That Perez is without a seat next year is a travesty, and he was robbed of a podium in the final laps a week ago. This time, he wasn’t to be denied and he cruised home for a maiden victory, one that even Russell said the Mexican deserves given the career he has had to date.
“I’m a bit shocked, to be honest,” Perez admitted. “I don’t find the words. I’m a bit in limbo. As a driver you dream for this time, to be in this position, for so many years. Basically I worked my whole life for a moment like this, so to finally achieve it… it’s difficult to digest. I think it will take a couple of days. But I think it is something incredible.
“Especially coming back from last weekend when it was a very disappointing day for us, when we should have been in the podium… the last couple of races really we should have been on the podium. But we didn’t give up, especially after Lap One. We got knocked out again. I don’t really know what happened, I was already doing the corner and I got hit badly from behind so I thought the race was over again. But we managed to come back.”
It was a win set up by some excellent moves – passing both Ocon and Stroll on track – and it only strengthens his case to replace Alex Albon after the sole remaining Red Bull could only fight to sixth place behind Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo. For once the second Renault on track, Ricciardo was pleased for his team-mate but felt a win slipped away, while Ocon couldn’t hide his own emotions after climbing from 11th to second.
Ocon and Perez on the podium
Hamad I Mohammed/Getty Images
“I cried on the line, that’s how much emotion is going through my mind actually now,” Ocon said. “It’s been a tough season on our side. It hasn’t paid off all the time but we never stopped pushing. We kept working hard, we kept staying motivated. That was very important. At the moment where less and less people are believing in you, it’s important to believe in yourself and today we made it happen and I’m very pleased with it. It’s hard work but it has paid off.
“Obviously we knew what we are going to do with the strategy, coming from outside the top ten, free choice of tyres and that was very interesting for a race like this. The graphs were showing that we were going to be coming in the top five, that it was going to be a very strong comeback and the guys on more stops were going to be struggling a bit. But yeah, we never thought, obviously, that we were going to come this close to the win even. It’s been an awesome race.”
He’s right there. Whether Hamilton is back in Abu Dhabi remains to be seen, and the grid will always be a better place with the most successful driver in history on it, but we’ve now had a glimpse at a parallel universe where he isn’t, and it’s still exciting.
2020 F1 Sakhir Grand Prix race results
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Points |
1 |
Sergio Perez |
Racing Point |
1hr 31min 15.114sec |
25 |
2 |
Esteban Ocon |
Renault |
+10.518sec |
18 |
3 |
Lance Stroll |
Racing Point |
+11.869sec |
15 |
4 |
Carlos Sainz |
McLaren |
+12.580sec |
12 |
5 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Renault |
+13.330sec |
10 |
6 |
Alex Albon |
Red Bull |
+13.842sec |
8 |
7 |
Daniil Kvyat |
AlphaTauri |
+14.543sec |
6 |
8 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Mercedes |
+15.389sec |
4 |
9 |
George Russell |
Mercedes |
+18.556sec |
3* |
10 |
Lando Norris |
McLaren |
+19.541sec |
1 |
11 |
Pierre Gasly |
AlphaTauri |
+20.527sec |
|
12 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari |
+22.611sec |
|
13 |
Antonio Giovinazzi |
Alfa Romeo |
+24.111sec |
|
14 |
Kimi Räikkönen |
Alfa Romeo |
+26.153sec |
|
15 |
Kevin Magnussen |
Haas |
+32.370sec |
|
16 |
Jack Aitken |
Williams |
+33.674sec |
|
17 |
Pietro Fittipaldi |
Haas |
+36.858sec |
|
|
Nicholas Latifi |
Williams |
DNF |
|
|
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull |
DNF |
|
|
Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari |
DNF |
|
*Includes additional point for fastest lap