The Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 was the 2nd round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on March 31st.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 40 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 8-14: 15 stops
- Laps 23-27: 6 stops
- Laps 32-40: 15 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lando Norris's, stopping the clock at 24.175 seconds during his pit stop on lap 10, while the slowest one was was Carlos Sainz's, who stopped the clock at 45.543 seconds, 21.368 seconds slower than Norris, during his pit stop on lap 4.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 2 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
9Romain Grosjean
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8Daniel Ricciardo
2 stops
-
4Lance Stroll
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4Sergio Pérez
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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5Pierre Gasly
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3Alexander Albon
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7Kevin Magnussen
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3Lando Norris
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4Robert Kubica
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1Max Verstappen
-
-Nico Hülkenberg
-
2Valtteri Bottas
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3Daniil Kvyat
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4George Russell
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2Lewis Hamilton
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2Charles Leclerc
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5Antonio Giovinazzi
3 stops
-
12Carlos Sainz
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3Sebastian Vettel
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.13 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 3 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Bahrain International Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Nico Hülkenberg, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 53, Daniel Ricciardo, who run out of fuel on lap 53, Carlos Sainz, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 53, and Romain Grosjean, who had to retire on lap 16.
Engine
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Nico HülkenbergLap 53
Out of fuel
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Daniel RicciardoLap 53
Collision damage
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Carlos SainzLap 53
Retired
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Romain GrosjeanLap 16
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.294 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:27.866. Sebastian Vettel was right behind him, helping Ferrari score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton in third position, and Valtteri Bottas in fourth.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.