BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX #1

I am adding the posts for the last three races of the 2020 season now in March 2021, just before the 2021 season is about to start.

I lost major motivation to update the blog notes after Hamilton won his whatever-th number championship in Turkey and I was just disgusted.

But what really shook me was the Grosjean crash at the first Bahrain Grand Prix. I mean, I have never seen something like that happen and it really scared me. I took some time away from writing about the races after that, but am happy to be back now to record my notes from watching the last three races live at the end of 2020.

So a recap of Bahrain #1: Original Bahrain #1 race dates: November 27 - 29, 2020. It was the inner circuit they were racing. Nothing happened all weekend UNTIL THE RACE when Grosjean had the most dramatic crash in recent F1 history and it was a huge miracle that he survived and with only minor burns. It was like the whole weekend's drama was saving up for that one moment. It was truly terrifying and I hope we never see something like that again in F1.

Here are my notes for the weekend:

FP1

• Kubica in for Kimi

• Roy Nissani is in for George Russell

• Replayed Charles angry radio at the end of Turkish Grand Prix being really mad at himself

• Grosjean goes off and yellow flag

• Max had a spin but does a 360 and keeps going

• Charles has a little off

FP2

• about forty minutes left and there’s a red flag for Alex Albon who has a very hard crash into the wall which is going to take a big rebuild

• Another red flag immediately because there’s a wild dog on the track!

• Seb on the radio singing who let the dogs out

FP3

• absolutely nothing happens

Qualifying

• out in Q1: gio, Kimi, Kevin, Grosjean, Latifi

• Really good lap for George Russell and he makes it into Q2!

• In Q2, everybody goes out and then Carlos Sainz spins because of a problem with the back brakes and it is right in the first turn so they red flagged it to clear it

• Out in Q2: Vettel, Charles, Stroll, Russell and Sainz

• Hamilton on pole, Bottas in second and Max in third, then Albon and Perez and Daniel and Ocon

Race

• on the first lap, Stroll goes ride and then Grosjean has a HUGE FIREBALL CRASH and it’s a complete miracle he survived. He could have been decapitated, burned alive, or killed by impact but he went through the metal barrier and it shot the tub he was in through it so the halo saved his life and it took him 18 seconds to get out of the fire. He has minor burns and a suspected broken rib and was taken away in the medical helicopter. An almost 2 hour delay. The medical car guys were heroes

• At race restart, Lance Stroll makes contact with Kvyat and is a tossed in the air and overturned and now safety car to clear it. Kevin Magnussen loses his front wing in this. Seb and Sainz have drama contact.

• Bottas ran over debris and now he’s back behind seb in 16th

• Report investigation on Leclerc and Kvyat but they think it is an investigation on Stroll and Kvyat actually? No one saw Leclerc involved in any incident

• They correct it and the investigation is on Kvyat and Stroll. This is the worst Kvyat race

• Kvyat has a ten second time penalty for hitting Stroll

• Kevin’s car is overheating and lost a wing in the Stroll incident

• Seb calls the Ferrari undrivable

• Lap 55/58 Back of Perez’s car is smoking a ton but he keeps racing hard until he’s finally shooting fire out the back and like why is everyone on fire this race and he retires and Otmar has his head into his hands

• So this is really bad for Force India

• Lando reports a man running across the track to get to the Perez car but still a man tuning across track!

• Bottas apparently has a back right puncture but he is okay because he’s behind the safety car

• Finish under Perez safety car

• Hamilton wins, Max in second and Alex in third! Max and Alex finally on the same podium!

• Now they’re shooting off fireworks ironically