Sebastian Vettel resisted huge pressure from Valtteri Bottas to win a fascinating Bahrain Grand Prix and make it two wins from two races in this season’s Formula 1 world championship.
The Ferrari driver held on in a grandstand finish as Bottas, on mediums to Vettel’s fading soft tyres, was unable to pass and steal victory.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from a five-place grid penalty to complete the podium after Kimi Raikkonen’s hopes were dashed during a pitstop that left a Ferrari mechanic hurt and forced him to retire.
Vettel held the lead at the start as Bottas nabbed Raikkonen into Turn 1, and Vettel built a lead of more than three seconds over the first stint.
Bottas began to claw back time and was just two seconds back when Ferrari brought the race leader in for a change of tyres.
Vettel switched to softs and Raikkonen pitted a lap later as Bottas continued for two more laps, with the Ferraris benefiting from the power of fresher rubber.
When Bottas finally stopped, taking on mediums, Vettel’s lead was around eight seconds and Raikkonen had closed back in on the Mercedes.
The lead trio held station for several laps, only really disrupted when Vettel caught the longer-running Hamilton – who had risen from ninth – and had to wait to pass the Mercedes.
Raikkonen then made a second stop that threatened to inject a strategic variable into the lead fight but ended up removing him from the picture.
The Iceman pulled away before the left-rear had been changed and struck a mechanic’s leg, while Raikkonen stopped in the pitlane with three new tyres and the unchanged old one on his car and retired.
On-track Vettel appeared to be preparing for a two-stop race but his commitment to a one-stop became clear as his pace held up and Bottas failed to make significant ground.
The gap dipped below five seconds heading towards the final ten laps, and suddenly Vettel’s lead began to quickly diminish.
Bottas entered DRS range with two laps to go but a half-hearted look at Turn 1 on the final lap was as close as he got.
Hamilton finished 8.5 seconds adrift of the lead duo in third, with Red Bull the only missing ingredient after both its driver’s races imploded in the first couple of laps.
Max Verstappen squeezed Hamilton too hard exiting Turn 1 after passing him at the start of the second lap damaged his left-rear wheel, which caused a puncture.
He got back to the pits and had the tyres changed, but parked up shortly after with a differential problem.
Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo’s race ended shortly after Verstappen picked up a puncture when his car shut down exiting the Turn 8 hairpin.
Red Bull’s junior team afforded it reason to be cheerful though: Pierre Gasly was an incredible fourth place for Toro Rosso on only the team’s second start with Honda power.
Gasly kept clear of the squabbling Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, who clashed through Turn 2 over sixth on the opening lap but somehow escaped without damage, and was faultless for the remainder of the grand prix to bank his first points in Formula 1 in style.
Magnussen then survived a near-miss with team-mate Romain Grosjean, who was out of sync on old tyres, at Turn 2 in the second half of the race to finish fifth.
Fernando Alonso leapt from P13 to ninth on the opening lap and drove a strong race after McLaren’s “astonishing” poor performance in qualifying.
He caught Hulkenberg’s Renault in the closing stages but had to settle for seventh, ahead of team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne who used medium tyres to good effect to climb to eighth after his second stop.
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson banked his first points since the 2015 Italian Grand Prix in ninth place after running an extremely long first stint on softs and switching to mediums to execute a one-stop strategy to good effect.
Carlos Sainz Jr completed the points finishers in tenth.
So a fantastic and tense Bahrain Grand Prix. The tyre strategy and overtaking made this race entertaining. Fantastic to see Sebastian Vettel winning while Pierre Gasly achieved a top result for Toro Rosso – in a Honda-powered car – with a career best fourth.
