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Formula 1 Bahrain GP

F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race day

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02

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Pit stop
Here's Perez pitting for the mediums, and he returns to the circuit fractions ahead of Stroll there. But Stroll drives around the outside at Turn 4 and gets P7!
Pit stop
Here's Sainz in to pit, and he'll come out ninth - behind Stroll.
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"Lewis, we're getting warnings about track limits at Turn 4," Bono says. "I thought there were no track limits," Hamilton replies. He's not wrong...

Sainz the one out of sync in the midfield fight, yet to make a second stop, which sees him currently up in fifth place ahead of Norris and Leclerc.

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"If my pace is good, just keep me out," Verstappen says. He'll need to put the hard tyres on at some point.
Hamilton is told to run in the low 1m34s, and did a 1m34.665s on the previous lap. He'll presumably have to take these hards to the end.
Pit stop
Norris is coming in too from third for hard tyres, which will elevate Bottas back up to third.
Mechanical problem

Bad news for Alonso on his F1 comeback race. He's retiring from the Bahrain GP with brake problems at the end of lap 33. He joins Mazepin for an early bath.

Pit stop
Leclerc and Ricciardo come in to stop, taking on hard tyres.

Perez climbs up to sixth getting ahead of Ricciardo now, so the strong fightback continues from the Mexican on his Red Bull debut.

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Max is told to take more liberties with the turn 4 run-off, being told that both Mercedes drivers are using it freely. "How is that legal," he replies, before complying with the team's request.
Pit stop
Bottas pits, and it's a disaster - the right front is slow off, as Mercedes struggles with another Bahrain pitstop! Bottas falls behind Norris and Leclerc, with Ricciardo now chasing him.
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"I could have kept in there a little longer, I think," Hamilton says. Race engineer Bono explains the undercut danger.
Pit stop

Stroll makes his second stop looking to pull off an undercut in the fight for seventh. As he comes out of the pits, the TV cameras catch a right tussle between Vettel and Latifi in the background, with the German taking P17.

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"Lewis is in the pits, Verstappen could have undercut it - we're going long," Bottas is told.
Pit stop
Hamilton elects to respond to Verstappen by pitting - those hard tyres didn't last long, apparently! All roads point to a three stop, or he'll try and do half the race on that set...
Make that two seconds, Verstappen's eating at the gap now with some excellent pace.
Verstappen's got the gap down within 3s to Hamilton now, so it's still very much game on. Bottas is losing ground to the front two, now 4.5s off Verstappen.

Well, it was for a lap or two. Perez charges up the inside of Stroll at Turn 1 to take the place at the start of lap 27.

Friends reunited as Perez hounds ex-team-mate Stroll for seventh place. This could be fun.

Vettel finally pits on lap 25 to take on fresh hard tyres. He comes out in P17 ahead of only Schumacher and Gasly, who are both struggling for pace after their respective offs.

That being said, the gap to Hamilton and Verstappen is a little static at this point at 3.8s. The Red Bull driver needs to get his skates on.
AWS's Overtake-o-meter has Verstappen pulling up to Hamilton in six laps' time - with a medium spicyness of overtakeness. I guess, I don't know how it works, but I assume it's basically the Nando's scale.

Vettel's tyres must be crying enough now as he locks up and drops places to Perez, Alonso and Raikkonen, to put the German down to P12.

A lap later Alonso dives up the inside of Vettel at Turn 1 but gets his braking wrong, which not only allows Vettel back through but also gives Sainz the chance to mug them both. Which he does. Ole.

Verstappen was a full second quicker than Hamilton on that previous lap, lead stands at 4.2s now.
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Bottas has word from the top - Toto Wolff tells him to hunt down Verstappen. Perez, meanwhile, stopped and now sits P12.

Vettel duly makes the overtake for Stroll relatively straightforward at Turn 1 before shutting the door on the chasing Alonso and Sainz. Good teamwork by the new Aston Martin driver.

Ricciardo darts past the yet-to-pit Vettel for seventh and now the German has team-mate Stroll on his tail, who heads a mini train containing a pair of Spaniards in Alonso and Sainz.

Bottas is right on Perez's tail now, as the Mexican has much older tyres. Perez tries to hold the line into Turn 11, but can't keep the Mercedes behind.

Despite jumping ahead of Stroll in the pitstops, Alonso is now behind the Aston Martin driver again with the pair running in the final two points-paying places.

Pit stop
Verstappen comes in to pit, coming out behind Hamilton - who takes the lead! The Dutchman's on mediums, with Hamilton on the hard tyre.

On his worn tyres, Vettel duly loses two places in half a lap to Norris and Leclerc to drop to seventh place. Remember that Vettel started the race last on the grid.

Pit stop
Bottas now pits, swapping mediums for hard tyres, and he comes out behind Perez in fourth.

Vettel is out of sync having not pitted yet out of the midfield runners which means he is up to fifth at the moment.

Pit stop
Sainz pits from fourth, elevating Perez into the top four.
Verstappen stays out, although Hamilton's really making hay on those hard tyres. The pit strategy battle thingy says Hamilton would pass if Verstappen pits now - so Red Bull keeping its powder dry for now.
Pit stop
Ricciardo also stops, losing ground to Alonso as Stroll is now trying to clear the McLaren driver.
Pit stop
"OK Lewis, it won't be long. Close up," Bono tells Hamilton, who pits for hard tyres.
Pit stop

Alonso's early stop triggers a pitlane party as Norris, Leclerc, Stroll and Giovinazzi all pit a lap later. The stops have seen Alonso jump Stroll to regain a place.

By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb, Stephen Lickorish

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