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Formula 1 Sakhir GP

F1 Sakhir GP Live Updates - race day

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Safety car will come in at the end of the lap.
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The clash which has put Leclerc and Verstappen out of this race, and put Perez down to 18th place after pitting, has been noted by the F1 officials, but no investigation has been called just yet.
All of this lifts Sainz into third, with Ricciardo fourth, Kvyat up to fifth and Stroll waltzing into sixth from P10 on the grid.
One of the biggest winners from all of that is Norris who is up to 10th place having started 19th! Stunning start from the McLaren driver, but he gained four of those places due to the incidents involving Perez, Verstappen, Leclerc and Raikkonen.
So Bottas squirmed at turn 2, and was side-by-side with Perez. Perez tried to get ahead of Leclerc, cut him off and Verstappen just drove into the barrier to evade them!
Pit stop
Perez, amazingly, has no damage and comes in for fresh medium boots.
Crash
Kimi Raikkonen was spun at the exit of Turn 3 on the opening lap at the back of the pack, before the clash at the front at Turn 4. The Finn is in last place but still in this race.
Yellow flag
Leclerc and Verstappen are both lodged in the barrier, and are out. Perez got turned into a spin, but he's still running.
Crash
Perez gets caught by Leclerc and the two take out Verstappen at turn 4! Safety car!
Lights green
We're away! That's a great start for Russell, who dives down the inside to take the lead!
That track is very dusty! Russell a little slow away for the formation lap...
Green flag
Here goes the formation lap!
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Tyre info: mediums for Bottas, Russell, Ocon, Albon, Vettel, Giovinazzi, Aitken and Raikkonen. Soft tyres for the rest.
All the pressure on Bottas at this start - he had a miserable start last weekend, and he'll have to make sure he doesn't have a similar issue today.
First starts today for Jack Aitken and Pietro Fittipaldi today. Aitken starts in 17th, with Fittipaldi at the back after a power unit penalty - behind Norris, who had endured a similar fate.
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10 minute klaxon!
Some notes from the desk of Autosport's GP editor Alex Kalinauckas:
"I went down to the pit exit and the drivers all did loads of practice starts - many more than usual. Even the Red Bull drivers did three, when normally, Verstappen at least is happy with two.

"It's much colder and windier than previous evenings, with a crosswind hitting the cars through Turn 2 and the bumpy chicane. It's also very sandy and dusty - so probably a lot of teams worried about starts today."
Bottas is having a wander down the pitlane, I wonder if he's been for a quick Valtter-wee?
Sun
We've got an air temperature of 21.8 degrees C in Bahrain, with a track temperature of 24.3 degrees. There's also a 2.5 m/s headwind going down the main straight.
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We've got 25 minutes until the Sakhir Grand Prix gets underway.
Autosport
Here's the top stories of today for you to catch up on before we begin:
- Norris to start Sakhir GP from back row after power unit penalty
- Grosjean ruled out of Abu Dhabi finale, Fittipaldi to remain at Haas
- Haas-bound Mick Schumacher wins Formula 2 title
It's an all-familiar Mercedes lockout, but not as you know it; Bottas starts on pole, with stand-in George Russell alongside him on the front row. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc sit behind them on the grid.
Unlike last week, we're on the 3.5km (that's about 2 miles) outer circuit in Bahrain - and the race will be 87 laps long. This could, potentially, be a very interesting prospect indeed...
Hello everyone, and welcome to our Autosport Live coverage of the penultimate round of 2020 - the Sakhir Grand Prix!

By: Jake Boxall-Legge

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