There’s been plenty of showdowns at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and 2021 saw the start of what would become an epic clash of the titans.
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About The Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain first joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2004. It was a significant moment, as it was the first Formula 1 race to be held in the Middle East. It also snagged the FIA award for “Best Organised Grand Prix”. In 2006 the Bahrain Grand Prix made waves again, as it swapped places with Australia as the season-opener. It would feature as the first race on the calendar again in 2010, using the longer “Endurance Circuit” layout to celebrate Formula 1’s “Diamond Jubilee”.
The 2011, the Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled following concerns raised by the drivers due to ongoing protests. It looked as if 2012 would follow the same fate, following human rights protests against Bahraini authorities. Teams also voiced their concerns about safety, but the FIA ultimately made the decision for the race to go ahead as planned.
In 2014, the Bahrain Grand Prix celebrated its 10th anniversary by hosting a race under the lights. This made it the second night race in Formula 1, and it has remained as a night race ever since. In 2025, Formula 1 refreshed their calendar in an effort to increase regionalisation throughout the season. In doing so, Bahrain was shuffled back down the order to being the fourth race.
The 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix
Max Verstappen vs Lewis Hamilton is looked back on as a classic battle of the giants. There’s been plenty of on-track battles reminiscent of Senna vs Prost and Lauda vs Hunt. It seemed like something exciting was just on the horizon. At the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, it became clear that this was going to be a rivalry for the ages.
Formation Fiasco
As the cars made their way around the formation lap, Sergio Pérez found himself grinding to a halt. He managed to restart the car, and get back to the Red Bull garage for a pit-lane start. His stop on the track prompted an additional formation lap, shortening the race length to 56 laps.
Race Start & Early Stint
As the lights finally went out and the race got underway, Max Verstappen managed to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Behind them, Charles Leclerc swept past Valtteri Bottas, the Ferrari now splitting the two Mercedes. Making his debut in Formula 1, Nikita Mazepin spun his Haas into the barriers at the Turn 3 exit. The Safety Car came out to neutralise the race whilst the Haas was recovered, before ducking back into the pits at the end of the third lap.
On the restart, Verstappen fought off Hamilton and Leclerc to retain his lead. Down in sixth place, Lando Norris managed to get past Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri and began to battle with Bottas for fourth. Gasly swiftly found himself behind the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. Gasly ran into the back of Ricciardo, causing himself front wing damage that forced a trip to the pits. Mick Schumacher also went spinning off the track in the sole-remaining Haas, but managed to rejoin and continue the race. The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was activated, and the race was neutralised once again.
One lap later, the VSC period ended…and Verstappen bolted. With concerns about potential reliability issues, Red Bull wanted to get as far ahead as they could. By the end of lap 6, Verstappen’s lead over Hamilton was 1.5 seconds. Bottas had managed to get back past Leclerc, and Norris also overtook the Ferrari just two laps later. There were a number of tight battles throughout the midfield, with several moves being made and a flurry of pitlane action following Fernando Alonso’s stop on lap 11.
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Middle Stint
Hamilton came in for hard tyres at the end of lap 14, but Red Bull opted to stay out and pin their strategy on having fresher tyres in the closing stages. On lap 18, Verstappen pitted and rejoined the track in second place, now seven seconds behind Hamilton. Further down the order, Sainz, Vettel and Alonso were having an exciting scrap over eighth place, before Sainz claimed the spot on lap 23. Yuki Tsunoda, making his Formula 1 debut for AlphaTauri, made some impressive moves in the following few laps. The rookie passed Vettel and Alonso (both former World Champions) on laps 25 and 27 respectively.
By lap 28, Verstappen had managed to close the gap down between himself and Hamilton to just two seconds. The Mercedes driver, now struggling on his current set of hard tyres, came into the pits. Bottas came into the pits on lap 31, but it was painfully slow. A problem removing the front right wheel meant that the Finn was stationary for 10.9 seconds, dropping him down to fifth.
On the following lap, Verstappen was given valuable information on the team radio. Hamilton and Bottas were “using the exit at Turn 4” and he was advised to “feel free to do the same until we’re told not to”. Verstappen’s response was to ask his team “How is that legal then? The whole weekend we couldn’t do it.”. Hamilton received the radio message on lap 37 that the team were being given warnings about exceeding track limits at Turn 4. Confused by the somewhat ambiguous rules, he responded “I thought there were no track limits?” . He also added that he had “been doing the same thing all race”.
Closing Stages
Verstappen made his final stop at the end of lap 39, coming back out onto the track with Hamilton nine seconds ahead of him. But with a brand new set of hard tyres, Verstappen was flying down the road faster than anyone else on the track, quickly closing the gap to the Mercedes.
Much further back in the midfield, Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Ocon were having their own scrap over 12th place on lap 44. As the pair went into Turn 1, Ocon managed to get his Alpine ahead of the Aston Martin of Vettel. However, Vettel locked up and ran into the back of Ocon, causing them both to spin. The two drivers were able to rejoin the race with minimal damage.
At the start of lap 51, Verstappen had closed the gap to Hamilton and was now just 1.4 seconds behind. With the pressure building and his much older tyres now wearing down, Hamilton went wide at Turn 10 and brought the Red Bull to within 1 second of him. On lap 53, Verstappen made his move around the outside of turn 4 to take the lead, but appeared to have exceeded track limits in doing so. Wanting to avoid the wrath of the stewards, Red Bull told Verstappen to give the place back. This was quickly done, but put Verstappen into dirty air and caused him to struggle with oversteer on the exit of Turn 13. This ultimately snatched away any chances of catching Hamilton, who was now scampering up the road. Hamilton took the chequered flag and claimed victory in Bahrain, with Verstappen finishing 0.7 seconds behind him.
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Track Limit Travesty
Leading figures from both of the top teams were keen to express their frustrations over the confusing track limit rules from across the weekend. Turn 4 was a particularly hot subject, with the confusion stemming from a pre-race instruction that track limits at Turn 4 would only be enforced where a “lasting advantage” was gained. The stewards had seemingly taken this to mean that only overtaking off-track was forbidden. The ambiguous rules meant that Hamilton had been able to gain approximately three seconds at Turn 4. Christian Horner criticised the inconsistency of changing the track limits between qualifying and the race. Toto Wolff compared the situation to “a Shakespeare novel”, calling for consistency on the instructions issued by the FIA. Michael Masi, Race Director, insisted that the rules had always been clear and that “nothing changed at all during the race”.
Post-Race Thoughts
In the post-race interviews, Hamilton was pleased with his win and praised Red Bull’s “amazing performance all weekend”. Bottas was understandably disappointed with the slow pitstop, but acknowledged that the team had made “steps forward” throughout the weekend. Team principal, Toto Wolff, felt that luck had also played some part in their success, saying that “at the end, the racing gods were on our side”.
Verstappen was also pleased with his race weekend, praising Red Bull for “taking the fight to them [Mercedes]”. Meanwhile, Pérez reminisced about what could have been if his car hadn’t failed on the formation lap.
Overall, it was the first sign that Mercedes’ dominance from the past few years may be starting to weaken. The close battles for position and the Red Bull’s ability to close down the gaps quickly were certainly catching many people’s attention. Yet the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix was a mere ripple in otherwise calm waters. There was a much more intense storm brewing as the clash of the titans really got underway…
Which Bahrain Grand Prix do you think is a race to remember? Let us know in the comments!