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.