The F1 sanity that left Russell with some Sakhir solace

OPINION: George Russell showed Formula 1 and Mercedes his class in the Sakhir Grand Prix, but the results of that disastrous pitstop nearly left him with nothing to show for it. Thankfully, a sensible outcome was reached, which should lead to a rule change

Published Dec 8, 2020, 4:01 PM

The Formula 1 stewards at the Sakhir Grand Prix had something new to consider: a driver running two of his team-mate's tyres.

This was one of the two results of Mercedes disastrous double-stack pitstop under the race's second safety car, which cost George Russell a likely victory after he'd been sent out with medium tyres from Valtteri Bottas's allocation, and destroyed any hope of Bottas going to win as he had to head out again with the same set of hard tyres put back on his W11.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.