It was the sixteenth time that the Bahrain Grand Prix has been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

The second race, named the Sakhir Grand Prix, took place at the same venue on 6 December, but was held on a different circuit layout.

[3][4][5] The race was suspended for eighty minutes following a serious accident involving Romain Grosjean, which resulted in his Haas VF-20 splitting in two and catching fire.

[10][11] Due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, organisers announced that the Grand Prix would take place behind closed doors.

[19] The first of two practice sessions took place on Friday in unrepresentative daylight conditions and saw Hamilton top the timesheet from Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez.

[23] The second stage of qualifying was red flagged after Carlos Sainz Jr. experienced a brake failure and stopped on track.

The halo device of the driver's compartment was thus credited for saving Grosjean from more serious injuries, and possible death, by sheltering his head and body from this impact with the barrier.

Grosjean thus endured the flames of the wreckage for approximately 28 seconds, while climbing around the barrier to extract himself from the vehicle unaided.

[30][31] Medical car driver Alan van der Merwe and medical delegate Dr. Ian Roberts provided treatment immediately and initially reported that Grosjean seemed to have suffered minor burns on his hands and ankles (where gaps exist between the race suit and the driver's gloves and boots) and a possible broken rib.

[35] The crash led to the race being suspended for 80 minutes as debris was cleared and the destroyed metal barrier was replaced with a line of concrete blocks.

[36] Grosjean was taken to the track's medical centre, then to Bahrain Defence Force Hospital by helicopter for further treatment.

The safety car period concluded on the ninth lap, with Hamilton pulling clear of the rest of the field soon after.

[28] On lap 54, while running in third position, Pérez's Racing Point's engine failed and caught fire after turn 10, triggering a double-yellow caution in that zone of the track.

[50] Daniel Ricciardo was highly critical of Formula One Management (FOM) choosing to broadcast repeated replays of the incident; FOM later responded to this criticism defending their decision to show the replays as did Haas team boss Guenther Steiner.

[51][52] Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also defended the use of replays whilst additionally stating that had Grosjean's injuries proved to be more serious then he would have considered withdrawing his cars and drivers from the race.

[55] The Marshals, Dr. Ian Roberts and Alan van der Merwe were awarded the FIA President's medal for their bravery and exceptional reaction to Grosjean's crash.

[56] Grosjean attended the next race, the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, where he thanked his rescuers for saving his life.