Heartbreak for George Russell sees Sergio Perez score his first F1 win at the 2020 F1 Sakhir Grand Prix

Distraught, sadness and unhappiness. Just some of the emotions George Russell must be feeling as a potential F1 win slipped out of his hands and saw Sergio Perez pick up his first win.

Esteban Ocon scored his first podium as he came second and Lance Stroll completed a double podium as the Canadian finished third.

Carlos Sainz missed out on the podium as he finished fourth and the ever pushing Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth. A dreadful evening for Red Bull turned into somewhat an okay one as Alex Albon scored a few points for the team finishing sixth with Daniil Kvyat putting a strong showing to end the race in seventh.

The Mercedes pair of Valtteri Bottas finished a dreadful eighth and ninth as plenty of things culminated into their low finishing positions and Lando Norris rounded off the top ten at the end of the race.

As It Happened

A fantastic getaway for George Russell saw the 22-year-old take the lead off of his temporary teammate, Valtteri Bottas into turn one.

Green flag racing didn’t last long as the Safety Car was released as Charles Leclerc tangled with Sergio Perez which also saw Max Verstappen crash out due to that accident. Perez was able to carry on, but Leclerc was forced to retire from the race after only four corners.

The Safety Car peeled into the pits as Russell led the pack away over the start/finish straight. Bottas looked vulnerable after the restart and saw Carlos Sainz overtake him, but that was short-lived as the Finn was able to get his second place back.

Sebastian Vettel gained a crucial position as his move on Alex Albon pushed the Ferrari driver in tenth-place and into the points crucially.

Russell never led an F1 race up to this point as he crossed the line to start the tenth lap and extended his advantage over Bottas to two seconds.

The only remaining Ferrari of Vettel dropped out of the points in the space of a few laps as Albon and Perez moved ahead of the scarlet red car.

Albon and Perez then dispatched the orange McLaren of Lando Norris as the Racing Point looked to continue the charge after an early pitstop.

The pink panther would then make it past the Red Bull of Albon as he had no chance especially with the straight-line speed Racing Point possesses and the Mexican made it up to ninth after a shocking start to the race.

Norris looked to rescue his weekend as he moved into 12th place ahead of Jack Aitken after the McLaren driver pitted.

After Vettel pitted, he came under some pressure from Nicholas Latifi. The Ferrari was able to hold onto his position after a fine move on the Williams into turn four.

At the halfway point of the race, Russell remained first ahead of Bottas and a fiery Perez who made his way up to third then came Albon, Sainz, Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll in tenth.

Both Mercedes pitted in for new tyres as after Bottas’ pitstop on lap 50, Russell gained an eight-second lead after his undercut strategy paid off.

Albon and Norris battled back and forth for positions the Red Bull moved ahead of the McLaren and into ninth place.

Latifi released the Virtual Safety Car as his Williams spun on the exit of turn eight and was parked off the road at the exit of turn nine as the Canadian was able to roll his car off the circuit.

The VSC period ended as Sainz and Ricciardo pitted for new tyres, but not under the Virtual Safety Car rules and lost valuable time.

Another VSC was released not long after as Aitken clashed with the barrier and luckily only damaged his front wing.

The VSC turned into a full Safety Car with Mercedes deciding to pit both drivers. Russell retained his lead as Bottas dropped to fifth after a slow stop.

Russell then had to pit once more as a mix up in the tyres saw the number 63 drop down the order behind Bottas.

After Mercedes’ chaos, the drivers returned to greenlight racing as Perez led the pack over the line with Ocon in second and Stroll in third.

In the matter of a few laps, Russell made his way back up to second after overtakes on Bottas, Stroll and Ocon saw the Brit released to chase after the Racing Point of Perez.

Bottas still had his old hard tyres fitted on the car and started losing grip as the Finn started falling down the order and dropped to eighth.

On lap 79, with eight laps to go, disaster struck. Russell who was driving so well to try and catch back up to Perez got struck with a puncture which dropped him down to P14.

He managed to recover to ninth, but he certainly deserved the win which Perez got after the Mexican drove up all the way to the front from P18 after the first restart.

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