2020 Sakhir GP - The great Escape

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The miraculous escape of Grojean from the flame engulfed Haas at the last race, remains the highlight event of this weekend of racing on the outer track of the Bahrain International circuit. The shock of it casts a long shadow into this weekend as Grosjean lay in hospital recovering from burns to his hands. To make things interesting, Seven times driver world champion Lewis Hamilton, is reported to be down with COVID. Hence, he would not be racing this weekend.

While that is a downer for Hamilton fans, these two events has presented excellent opportunities to a number of young drivers. As Haas calls up Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi to stand in for Grosjean. And Mercedes surmoned their junior driver Russell from Williams to stand in for Hamilton. Which in turn has created an opportunity for Williams reserve driver Jack Aitkins.

Mick Schumacher has also been formally named as teammate to Nikita Mazepin in the Haas from 2021.

George Russell is the first ever Mercedes junior driver to drive the Petronas-Mercedes car in a F1 race. An occurrence that would most certainly not go without notice by Ocon and Wehrlien.

This weekend, George Russell shall be standing on the shoulders of giants. If he can bring the car home in the points, it shall be an experience he shall cherish for a long time to come.

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Now we have two new rookies on the grid and an opportunity to have a preview of what Russell can do with a Mercedes under race conditions. And how strong is Latifi who plays the role of lead driver at this race in comparison to the Williams reserve driver Aitkins.

This is a very important weekend where current drivers with juniors in the other car must perform at their best to ensure the juniors are behind. So Bottas would be hoping for a well behaved Russell as he looks to recover from his last two bad races, to secure 2nd in the driver's championship. Hence, l wonder if Mercedes would let Russell race Bottas hard. Which is what l want to see really. Can he win the race on this very golden opportunity. As such a feat would more than certainly be positively formative to his future career with Mercedes. If Bottas lose this race to Russell and loses 2nd in the driver championship to Verstapenn, the Vandoorne effect may well kick in.

Whatever the case, we would get to see this truly gifted F2 champion at his very best this weekend, if he can make it through the first corner trouble free.
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In the meantime, let us wish Hamilton a speedy recovery. The job is done, he could sit out the rest of the season if he really wanted to.

Qualifying is going to be very crowded tomorrow. It could cause the grid for sunday to be very unusual. We may even see crashes in Q1 tomorrow as everyone scramble for position and gap to put out a fast lap.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

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This weekend, George Russell shall be standing on the shoulders of giants. If he can bring the car home in the points, it shall be an experience he shall cherish for a long time to come.

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Well the early signs are certainly looking good for George in FP1 & 2 . Instantly on the pace and it looks like Valteri is already panicking a bit.. very ragged and overdriving.

Qualy is going to be very interesting tomorrow! :)

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Originally Posted by Zico

Well the early signs are certainly looking good for George in FP1 & 2 . Instantly on the pace and it looks like Valteri is already panicking a bit.. very ragged and overdriving.

Qualy is going to be very interesting tomorrow! :)

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Quali is going to to be very chaotic. But the fairytale story that the weekend can produce would be of Russell winning the race. We shall effectively be watching the unvailing of a potential F1 world champion. And Mercedes would find themselves forced to re-evalute their future driver plans.

Can Russell finish on the podium? This is a race for Bottas to win. He has done half then work. He needs a good start off the line at lights out and the win is more or less his. I have a feeling that Verstapenn is going to attack Russell for second. There is a good chance he would be mugged by Verstapenn and Leclerc at lights out. This is his first front row start in F1. If he can put it on the podium, Mercedes would well impressed.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Can Russell finish on the podium? This is a race for Bottas to win. bHe has done half then work. He needs a good start off the line at lights out and the win is more or less his. I have a feeling that Verstapenn is going top attack Russell for second. There is a good chance he would be mugged by Verstapenn and Leclerc at lights out. This his first front row start in F1. If he can piut iot on nthe podium, Mercedes wouyld well impressed.

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Yeah, he really needed pole. Close but no cigar.
He is on the dirty side and is also not exactly renowned for his starts, I fear he could get swallowed up at the start too. He'll have been told to make sure he brings it home and be cautious.. Max and/or possibly Charles could get a sniff, smell blood and send one. P3 might actualy have been better for him.

