LEWIS HAMILTON`S WIN SHADOWED BY ROMAIN CRASH

Lewis Hamilton is the winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix, recording his 11th of the season and his 95th career victory. Max Ferstappen finished second, significantly reducing the gap with Walter Botas in the fight for second place in the drivers' championship.

Alex Albon finished third, first double podium for the Red Bull this 2020 season. The Thai was very lucky, because Mercedes PU in Sergio Perez's car smoked three laps before the end, at a time when his third place was more than safe.

Next weekend we will see another race in Bahrain, but on a different version of the track, much shorter and faster.

At the start, Hamilton kept the lead, and as if it became a tradition for Botas and to some extent the Red Bull drivers to have bad starts. The Finn lost four positions. There were many incidents at the beginning of the race, first there was contact between Vettel and Stroll, after which the Canadian was forced to leave the track. Lando Norris damaged the front wing in contact with Esteban Ocon. Kimi Raikkonen also had a run-off.

But the most horrific incident occurred at the exit of the third corner, when Grosjean's car turned sharply to the right, had previously looked at Raikkonen's car returning to the track, tried to drive between Magnussen and Kvyat, but had contact with the Russian in the AlfaTauri car , ran off the track sharply and had a direct impact on the iron barriers along the track. During the collision, Haas' car was halved and immediately ignited.

The front part, together with the Frenchman, got stuck in the barrier and burned, while the back part remained on the track. The halo system played a major role, protecting the driver's head from hitting the barrier. Ten seconds later, Grosjean got out of the fire, and the driver of the medical car, Alan van der Merwe, helped him climb the fence. According to most, Roman Grosjean can celebrate today as his second birthday.

From the scene of the accident, Grosjean was taken to ambulance on the track, and later sent to a military hospital in Manama. The Frenchman suffered minor burns to his ankles and hands in the area between the gloves and the racing suit, but doctors suspected a rib fracture/crack, later proven wrong.The forces to which the Frenchman was subjected reached 53G.

The race was stopped immediately, the drivers returned to the pit line. The barrier was severely damaged and several parts had to be replaced. Race director Michael Massi went to the scene. The damaged parts of the steel barrier were cut and replaced with a temporary construction.

The break lasted 80 minutes. For the restart of the race, the FIA ​​adjusted the order of the drivers, taking into account their positions before the accident. The top ten was - Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez, Botas, Albon, Ricciardo, Norris, Okon, Gasley, Vettel.

Kviat started from the 15th position. With the new regulations in F1, the race was resumed with a standing start. The Briton was successful again and kept the lead. Leclerc found himself in front of Gasley. Sebastia Vettel slowed down significantly to avoid an incident with Leclerc, after which she lost several seats.

With the front left wheel, Daniel Kvyat grabbed the rear right wheel of Stroll, after which the Racing Point car overturned and stopped. The Canadian was not injured. This was followed by a period of safety car, during which the car was removed and also the remains of the asphalt were cleaned. Race stewards blamed Kvyat for the incident, punishing him with a 10-second penalty.

In those moments, Valteri Botas earned a flat tire and had to box for a new set of tires. He returned to the track in 16th place.

The race was restarted in lap 8, when Hamilton retained the lead, Carlos Sainz Jr. came out ahead of Gasly and Ricciardo, Russell overtook Raikkonen. In the 12th lap, Sainz and Ricciardo overtook Leclerc, and in the following round Sebastian Vettel lost several positions due to a spin, declaring on team radio that the car was difficult to control. Pierre Gasley overtook Leclerc for ninth place.

There follows a period of entry into the pits to change the tires, which did not prove to be the most durable on the rough asphalt in Bahrain.

When it was all over in lap 51, Sainz overtook Gasley for sixth place, while in lap 54, Sergio Perez, who was in third place at the time, had problems with Mercedes PU in his car, which began to emit clouds of white smoke and caught fire, after which the Mexican had to stand by the track.

With this, the Racing Point team lost the third place in the constructors' championship. In front of Norris' car, a firefighter ran to Perez's burning car. The safety car went on the track, and race finished under new circumstances.

Bahrain Grand Prix – Race 57 laps, 308.238km., Weather: Dry/Night Race.
CLASSIFICATION:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	2h59:47.515
2.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 1.254
3.	Alexander Albon	Red Bull	+ 8.005
4.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 11.337
5.	Carlos Sainz Јр.	McLaren	+ 11.787
6.	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+ 11.942
7.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+ 19.368
8.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 19.680
9.	Esteban Ocon	Renault	+ 22.803
10.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 1 lap
11.	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri	+ 1 lap
12.	George Russell	Williams	+ 1 lap
13.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 1 lap
14.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	+ 1 lap
15.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap
16.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap
17.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 1 lap
18.	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point	Technical
FASTEST LAP: MAX VERSTAPPEN - 1:32.014
NOT CLASSIFIED:
19.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	Accident
20.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Accident
2014 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h32:58.710 2015 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h31:54.067 2016 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h48:15.565 2017 Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - 1h24:11.672 2018 Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - 1h32:01.940 2019 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h34:21.295 2020 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 2h59:47.515 @MkFormula1 - REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

CLASSIFICATION AFTER 15/17 RACES
DRIVERS:
1.	Lewis Hamilton	332
2.	Valtteri Bottas	201
3.	Max Verstappen	189
4.	Daniel Ricciardo	102
5.	Sergio Pérez	100
6.	Charles Leclerc	98
7.	Lando Norris	89
8.	Carlos Sainz Јр.	85
9.	Alexander Albon	85
10.	Pierre Gasly	71
11.	Lance Stroll	59
12.	Esteban Ocon	42
13.	Sebastian Vettel	33
14.	Daniil Kvyat	26
15.	Nico Hulkenberg	10
16.	Kimi Räikkönen	4
17.	Antonio Giovinazzi	4
18.	Romain Grosjean	2
19.	Kevin Magnussen	1
20.	Nicholas Latifi	0
21.	George Russell	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	533
2.	Red Bull	274
3.	McLaren	171
4.	Racing Point(-15)	154
5.	Renault	144
6.	Ferrari	131
7.	AlphaTauri	97
8.	Alfa Romeo	8
9.	Haas	3
10.	Williams	0