The second weekend in Bahrain came filled with surprises, Lewis Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19 and was substituted by George Russell, with Jack Aitken taking his seat at Williams. Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two times World Champion Emerson, was at the wheel of injured Romain Grosjean's Haas.
The biggest shake-ups came on Friday and Saturday as George Russell impressed everyone with his performances, setting fastest laps on both practices on Friday and qualifying a very respectable second, just 0.026 seconds behind Valtteri Bottas in the sister Mercedes.
The race on Sunday didn't change the script much as Sergio Perez crashed into Charles Leclerc's Ferrari, ending Leclerc's race while Max Verstappen crashed on his own trying to avoid Leclerc, ending his race, all of that on lap one. Perez was able to return to the pits but exited dead last.
Up front it was a Russell show, managing the race beautifully. Until Mercedes had one of those very rare mistakes, ruining both Russell's and Bottas' pitstops and therefore the race itself. Russell showed he's World Championship material nevertheless.
At the end, it was Sergio Perez, who had to wait for 190 starts to win his first Grand Prix. He is only the second Mexican to win in F1 – after Pedro Rodriguez, victor in the 1967 South African and 1970 Belgian Grands Prix.