Emotional Rollercoaster! Sakhir GP 2020

Lets first go back to Monday last week. It was announced that Lewis Hamilton had tested positive for Covid-19. This made the next few days really fun for any press officer or journalist! The amount of news and editorial pieces they probably had to create must have been insane. Me I just set back and waited for the news that everyone was hoping for...that George Russell would sub in for Lewis. Low and behold it came true! Probably, the only time you will see me root for a Mercedes to win a race ever!

Now, there where a couple of other substitute drivers on the grid this weekend. With Jack Aitken in for Russell at Williams, and Pietro Fittipaldi in for Romain Grosjean at Haas.

The race was also looking to be something of a wild one as it is the first time F1 had been around a sorta oval configuration. As far as I know I believe it was the first time, not a 100% on that. Go look it up if you really want to know the answer to that question. It's called Google. Which made for a under 1 minute lap time.

Now, going into the weekend. We all knew Russell would be quick, we also knew it might take him sometime to really get on par with Bottas. Who has been in that car all year and well on pace with Lewis. But, Russell did not disappoint and put it to Bottas and Verstappen in both FP1 and FP2. He also came within 0.0026 of a second to Bottas in Q3 for pole position. All while wearing one size smaller shoe. You try driving a car with a smaller shoe on, just walking in a tighter shoe is annoying.

I do one put a quote from Carlos Sainz that I found very incitful about the whole week/weekend itself.

“It just demonstrates what Formula 1 is missing out from, by having cars that are two seconds apart when pretty much the whole grid could be within three-tenths of a second because of the talent there is on the grid,” explains Sainz.

“It’s a shame that a guy that is fighting for P15 every weekend, suddenly when you put him in a race-winning car, he’s 20 thousandths off the pole.

“If anything for me, this demonstrates what F1 is missing out from, creating a much more incredible show if you could level the playing field a bit more and allow the driver to make more of a difference. - Credit Sportsrush.com.

The race itself was fast and furious all the way through! I hope we go back to this layout of the Bahrain circuit sooner, rather than later. Once, all 5 lights went out it was intense and fast till the very end. Russell got an amazing start, as well as Verstappen. Bottas sorta got a good start but not really. However, the Merc boys squeezed Max out of P2 position and back into a fight for P3 with Perez and Leclerc. This would be his undoing as if he would have gotten at least past Bottas he might have had a chance for a win. However, Leclerc ended that with another kind of an eager move that he could have avoided. Locking up into turn 4 I believe. The whole new track layout has me confused on the corners. But, it was a real shame to see Max out of this race. I think it would have made the race even better with that Red Bull in the mix.

This immediately made me switch to a Russell can do it chant! As I switched teams for the rest of the race. Like I said this is the only time you will see me root for a Merc to win. And boy did he not disappoint at all!! He bossed the safety car restart and lead the race with class and confidence. Now, it didn't go his way and I think he soaked in some of Bottas bad luck this weekend. Because, one thing rolled into another. And to think it all started when his own car the Williams he usually drives makes a mistake and clips there front wing off and onto the track. Causing a safety car and making Mercedes for some reason call both Russell and Bottas in for new tires. This is where it started to go wrong. They had a radio failure of some kind in the pit garage which caused only half the crew to hear the call. This in turn caused the wring set of tires to be put on Russell's car, and then they didn't notice till they where fitting Bottas car. This forced Russell back into the pits and put him back on the track in P5. Now, as Crofty put it Russell with the Hussel! Now, we all know that the Mercedes is not a car that can follow very well. At least when Bottas is in mid-field pack. But, boy did he show some amazing pace and overtakes! Bono came over the radio on and told him to get his head down and go into RusselTime!

He got past Bottas with an a sensational move! And then just put the foot to the floor and got past Stroll and Ocon relatively quickly. I know along with everyone that he had the pace prior to the rear puncture. When I saw that call on the screen and him in the pits I was gutted for him.

Now, the man that one the race...Sergio Perez. The man who was last at the end of lap 1 and came into the lead after the second safety car. And just pushed a good lead and kept it. For a man who doesn't have a drive next year he put on an amazing drive. I for one like Albon, but his performance this year just hasn't been where he needs to be. And if Red Bull have any chance at taking it to Mercedes for either Championship. They need a rear gunner who can get podiums, wins and keep the pace with Max. So, as much as it pains me to say it. Because, I like Albon as a driver. However, Perez needs to be in that seat for 2021 and push Albon back to Alpha Tauri or a year on the bench like Ocon.

An emotional rollercoaster for sure this weekend! Wish we had a little more of this one every so often.