Nicholas Latifi of DAMS come first in the exciting Race 1 in Bahrain. Nicholas dominated the race after getting a fresh pair of tyres. He was unstoppable after the pit even though he had a bad time in the pit, as he spent more time than usual.
AS IT HAPPENED
Luca Ghiotto of UNI started the Race 1 on pole. At the start of Formation Lap, he had some clutch issues and stalled at the start of it. As he lined up at the start of the race, he had a major tyre spin because of some clutch issue. Deletraz of Carlin was 2nd, he got a good start and defended his position from De Vries who started 3rd. De Vries got a good start and he jumped Ghiotto who had some issues at the start. By the first turn, Luca Ghiotto dropped to sixth position. Mick Schumacher having to defend from his teammate Sean Gelael at turn 2 for 10th position. Sean Gelael managed to pass Schumacher at turn 14, he was into 9th position.
Sette Camara of DAMS, Latifi’s teammate, was having some issues with his engine on lap 2. Late lunge from Mazepin on Hubert going to turn 1 on lap no. 3. As Gelael was attacking on the start/finish straight with DRS open, he applied brake but the DRS remained open, and he lost control of his car. He avoided the barrier but he was out of the race. Hubert and wanted to take his 7th position from Mazepin and both were fighting on lap 6. Hubert won the battle for 7th position. Latifi was flying in the race as he overtook Deletraz for first position going into the first corner on lap 7. Deletraz was now defending from De Vries for second on lap 10. Ghiotto however moved into 4th position after overtaking Matsushita on lap 10. He was on the inside at turn 13.
Mick Schumacher moved into 9th position after overtaking Mazepin into the first corner at lap no. 11. Renault’s junior driver, Aitkin moved into 5th as he overtook Matsushita at turn 4 on 12th lap of the race. Matsushita was the first driver to pit. He went for mediums as he was on softs first. He had some issues in the pit as his rear left tyre was stuck. Meanwhile, Ghiotto moved into 3rd on lap 13 after overtaking De Vries, De Vries was struggling with tyres. Ghiotto overtook Deletraz going into first turn on lap 14, Ghiotto was now 2nd after having issues with start and dropping to 6th. Sette Camara locked up his wheels at turn 14 while trying to overtake Aitkin on lap 13. But he managed to overtake Aitkin on the next lap at turn 11 where we don’t see many overtakes. De Vries pits for fresh rubber on lap 15 and re-joins into 12th position. He had some problems in the pit as his rear right tyre was also stuck. Matsushita was now 3rd after overtaking Calderón at the tricky turn 10 on lap 17. Meanwhile Guanyu Zhou set the fastest lap time of 1m.47.645 on lap 19. Nicholas Latifi had some issues in the pits and those issues got have cost him a race win today.
Mick Schumacher was now fighting with Boschung for 12th position. Both fighting wheel to wheel. Latifi was now flying and there was no one to stop him. He overtook Matsushita at turn 1 for 2nd position on lap 22 and then did the same move on De Vries on the same corner for 1st position. Latifi was now leading the race after a pitstop issue. Mick was now again being attacked by Boschung for 11th on lap 23 but Mick was attacking Mazepin for 10th and he overtook Mazepin on lap 24 at turn 4 despite Mazepin pushing him off the track. Mazepin locks up at turn 7 and Boschung took his position, Mick and Boschung fighting again. Ghiotto was pushing after fresh rubber too as he overtook two cars, Sette and Deletraz for 4th position going into turn 1 on lap 25. Ghiotto did the same move on Matsushita on turn 1 for 3rd position on lap 26. Sette overtook Matsushita for 4th at turn 2 on lap 26 as well. Matsushita lost 2 position in just 2 turns. De Vries was struggling with his tyres again as Hubert overtook him for 4th on lap 28 at the start/finish straight, DRS wide open. Schumacher having to defend from Zhou at turn 1 & 2 on lap 27.
Deletraz overtook the struggling De Vries on lap 32 at turn 1. Schumacher overtook Matsushita on the last corner of the last lap of the race.
It was Latifi who conquered the day with his phenomenal drive with a win. He finished 8.7s ahead of the struggling Ghiotto and Sette Camera was 3rd after a sensational drive to bring 43 points for DAMS.
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