Hamilton holds off Verstappen in electric duel: 2021 Bahrain GP lap by lap

Lewis Hamilton secured a magnificent victory in Bahrain over Max Verstappen in one of F1’s most memorable battles in recent years.

The hopes were that Red Bull would be in a position to take the fight to Mercedes in 2021, and the first race of the year showed that this season is shaping up to be an electric fight between an all-time great and clear contender to the crown.

Red Bull had looked the quicker package since winter testing and Verstappen claimed pole in Bahrain, but the close race pace suggests that the battle could rage until the finale in Abu Dhabi in December.

A strategic dice between the Mercedes and Red Bull pitwalls saw the two drivers trade the lead as they pitted at different times, culminated in Verstappen, on fresher tyres, hunting down Hamilton at the close.

It was a speedy formation lap by Verstappen but before the Dutchman could lead the field back onto the grid, team-mate Sergio Perez’s Red Bull crawled to a halt ahead of the penultimate corner.

The Mexican had the control electronics unit changed as a precaution pre-race but issues materialised on the formation lap and it prevented the initial start, triggering another formation lap.

At the second start, Verstappen got the better launch from the front and immediately covered off Hamilton to retain the lead.

Valtteri Bottas held off Charles Leclerc for third into the first corner, but up the hill into Turn Four the Ferrari nipped underneath the Finn and secured the place with a tidy cutback move into the downhill esses.

Nikita Mazepin’s F1 debut lastest just a handful of corners; his Haas spearing off the track at Turn Three and into the outside barriers, too eager on throttle in pursuit of the field.

Having been forced to start from the pitlane after restarting his RB16B, Perez took the opportunity to pit for used medium tyres before the safety car was withdrawn on lap four.

Verstappen waited until the final possible moment to counteract the strong headwinds that emerged for raceday but Hamilton was alongside him  into the first corner, the Red Bull holding him off once more.

Pierre Gasly’s great qualifying was quickly a distant memory after contact on the restart into Turn Five took the front wing off the AT02 after slight contact with the rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren.

Haas’s evening was made even worse as Mick Schumacher suffered a repeat of his team-mate’s mistake and spun out of Turn Four and into last place.

Verstappen reported issues over the team radio but led Hamilton on the resumption of racing on lap five after a brief virtual safety car spell.

Bottas made the most of DRS on lap six to take back third into the first corner from Leclerc and despite a lock-up into four, retained the place from the Monégasque driver.

A string of fastest laps from the leader kept Hamiton at a 1.5sec gap despite an apparent differential issue.

Lando Norris held station at the start but Leclerc had fallen back into the McLaren’s grasp. An optimistic attempt around the outside of Turn Four didn’t quite work but Norris was past into Turn One with DRS, leaving Leclerc to fend off Ricciardo. Lance Stroll put in an identical DRS pass on Fernando Alonso for P7 behind.

Perez’s recovery through the field was rapid. The Mexican up to P13 by the end of lap 10 despite his dramas at the start and subsequent pit stop. DRS up the hill into Turn Four and Perez scythed by Esteban Ocon for P12 a lap later.

Alonso was the first to pit in the top 10 for a fresh set of medium tyres, in what was an early stop for an optimum two-stop strategy.

His stop brought Norris and Leclerc in on the following lap and Stroll and Giovinazzi from the lower reaches of the top 10, kicking off the first pitstop phase.

The McLaren and Ferrari rejoined ahead of the two-time champion but Stroll lost out to the undercut having passed Alonso.

Hamilton had maintained a 1.7sec gap to Verstappen but was in on lap 14 for hard tyres in a Mercedes undercut attempt.

Ricciardo responded to his team-mate’s stop as well but the extra lap put him out behind Alonso in P12.

A 1.4sec quicker middle sector from Hamilton against Verstappen on the outlap put him within range of an overtake and Red Bull kept its driver out on an alternative strategy.

Bottas was brought in from second on lap 17 to fit hard tyres, rejoining in fourth behind his team-mate and the recovering Perez.

Verstappen responded finally on lap 18, with new fresh medium tyres the differentiator. He rejoined into second behind Hamilton to the tune of 7sec. Bottas made quick work of the second Red Bull later in the lap into Turn 11 with DRS to set about chasing down the leading pair. Perez was in for his second stop of the day on lap 20.

Vettel was up to eighth but yet to stop having started from last and holding up Alonso in a duel with little love lost between both parties.

The Alpine driver had DRS into Turn Four but a late-braking defence almost resulted in contact, with Vettel holding onto the position.

Alonso breezed by on the following lap into Turn One but a lock-up opened the door to Carlos Sainz who had joined the party.

The Ferrari blasted past up the hill and with a double-helping of DRS, Vettel followed through and snuck his Aston Martin back through for ninth. Locking his brakes into the first corner on the next lap undid the hard work though and allowed his rival back past.

Hamilton’s pace in front was not as quick as the two behind and Verstappen had halved the gap to the leader by lap 23 following his stop to 3.8sec. Bottas was a further 3.8sec back from the Red Bull in a finely-poised middle stint of the race.

Verstappen was reeling in the lead Mercedes with blistering pace. “I can’t go any quicker” was Hamilton’s response over the team radio.

Just as the Red Bull made it to within 2sec, Hamilton was brought in for a second stop to fit another set of fresh hard tyres.