It’s Carlos Sainz, currently 3rd, who was voted driver of the day during the Bahrain Grand Prix
For this first Grand Prix of the F1 season, the Spaniard could hardly have hoped for better. He finished on the podium of a perfectly managed race, with high-quality overtakes.
Taken out of context, when a driver wins the race with more than a 20-second lead over his teammate, there is no doubt that the honorary title of driver of the day is rightfully his, or almost… Only Carlos Sainz had a solid race, with many overtakes. Viewers have decided to reward the Ferrari driver, who garnered over 31% of the votes compared to 13% for Max Verstappen.
A starting race on the offensive
Part in 4th position on the grid, only George Russell separated him from his Monegasque teammate. However, he was caught at the start by Sergio Perez, nestled in Russell’s exhaust, who took advantage of the slipstream to overtake. He then had to defend in the first corner against his compatriot Fernando Alonso, and thus keep his 5th position. At the start of the 11th lap of the race, Carlos Sainz regained his 4th place in the first corner. Charles Leclerc struggling with his front end eventually gave in. The two drivers gave it their all, while remaining cautious to avoid a collision.
A double overtake on Charles Leclerc
As Charles Leclerc had just made a pit stop 2 laps earlier, Carlos Sainz stopped at the end of the 14th lap. Everything had to be done again for the Spaniard who came out just behind his teammate! 2 laps later, he treated us to a superb dive on the inside of turn 1 to overtake him once again. Well aided by yet another wheel lock-up from Leclerc, who was clearly not comfortable at the start of the Grand Prix. The son of the Dakar winner animated this race, and went after George Russell. He completed an overtake on the outside of turn 4 to climb onto the podium. He quickly opened up a significant gap: he was on a much higher pace than the other drivers on the grid except for Red Bull.
The hope of a fight with Perez
During the rest of the Grand Prix, there was even a desire to snatch second place from Sergio Perez. During the final stint, the Mexican was on soft tires, unlike the Spaniard who was on hard tires. Ferrari engineers believed in a drop in pace from the Red Bull driver at the end of the race: in vain.
Carlos Sainz finishes his Grand Prix in 3rd place, less than 3 seconds behind Sergio Perez. He will have maximized his driving and his car’s performance to secure the first podium of the season for Scuderia.
