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2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

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2019 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 2 of 21 in the 2019 Formula One World Championship
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Race details[1]
Date 31 March 2019
Official name Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019
Location Bahrain International Circuit
Sakhir, Bahrain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.412 km (3.362 miles)
Distance 57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 miles)
Weather Clear
Attendance 97,000[2]
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:27.866
Fastest lap
Driver Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari
Time 1:33.411 on lap 38
Podium
First Mercedes
Second Mercedes
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 31 March 2019 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.[1][3] The race was the second round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the 15th time that the Bahrain Grand Prix had been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.[3][4]

Background

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Championship standings before the race

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Heading into the Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas led the World Drivers' Championship by 8 points over teammate Lewis Hamilton. Their team, Mercedes, was holding a 22-point lead over Ferrari in the World Constructors' Championships.[5][6]

Entrants

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The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand in drivers for either the race or practice.[7]

The main title sponsor of Ferrari, Mission Winnow, returned from this race, after it was not used by the Scuderia at the previous race in Australia for legal reasons.[8]

DRS

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Before the race, it was announced that an extra drag reduction system (DRS) zone would be added to the circuit. In addition to the DRS zones between turns 15 and 1 and between turns 10 and 11 an extra DRS zone was added between turns 3 and 4. This change was expected to increase the number of overtakes and promote more pit stops during the race.[9]

Free practice

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The first practice session happened without major incident and ended with a Ferrari one-two with Charles Leclerc leading Sebastian Vettel with Leclerc comfortably beating the next fastest constructor by nearly one second.[10] The second and third practice sessions also ended with a comfortable Ferrari one-two although it was Leclerc who was leading Vettel in third practice.[11][12]

Qualifying

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Charles Leclerc got his first pole position of his Formula 1 career in the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix Weekend with his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in second with a time 0.3 seconds slower.[13][14] After Ferrari looked substantially ahead of Mercedes in free practice, Mercedes did manage to close the gap to the Italian team, but still qualified on the second row for the race on Sunday, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas.[14][15] Max Verstappen was 0.5 seconds adrift from Valtteri Bottas in 4th place with Kevin Magnussen only 0.005 seconds slower than the Dutchman.[14] Carlos Sainz Jr. split the two Haas cars in 7th and Kimi Räikkönen continuing his longest streak of Q3's in Formula 1[failed verification], qualifying ninth just ahead of Lando NorrisMcLaren in 10th.[14]

Pierre Gasly missed out on Q3 once again in Bahrain in the Red Bull, qualifying 13th behind Daniel Ricciardo in 11th and Alexander Albon in 12th, Sergio Pérez qualified 14th, 0.3 seconds quicker than Daniil Kvyat in 15th in his Toro Rosso.[14][16]

Nico Hülkenberg (Renault) was the shock exit in Q1 in 17th place behind Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo and ahead of Lance Stroll, who qualified 18th.[14][17] Williams once again qualify on the back row, the lead Williams George Russell 1.5 seconds away from Stroll and Robert Kubica qualified in last place with a 1:31.799 compared to the fastest time of 1:28.495.[14]

Qualifying classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.495 1:28.046 1:27.866 1
2 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:28.733 1:28.356 1:28.160 2
3 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.262 1:28.578 1:28.190 3
4 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:29.498 1:28.830 1:28.256 4
5 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:29.579 1:29.109 1:28.752 5
6 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:29.532 1:29.017 1:28.757 6
7 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 1:29.528 1:29.055 1:28.813 7
8 8 France Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:29.688 1:29.249 1:29.015 111
9 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:29.959 1:29.471 1:29.022 8
10 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1:29.381 1:29.258 1:29.043 9
11 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:29.859 1:29.488 N/A 10
12 23 Thailand Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:29.514 1:29.513 N/A 12
13 10 France Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:29.900 1:29.526 N/A 13
14 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:29.893 1:29.756 N/A 14
15 26 Russia Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:29.876 1:29.854 N/A 15
16 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:30.026 N/A N/A 16
17 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:30.034 N/A N/A 17
18 18 Canada Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:30.217 N/A N/A 18
19 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1:31.759 N/A N/A 19
20 88 Poland Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 1:31.799 N/A N/A 20
107% time: 1:34.689
Source:[14][18]
Notes
  • ^1  – Romain Grosjean was given a three place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris during qualifying.[18]

Race

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Charles Leclerc started from pole position but lost two positions to his teammate Sebastian Vettel and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, who managed to get ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first corner. Romain Grosjean and Lance Stroll tangled on the first lap with Stroll hitting Grosjean, giving the Haas damage.

