17:16
Well that concludes this race in Bahrain. A race that will be overshadowed by the events that took place on the first lap involving Grojean. Hamilton wins yet again and Perez will be gutted about his engine failure while running third. Bottas finishes well down, final positions to follow.
17:14
Hamilton Wins. Max Second. Albon Thrid!!
17:09
Really bad luck there for Perez, we may finish this race behind the safety car.
17:08
Ricciardo gaining on Gasly. OHH NO! Sergio Perez experiences engine failure and is out of the race. WHAT A SHAME!
17:03
Things we love to see, Grojean winning driver of the day with a huge 38%, we wish him all the best. Not much movement amongst the field the last few laps..
17:01
Perez cheekily asks his team if have fallen asleep, he’s been that good today I’m sure he could do it all himself anyways.
16:55
Max currently holds the fastest lap but seems to be dropping off slightly. +4.5 seconds to Hamilton now. Albon says his ‘rears are gone,’ and Verstappen comes in again for one final charge.
16: 50
Norris is gaining fast on Gasly in 5th. Verstappen 3.5s behind Lewis, going to need to push hard towards the end of the race, even by Verstappen standards. Bottas gets past Ocon, the fresher tyres really helped him there.
16:47
Albon is the next car to get past Sainz and puts himself 4th. Very clean overtake, as if he heard what I had to say about Perez. Sainz then comes in for Hard Tyres, who shows his frustration as he comes out behind Leclerc, but he passes him immediately. 16 Laps to go!
16:44
Perez pits then gets past Sainz to take 4th. Currently Order: HAM, VER, NOR PER, SAI, ALB,GAS, BOT, LEC, RIC. Perez is having another fanatic race, surely Red Bull have to be taking a close look at this.
16:39
Hamilton comes in a lap later, much faster stop for the Mercedes. Lewis re-emerges 1st just ahead of Perez who’s having an excellent race in 2nd – but is still to pit for a second time.
16:36
Verstappen comes into the pit, very slow stop there (5.1s). Albon follows Max in. Looking to get the undercut on Lewis
16:33
Bottas sails past Leclerc and up into the points. You don’t get many overtakes easier than that.
16:26
Verstappen currently 5s behind Lewis, Perez a further 16s back. Unless something spectacular happens it’ll be either Lewis or Max on top of the podium today
16:22
Sainz get past Danny Ric. Currently sitting in a Renault sandwich with Ocon the car in front running in 6th.
16:20
Norris goes past Bottas. Norris looks to be on hot form today, Bottas not had a good race weekend at all. Perez holding 3rd means Racing Point currently sit in the best position in that race for 3rd in the Constructors Championship.
16:15
Sainz comes in and re-emerges behind both Renault cars. Max going for a ‘full send’ as he closes the gap to the race leader. Hoping to push Lewis as much as he can on the hard compounds.
16:13
Ricciardo gets past Giovinazzi and Latifi to get up to 12th. Verstappen comes into the pits and comes out 7s behind Hamilton. Interestingly onto the Hard tyres.
16:10
Looks like the race leader Hamilton is about to box, goes onto the medium tyres. He comes back out ahead of Sainz in 3rd. Verstappen’s Move!
16:09
Cars start to come in to the pit. Kvyat serves a 10 second penalty for his collision with Stroll.
16:04
Albon struggling to keep pace with Verstappen who complains about the control of his car.
16:01
Gasly the next car to pass Leclerc who is now really struggling for pace on those tyres. Vettel drops to last, the Ferrari nightmare continues.
16:00
Both Sainz and Ricciardo easy past Leclerc, excellent move from the future Ferrari driver on his future teammate there.
15:58
Bottas on Vettel’s tail as he looks to claw back some of the places he lost.
15:56
Sainz past Ricciardo for 8th, Ricciardo having a poor few laps and a lock-up makes it easy for the McLaren to pass.
15:55
Safety Card Ending: Hamilton away fast, Ocon holds on from Leclerc
15:49
Vettel wasnt very happy with his teammate at all at the restart.
“Not again! He can’t just do that as if i wasn’t there.
“It’s the same as Austria, seriously. We should have crashed, maybe that was the better option.
“All morning we talk about giving room and then you go into the tiniest gap that doesn’t exist and pray the other guy just sees you and moves out of the way.”
15:44
No red flag this time as the cars follow the safety car. Bottas puncture means a tyre change, drops to 16th.
15:42
Stroll is upside down, contact results in a flip, driver okay as he crawled out.
