Summary

  • Hamilton wins after tense battle with Verstappen

  • Verstappen forced to hand lead back to Hamilton after off-track pass

  • Mazepin crashes out on first lap, Alonso out

  • Get involved: #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Michael Emons

  1. Get Involved

    #bbcf1

    Abu: Kimi v Alonso.....just like 2005....

  2. Like the good old days...

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  3. Verstappen on the mediums, compared to Hamilton on the hards, has sliced into the Mercedes' man's lead, which now stands at 3.9 seconds.

  4. Jennie Gow
    BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

    Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on the team radio to Valtteri Bottas has just said "hunt him [Verstappen] down."

  5. 'Great scrap in midfield'

    Jolyon Palmer
    Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

    Great scrapping the whole way through this midfield! All the cars are so close. They are all scrapping like they will never have a race again. It is brilliant to watch and these are all champions we are watching here all duking it out for one point in a grand prix.

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    #bbcf1

    Ben: Sainz passing Vettel and Alonso in a Ferrari is really some powerful imagery.

    Reece: The race between Alonso, Vettel and Sainz is exactly what you want to see. Wonderful stuff between 3 hugely talented drivers.

  7. How they stand

    1. Hamilton
    2. Verstappen +4.1
    3. Bottas +7.8
    4. Norris +21.4
    5. Leclerc +24.2
    6. Ricciardo +29.4
    7. Stroll +32.9
    8. Sainz +35.4
    9. Perez +37.3
    10. Vettel +39.4

    Hamilton, Bottas and Perez are on the hards. The rest are on the mediums.

  8. 'Vettel coming back through'

    Jolyon Palmer
    Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

    Sebastian Vettel must have a smile on his face right now. Once again coming back through.

  9. Fernando Alonso dives the inside of Sebastian Vettel, with Carlos Sainz trying to go around the outside. It is brilliant wheel-to-wheel racing between them, and Sainz played it perfectly by taking both the other two in successive corners. Lovely. That was for eighth to 10th.

  10. Jack Nicholls
    BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

    Really enjoying this grand prix. Really good stuff.

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  12. This has been a very, very enjoyable first 20 laps of 2021. What have the next 36 laps got in store for us?

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    Myles: My Bahrain GP prediction is Verstappen is going to burn his tyres and hand Mercedes the 1-2..

  14. 'All about one undercut for Red Bull'

    Jolyon Palmer
    Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

    Medium tyres on Verstappen will give him a bit more pace. In theory he should be able to close up on Hamilton and he is starting to do that.

    Verstappen has to sit within two seconds of Hamilton and then do to him what Hamilton did to Verstappen - the undercut into the third stint.

    It is all about one undercut for Red Bull unless Verstappen can do some magic on the track.

  15. Sergio Perez is in for a change on to the hards so Red Bull will not want to see him again until after the race.

  16. Team radio - Max Verstappen

    "There is really something xxxx wrong. I have no grip coming out of Turn One."

  17. 'Hamilton looks to be in charge'

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    They've got the jump on the undercut. They could potentially try to take these hard tyres to the end, I don't think they will but they have kind of snookered Verstappen and he seems to be driving a hampered car to one degree or another.

    On the face of it right now it looks like Hamilton is in charge.

  18. Verstappen is into the pits, mediums off, mediums on. We've still got 39 laps left so will probably need to come into the pits again.

    If Hamilton can nurse his hard tyres to the end then he could have a fantastic chance of winning this.

    Hamilton now with an on-track lead of seven seconds. Mercedes working well as a team to keep Verstappen under pressure, with the Dutchman fighting a lone battle, although Sergio Perez has now clawed his way from a pitstop start to fourth spot.

  19. 'Not good for Red Bull'

    Jolyon Palmer
    Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

    This is not looking good for Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton comes through and does the fastest lap of the race - 2.9 seconds quicker than Verstappen on one lap alone. You can't go too much longer because you are losing time hand over fist. Hamilton is almost going to be gaining that pit stop back!

    Verstappen has to stick to his guns now but he is losing so much time.

  20. In comes Bottas and that frees up Hamilton to bite into Verstappen's lead, cranking up the pressure on the Dutchman, who is unhappy with his car and the weather.