By the end of the first lap, Leclerc was on Bottas' tail and passed the Finn into turn 1 on lap 2, which also allowed Lewis Hamilton to take third place from Bottas. On lap 4, Carlos Sainz Jr. attacked Max Verstappen on the outside in turn 4 but the two collided, giving Sainz a puncture. On lap 6, Charles Leclerc overtook Vettel for the lead of the race into turn 1 and began to pull away quickly. Antonio Giovinazzi sent Daniil Kvyat into a spin at turn 11.

Hamilton was catching Vettel throughout the race and eventually caught up to him on lap 38, making a move around the outside at turn 4. Vettel went into a spin on corner exit, saying he got surprised and lost the rear of the car. In the process he flat-spotted his tires, causing severe vibration leading to a front wing failure. Pitting to replace the front wing dropped him to 9th place. The Renaults were running 6th and 7th and made contact while battling for position into turn 1, with Daniel Ricciardo left with front wing damage.

On lap 46, Leclerc was cruising in the lead but then reported an engine issue and slowed significantly, lapping several seconds slower than his immediate rivals, and getting unlapped by cars he previously lapped. It was later revealed that one of his engine cylinders had stopped working. On lap 48 he was caught by Hamilton, who took the lead. On lap 54 Leclerc was passed by Bottas, dropping him to 3rd with Verstappen closing rapidly. However, with four laps remaining, the two Renaults retired with mechanical issues and brought out the safety car, which stayed out until the end of the race. As a result, Leclerc managed to hold on to 3rd place and claimed his first ever podium in Formula 1, the first Formula One World Championship podium for a Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron finished third at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. Leclerc also had the fastest lap of the race, giving him and Ferrari one extra point for their respective championships.

Race classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 1:34:21.295 3 25
2 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 57 +2.980 4 18
3 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 57 +6.131 1 161
4 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 57 +6.408 5 12
5 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 57 +36.068 2 10
6 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 57 +45.754 9 8
7 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 57 +47.470 8 6
8 10 France Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing-Honda 57 +58.094 13 4
9 23 Thailand Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 57 +1:02.697 12 2
10 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 57 +1:03.696 14 1
11 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 57 +1:04.599 16
12 26 Russia Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 56 +1 lap 15
13 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 56 +1 lap 6
14 18 Canada Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 56 +1 lap 18
15 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 56 +1 lap 19
16 88 Poland Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 55 +2 laps 20
172 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Renault 53 Power unit 17
182 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Renault 53 Power loss 10
192 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 53 Gearbox 7
Ret 8 France Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 16 Collision damage 11
Fastest lap: Monaco Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:33.411 (lap 38)
Source:[19][20]
Notes

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "2019 Bahrain Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Record Crowds Attend Bahrain's 15th Anniversary Race". bahraingp.com. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b "2019". StatsF1. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Grands Prix Bahrain". StatsF1. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  5. ^ "2019 Driver Standings". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019.
  6. ^ "2019 Constructor Standings". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019.
  7. ^ "2019 Bahrain Grand Prix – Entry List". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  8. ^ Franco Nugnes (23 March 2019). "Ferrari: nel GP del Bahrain torna la livrea con lo sponsor Mission Winnow". motorsport.com (in Italian). Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 DRS zones: Drivers predicting aggressive Bahrain strategies after DRS addition". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 – Practice 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  11. ^ "Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix practice 2 standings". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix practice 3". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Charles Leclerc – Pole positions". StatsF1. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Bahrain Grand Prix 2019: Hamilton says Mercedes can still beat Ferrari in Bahrain". Formula1.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Pierre Gasly – Grands Prix started". StatsF1. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Hulkenberg on Q1 exit: Renault car issues 'came at worst possible time'". Formula1.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  18. ^ a b "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  19. ^ "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  20. ^ "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 31 March 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  21. ^ a b "Bahrain 2019 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
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Previous race:
2019 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2019 season
Next race:
2019 Chinese Grand Prix
Previous race:
2018 Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix Next race:
2020 Bahrain Grand Prix