It is going to be an exciting race to watch today. As we watch to see how Russell would cope with the ferocious attack at the start of the race. And if he could give Bottas a real bother for the race win. Can Russell win the race from the dirty side of the first row of the grid? Verstapenn seemed to have very strong race pace during FP2, can he win it from third?

It would be an even more spectacular outcome if Leclerc can somehow win it from 4th.

And show begins. Let the best man win!

Respect to the drivers as they took the knee even with Hamilton absent. I am very impressed with that.

HAHA, Russell takes the lead of the grand prix as all the dangerous drivers behind him crash out.

Yeah vave! :dork: :sailor:

Russell must be in disbelief right now. So pleased for him. This is awesome. :)

How the Mercedes pitcrew royally f*ck up the race of both of their drivers. There was no need at all to pit.

Wouldn't it be brilliant if Perez win this race.

Unbelievable... I'm stunned. If anything I guess this could really show us what Russells made of. Game on..

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Wouldn't it be brilliant if Perez win this race.

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Yes and no.. :)

This is the worst race Mercedes have ever run. Shambles, sub-standard!

Merc leave Valtteri on crap tires and George gets a slow puncture. This is a disaster for Merc.

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

Merc leave Valtteri on crap tires and George gets a slow puncture. This is a disaster for Merc.

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It was a major F*ck up. Disgracefull!

Congratulation To Segio Perez as he wins a F1 race on his penultimate race before waltzing out of F1. Bravo

Shame Racing Point Shame

8th and 9th. I think Martin Brundle is right - Put the Merc out front and no one can catch it. Put the Merc 5th or worse and that car just cannot fight through the field.

Shame Russell was deprived of his first F1 win by faults not his own.

Great race for Ocon and his first podium in F1.

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

8th and 9th. I think Martin Brundle is right - Put the Merc out front and no one can catch it. Put the Merc 5th or worse and that car just cannot fight through the field.

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Bottas had old tyres, that is what punished him really. The puncture was a real blow for Russell.

Yeah, Bottas just has no luck.

Merc? WTF?
Gutted for Russell but he sure put in a great performance and at least he has 100% secured that Merc seat for the future. He certainly answered any questions anyone had today.

On the other hand I'm delighted for Perez and also Ocon and Stroll.

Great race!

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

Yeah, Bottas just has no luck.

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Rotten luck but he was outperformed by the youngster as well. Poor start and then not having the pace to bother Russell really.

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

Yeah, Bottas just has no luck.

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Bottas couldn’t beat a guy that jumped into the team two days ago. Russell destroyed him. Sick of listening to this bad luck Bottas 2.0, 2.2, 3.0 nonsense. He’s not good enough. Mercedes should drop him and bring Russell to partner Hamilton. Swap him with Russell in Williams.

Delighted for Checo but there was only one driver that deserved to win that race today and it was George. He gets his first points but it should have been his first win. He proved his worth tonight did Russell. And as we all expected, he’s an absolute star.

Bottas was spared the embarrassment of being beaten by the Mercedes junior driver. I think Toto has seen enough to know he has a super star of the future on his books.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

Bottas couldn’t beat a guy that jumped into the team two days ago. Russell destroyed him. Sick of listening to this bad luck Bottas 2.0, 2.2, 3.0 nonsense. He’s not good enough. Mercedes should drop him and bring Russell to partner Hamilton. Swap him with Russell in Williams.

Delighted for Checo but there was only one driver that deserved to win that race today and it was George. He gets his first points but it should have been his first win. He proved his worth tonight did Russell. And as we all expected, he’s an absolute star.

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Spot on!

I agree that he looked poor against Russell I just don't know if Merc would be so bold as to replace Bottas.

Mclaren also did not do a good job. They squandered a chance to win this race as somehow they took Sainz out of a strong podium position. They have allowed Racing point to regain the initiative for 3rd in the constructors championship.

Gutted for Russel, but he showed his hand and will hopefully reap the rewards of that display.

As for Merc, easy to kick them for the race, but it's a very rare thing with them, and at least it happened after the season is pretty much wrapped up. Since Max was out it really didn't hurt Bottas, and we all know some heads will roll over the mess.


