Max Verstappen eliminated in the first-lap incident
Daniil Kvyat scores best starting spot of 2020 season
Alex Albon makes a late charge to place sixth
It took just four turns for Honda's race plans to receive an emergency rewrite in Sunday's F1 Sakhir Grand Prix, but the Aston Martin Red Bull and Scuderia AlphaTauri teams persevered to earn a pair of top-seven results in the penultimate race of the 2020 Formula One World Championship season in Bahrain.
Red Bull's Alex Albon made up four positions over the final 18 laps to finish sixth, leading the way for the Honda quartet. Albon was chased to the line by AlphaTauri's Daniil Kvyat, who finished seventh after qualifying a season-best sixth. Kvyat's teammate Pierre Gasly finished just out of a points-paying position in 11th while third-place qualifier Max Verstappen ended up in the wall after just four luckless turns.
Starting in the top three for the 13th time this year, Verstappen chased the frontrunning Mercedes through the first turns when he slowed slightly to avoid a potential clash between Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. When the duo had contact in front of him, Verstappen went wide to the left to dodge it, but got caught in the gravel and was ran into the barrier, breaking his suspension and ending his race.
The AlphaTauri duo ran a strong first stint as Kvyat's undercut of Daniel Ricciardo had him running fourth after his first stop, and the pair ran in the top six through to their second stops on Laps 52 and 54 respectively. But the script got flipped again soon after as Jack Aitken's spin and recovery brought out a Virtual Safety Car, which allowed competitors around them to pit while the rest of the field was at reduced speed, dropping the AlphaTauris to eighth and ninth.
The Safety Car came out soon after as the front wing of the Aitken car had to be cleaned off the track, bunching the field behind the leaders with 18 laps to run.
Albon restarted 10th and needed just four trips around the Bahrain Outer Circuit to move into eighth, and then climbed into seventh five laps later when he caught and passed a limping Valtteri Bottas. Fortune finally smiled on the Honda drivers two laps later when George Russell – driving Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes – suffered a flat tire while chasing Perez for the lead. His stop promoted Albon into sixth and Kvyat into seventh, where they would finish.
The result moved Albon into eighth in the point standings, heading to next weekend's season finale in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen will look to rebound in his last start of the year, as he heads into the finale trailing Bottas by 16 points for second in the championship. With one race to run, Gasly is 11th in the standings and is just three markers behind Lance Stroll for 10th.
Toyoharu Tanabe Technical Director, Honda F1 "It was very frustrating for us and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing to lose Max on the opening lap in an incident in which he was completely blameless. After that, it was a chaotic race with real and virtual Safety Cars. Alex started 12th and made up six places by the end, but he was not entirely happy with his car. As for Scuderia AlphaTauri, Daniil was quick from Friday, so to finish seventh, one place lower than his grid position is also a bit frustrating, as he was quick in the early stages until the safety car affected his strategy. As for Pierre, he lacked pace today and just missed out on points finishing eleventh. We now make the short journey to Abu Dhabi and do our best to ensure that both our teams can end the year on a high note. Finally, on behalf of Honda, congratulations to Sergio Perez on his first Formula 1 win and to everyone at Racing Point for a good job in getting a double podium."
Max Verstappen Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda Start 3rd, Finish: DNF "I had a good start but got boxed in so was trying to stay out of trouble but everyone around me was being so aggressive and risking things like it was the last lap of the race. Especially Charles going up the inside at Turn 4 and braking so late when the track is so dusty. I understand he wanted to pass a car but it was just too optimistic. I respect Charles a lot and he is a great driver but I think that was a bit too much. Checo couldn't see what was happening on the inside, Charles hit him, and then he was spinning backwards across the track. I tried to go around the outside to avoid any damage to my car but ended up in the gravel and then the barrier. It's frustrating to retire so soon in a race where we had a racy car and a good chance of doing well."
Alex Albon Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda Start: 12th, Finish: 6th "It was a very strange and scrappy race but climbing from 12th to sixth isn't too bad but we hoped for more today. We expected to be slow on the straights but it was so hard to overtake and I was having to dive-bomb into Turn One to get the moves made. It was very hard to race with the configuration of downforce we had, and we were quick in parts of the track like sector two where you just can't overtake. Now it's full focus on Abu Dhabi in a few days' time."
Pierre Gasly Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Start: 9th, Finish: 11th "It was a very tough race today. We lacked pace and I just didn't manage to do what I wanted inside the cockpit, I struggled with the rear and had a lot of understeer. In addition to that, we were also pretty unlucky with the timing of the virtual safety car. It was a crazy race and looking at the final podium, there were big opportunities today and it's just a shame not being able to be in the mix for this fight. We need to have a look at the data to understand why it was so different today in comparison to Friday and what we could have done better, to try again and finish the season on a high in Abu Dhabi."
Daniil Kvyat Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Start: 6th, Finish: 7th "This was a very good weekend for me and I was hoping for an even better result today - when the safety car came out I thought ‘this isn't great timing for us' but still, 7th is not bad. We did everything right today as a team, It was a strongly executed race and the best weekend of the year for me. The pace was there and we were close to the top of the midfield, there was one point where it was Carlos, myself, and Ricciardo separated by just a couple of tenths, it was very on the edge and entertaining. It's great to bring home some much-deserved points."
