later, VER came out of the pits to find himself +7sec behind HAM. So, yeah, HAM had to actually work a little to get this win, but it wasn’t anything special as he managed to do it by racing harder/slower tyres for most part of the race. If you ask me, it could be very well that it’s Mercedes/HAM the ones to lose these champs, and not RBR/VER.
Bruno
28th March 2021, 19:30
Stop making excuses for Verstapen, mate. He had by far the fatest car all weekend and yet he didn’t win again.
slowmo (@slowmo)
28th March 2021, 20:02
@mg1982 bit early in the year to start with the excuses. The best driver won on the day today.
Alan Torres
28th March 2021, 18:15
poor Alpine they already having Alonso’s curse. haha
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
28th March 2021, 18:56
How? Brake failure and Ocon having a pretty miserable weekend……that’s not Fernando’s fault.
Kerry Maxwell (@kerrymaxwell)
29th March 2021, 3:11
Yes, it’s more like they had a bit of Vettel’s curse.
Pete
28th March 2021, 18:34
I realy enjoyed Mazepins race… Driver of the race!
Donal (@paddypower)
29th March 2021, 10:50
Ha ha, yeah, he’s going to provide some entertainment I think.. The new Maldonado?
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
28th March 2021, 21:46
Boggles the mind why Red Bull didn’t just pit a lap after Hamilton and push their advantage. Did anyone, other that his parents, think that Bottas was any kind of a challenge for the race win? Why would they even consider what Bottas was doing and not just focus on matching Hamilton. RB had the faster car and they were in first. They should have easily controlled the race and beaten Merc about the head and shoulders with their advantage. Instead they tried to be the smartest people on the pit wall and looked like Ferrari from a few years back. A clear waste of points that may come back to haunt them come the end of the season.