15:40
Lights Out Again! Bottas poor start again, Verstappen up to second. Bottas back past Albon, Ricciardo drops to 10th. Stroll out
15:35
Just a matter of moments before we get racing again. Bottas back up to 4th as the order changes slightly. He has benefited here but they had to take position from the last reference point being the pit exit. Some minor changes all over the grid as the cars come back out on the track
15:29
Easy to forget how dangerous this sport is sometimes. These drivers risk their lives for our entertainment. Some wise words from the Hass Boss
15:28
Feels a little odd to speak about racing again, but here’s the restart order:
HAM =
VER +1
PER +2
ALB =
RIC +1
BOT -4
GAS +1
OCO -1
NOR =
LEC +2
GIO +5
STR +1
SAI +2
MAG +4
VET -4
LAT +4
RAI =
RUS -4
KVY -9
15:25
Race set to restart at 15:35, grid to follow:
15:23
Still no word of a restart time. Likely to be a standing start in current race order.
15:15
Alan van der Merwe, driver of the F1 medical car: “It was a big surprise for us. “I’ve never seen that much fire in 12 years. It took a little while to process what was going on but then Romain started to get out of the car himself, which was amazing. “It was a relief when we finally got back to the medical centre. “Everything worked hand in hand today: the halo, the barriers, the seat belt. Without one of things it could’ve been a different outcome.
15:07
I’m still lost for words. That’s got to be the worst crash I’ve ever seen.
15:04
Incredible bravery and response from the Marshalls their. Medical car there within a matter of moments. I think we can all agree with Dario Franchitti’s comments.
14:55
All the drivers stood absolutely shocked watching the replays on the big screens. They know how bad this was.
14:47
The lastest from team Hass:
14:42
Some major reconstruction work required to that barrier
14:37
“He seems to be OK,” says Haas boss Gunther Steiner. “I want to thank the rescue crews, they were there very quick – the marshals and the FIA people they did a great job. It was scary.
“He got away with it, I think.”
14:35
Bravo
14:31
As someone who always stood for driver safety, Romain has the halo to thank there. A reminder at how dangerous this sport is.
14:30
really impressive how quick the support cars got there. Fantastic effort all round.
14:28
14:26
The Pitlane cannot believe what they have seen. Nor can I
14:23
Unbelievable! The barrier ripped the Hass car in half. WOW
14:22
A scary moment for us all there. Glad to see the driver is okay.
14:20
Cars all over the place moments before Romain Grosjean hit the barrier.
14:18
Lando Norris also picked up a knock on that first lap, damaged front wing as sparks fly from the front of the McLaren
14:17
Grosjean is out of the car. Thank God. That made for some discomforting viewing. Medics straight to the scene. A real demonstration in the modern advances of driver safety.
14:15
FLAMES! Romain Grosjean bursts into flames as his car shot into the barriers. Very strange to see a modern F1 car burst into flames like that.
14:12
LIGHT OUT! Hamilton gets away well. Poor start from Bottas-4. Huge Crash!!! RED FLAG
14:10
The cars begin to make their way round the formation lap
14:09
After a disappointing qualifying Carlos Sainz opted for the Soft Compound Tyres today, could we see a fast start from the Spaniard?
14:07
There’s just something different about a twilight race isn’t there?
14:05
Only 5 minutes to go now.
14:00
The drivers continue to show their support for the anti-racism campaign #WeRaceAsOne
13:59
What a difference a year makes for Ferrari. Leclerc and Vettel started on the front row last year but today are 10 places worse off, with Vettel 11th and Leclerc 12th. Will they have the pace to stay competitive in this race?
13:57
Hamilton speaking about struggles to keep the tyres from overheating. “Could be a 2 stop or even a 3 stop race today.” This should make for many changes of position and tactics could play a big role today.
13:55
Could we see another excellent performance from this man? Gasly happy both cars are in the top 10.
13:54
Not long to go now!!
13:51
Beside the top 4 there is quite a mixed grid today, this could make for some interesting racing in the midfield as all cars have shown signs of pace this weekend.
13:47
Hopefully we are in for a good race today. Albon has a point to prove to keep his seat next year with Perez putting in another excellent qualifying to keep asking why he isn’t yet racing next season. Verstappen spoke of how he aims to start well from third on the right side of the track, while the Renault cars are well placed to push for that 3rd constructors spot.
13:45
With less than half an hour to go till the race, lets have a quick look at todays starting grid.
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:27.264 |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 1:27.553 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:27.678 |
| 4 | 23 | Alexander Albon | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:28.274 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 1:28.322 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RENAULT | 1:28.417 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | RENAULT | 1:28.419 |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 1:28.448 |
| 9 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:28.542 |
| 10 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 1:28.618 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 1:29.149 |
| 12 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:29.165 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 1:29.557 |
| 14 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:31.218 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | |
| 16 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 1:29.491 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 1:29.810 |
| 18 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:30.111 |
| 19 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | HAAS FERRARI | 1:30.138 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:30.182 |
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