The Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 was the 1st round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, during the weekend of the 26th to the 28th of March.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Max Verstappen, who originally had the pole position, and Valtteri Bottas 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 11-17: 16 stops
- Laps 28-33: 13 stops
- Laps 36-39: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 23.848 seconds during his pit stop on lap 39, while the slowest one was was Pierre Gasly's, who stopped the clock at 38.338 seconds, 14.490 seconds slower than Verstappen, 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 1 driver tried a 1 stop, and 3 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
5Sebastian Vettel
2 stops
-
10Fernando Alonso
-
-Lance Stroll
-
-Antonio Giovinazzi
-
2Charles Leclerc
-
3Lando Norris
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
3Kimi Räikkönen
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
-
3Esteban Ocon
-
1George Russell
-
1Nicholas Latifi
-
2Mick Schumacher
-
-Carlos Sainz
-
4Yuki Tsunoda
-
1Max Verstappen
3 stops
-
5Sergio Pérez
-
12Pierre Gasly
-
-Valtteri Bottas
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 5 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 2.5 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 2 stops.
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, Pierre Gasly, and Nicholas Latifi, both had to retire, Fernando Alonso, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 32, and Nikita Mazepin, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 0.
Retired
-
Pierre GaslyLap 52
-
Nicholas LatifiLap 51
Brakes
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 32
Accident
-
Nikita MazepinLap 0
Qualifying
Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.388 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:28.997. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.
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 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.