Conclusions: FIA proves they were right, Perez and 2020 not yet a happy marriage
General
- GPblog.com
After the Bahrain Grand Prix, several things became clear again. GPBlog discusses four conclusions about the accident of Romain Grosjean, the umpteenth victory of Lewis Hamilton, the unfortunate Sergio Perez and the disappointing Valtteri Bottas.
No more discussion of halo
There were many opponents when the halo was introduced into Formula 1 in 2018. Lewis Hamilton once said he would never drive a halo, but three seasons later the far-reaching safety measure once again showed its added value.
At the Belgian Grand Prix in 2018 Charles Leclerc already escaped head injury thanks to the halo and two years later in Bahrain it was Romain Grosjean who owes his life to the housing above the cockpit. Without the halo, the Frenchman of Haas F1 would not only have gotten away with some burns on his hands.
Lewis still focussed
The seventh world title may already be in for Lewis Hamilton. It does not mean that the Mercedes driver is slowing down. The Brit had a comfortable margin compared to Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen in qualifying and a day later he was completely unapproachable. Hamilton made no mistake and was able to defend his lead perfectly.
With two Grands Prix to go, Hamilton seems to be facing its most dominant season ever in Formula 1. Of the fifteen GP's Hamilton managed to win no less than eleven. In the last five weekends the 35-year old Briton was the fastest on Sunday.
Bottas fails to deliver
Valtteri Bottas had a dramatic start from P2 and was lucky to start in fourth place at the restart. However, it did not get much better for the Finn and an eighth place is not what Bottas had travelled to Bahrain for. Since the world title has seriously gone out of sight, he is no longer performing as he should. It is to be hoped for Bottas that he will show a little better next week in Bahrain and in Abu Dhabi during the last GP of the season.
Perez and 2020 not yet a happy marriage
Sergio Perez lost his fifth place in the World Cup to Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian finished seventh and now has a lead of two points on the driver of Racing Point. Perez was on track for a podium place and with that he could have taken a very big step towards the title of 'best of the rest'.
In Bahrain the experienced Mexican thus lost a podium place, something that also happened on Imola after a strategic failure of his team. Moreover, he missed two full Grands Prix due to a corona infection. Conclusion: Perez could and perhaps should have stood on many more points. P4 only belongs to one man in 2020 and that is Perez.