As for the race winner, so glad to finally see Checo on the top step of the podium. He's put on some great drives over the years, often based on tire management. And after being denied the last race, fortune shined on him this time. I would have been glad to see him get the podium he was robbed of, but this ended up even better for him. Well done Sergio, you will be missed by many and I hope you find a seat and return.

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

I agree that he looked poor against Russell I just don't know if Merc would be so bold as to replace Bottas.

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I think it would be pressure from senior management that might cause the change. Mercedes want the best drivers in their car. Bottas is a paid driver, so he has to justify his being in the car with respectable performances. He has had a run of bad luck that has made him look bad of late. It certainly did not help that the Mercedes junior has turned up and nearly kicked his arse.

He is 2nd in the drivers championship, but only just. And with a huge margin from Hamilton. Not a strong 2nd in the Rosberg sense. So he is very vulnerable at the moment.

Mercedes doesn't want the best drivers, because 2 alpha males together will give tension and in the end might compromise the standings.

They want one of the best drivers, and someone who is not fast enough to not really compete with that first driver, but fast enough to keep the rest of the field behind.

But bottas often can't keep verstappen off, even with a car that is massively faster. Since they have a huge car advantage, for now that hasn't been a real problem. But if some other team would make a big step forwards, the lack of speed from bottas could become a serious problem.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

Gutted for Russel, but he showed his hand and will hopefully reap the rewards of that display.

As for Merc, easy to kick them for the race, but it's a very rare thing with them, and at least it happened after the season is pretty much wrapped up. Since Max was out it really didn't hurt Bottas, and we all know some heads will roll over the mess.


As for the race winner, so glad to finally see Checo on the top step of the podium. He's put on some great drives over the years, often based on tire management. And after being denied the last race, fortune shined on him this time. I would have been glad to see him get the podium he was robbed of, but this ended up even better for him. Well done Sergio, you will be missed by many and I hope you find a seat and return.

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I very much doubt that heads will roll over this. It was an unforeseen radio failure that caused it, no one was truly to blame. Plus, it's not the way Mercedes operate and as soon as you begin firing people for these sort of errors, everyone will start finger pointing and the blame culture is introduced. You'll eventually end up like Williams over the last 17 years. Mercedes philosophy is to grow as a team and learn from their mistakes. This is by and large why they have been so incredibly successful.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

I very much doubt that heads will roll over this. It was an unforeseen radio failure that caused it, no one was truly to blame. Plus, it's not the way Mercedes operate and as soon as you begin firing people for these sort of errors, everyone will start finger pointing and the blame culture is introduced. You'll eventually end up like Williams over the last 17 years. Mercedes philosophy is to grow as a team and learn from their mistakes. This is by and large why they have been so incredibly successful.

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I would agree with you on this. This is a blip in an otherwise unblemished record of exceptional operational performances. And it happened after the constructors championship has been comfortably won. Besides it show that the Mercedes team are humans. Nonetheless it was very embarassing as it occured under the spotlight of the world on Russell and consequentially on Mercedes. Everyone assumed Mercedes would produce their usual highly efficient operation. The question on everyone's mind was could Russell excell and win the race using that level of team support.

He showed twice that he could win the race and drove a Hamiltonesque type of race. But the Mercedes pitcrew, unfortunately performed to a standard less than what their junior driver was producing. Yes, they would find out what caused the breakdown of communition and why the crew failed to use a manual process to ensure they recovered from the technical setback in a respectable way. And they would fix it for future races to come. It is a learning opportunity and that is what Mercedes does best.

It is interesting that Ocon, another Mercedes junior was second on the podium out of all the Mercedes melt down. And he managed to finish where everyone suggested would be a respectable position for Russell to finish given Bottas' experience. Great advertisement Ocon, super.

So Mercedes suddenly find themselves with two exceptional junior drivers capable of winning races given the Wxx-Series Mercedes F1 racing car. It was embarrassing for Mercedes but there was a silver lining as well.

But why could not Russel continue on the tires he was given even if they were Bottas's, and give Bottas a new set?

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Originally Posted by Sulland

But why could not Russel continue on the tires he was given even if they were Bottas's, and give Bottas a new set?

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Because it´s against rules to use others tyres, Russell should have been DQ from race.

It was last new set for Bottas, there were no others left for him, that´s why they did put old ones back.