Bahrain Grand Prix, race results after 57 laps:
1 Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 57 1:32:01.940
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Mercedes 57 +0.699s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Mercedes 57 +6.512s
4 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda Toro Rosso-Honda 57 +62.234s
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team Haas-Ferrari 57 +75.046s
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Sport Formula One Team Renault 57 +99.024s
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren F1 Team McLaren-Renault 56 +1 lap
8 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren F1 Team McLaren-Renault 56 +1 lap
9 Marcus Ericsson Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team Sauber-Ferrari 56 +1 lap
10 Esteban Ocon Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 lap
11 Carlos Sainz Renault Sport Formula One Team Renault 56 +1 lap
12 Sergio Perez Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 lap
13 Brendon Hartley Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda Toro Rosso-Honda 56 +1 lap
14 Charles Leclerc Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team Sauber-Ferrari 56 +1 lap
15 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team Haas-Ferrari 56 +1 lap
16 Lance Stroll Williams Martini Racing Williams-Mercedes 56 +1 lap
17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams Martini Racing Williams-Mercedes 56 +1 lap
– Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 35 DNF
– Max Verstappen Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Red Bull-Renault 3 DNF
– Daniel Ricciardo Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Red Bull-Renault 1 DNF
Drivers’ standings:
1 Sebastian Vettel 50
2 Lewis Hamilton 33
3 Valtteri Bottas 22
4 Fernando Alonso 16
5 Kimi Raikkonen 15
6 Nico Hulkenberg 14
7 Daniel Ricciardo 12
7 Pierre Gasly 12
9 Kevin Magnussen 10
10 Max Verstappen 8
11 Stoffel Vandoorne 6
12 Marcus Ericsson 2
13 Carlos Sainz 1
14 Esteban Ocon 1
15 Sergio Perez 0
16 Charles Leclerc 0
17 Brendon Hartley 0
18 Lance Stroll 0
19 Romain Grosjean 0
20 Sergey Sirotkin 0
Constructors’ standings:
1 Ferrari 65
2 Mercedes 55
3 McLaren-Renault 22
4 Red Bull-Renault 20
5 Renault 15
6 Toro Rosso-Honda 12
7 Haas-Ferrari 10
8 Sauber-Ferrari 2
9 Force India-Mercedes 1
10 Williams-Mercedes 0
Bahrain Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Sebastian Vettel hung on from Valtteri Bottas to take victory, Kimi Raikkonen hit his mechanic during a pit stop, Lewis Hamilton fought back and there were a miserable few seconds for Red Bull. The Bahrain Grand Prix had a bit of everything…
Vettel controlled proceedings from the start, but the race opened up when Ferrari and Mercedes opted for differing strategies at their first pit stops. Ferrari chose the soft tyres, Mercedes the mediums.
While Mercedes could go to the end comfortably, it was more of a stretch for Vettel, allowing Bottas to close up and create a grandstand finish. Ultimately, Bottas ran out of laps and Vettel held on to secure his 49th victory in his 200th Grand Prix start.
Hamilton delivered a brilliant comeback drive from ninth on the grid to complete the podium, but there was heartbreak for Red Bull as Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen retired for separate reasons within minutes of the race starting.
Vettel led away from pole, with Bottas making use of starting on the clean side of the grid to beat Raikkonen to Turn 1 to take second.
Hamilton, who had started ninth after a five-place grid penalty, kept his nose clean at the start, but was passed by Alonso and then came under attack from Verstappen.
Verstappen launched his Red Bull up the inside into Turn 1 and gave Hamilton the squeeze. But in running the Mercedes driver out of road, the duo made contact and Verstappen picked up a puncture.
It was a disastrous few moments for Red Bull as Ricciardo pulled off track with a suspected electrical issue, triggering the virtual safety car.
Verstappen made it back to the pits, but though the team got him back out, car damage ultimately forced him out of the race, sparking Red Bull’s first double retirement since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.
When normal race conditions resumed, Vettel led away from Bottas ahead of Raikkonen, Gasly and Magnussen.
After a sluggish start, Hamilton’s race exploded into life as he passed three cars into one corner. He used DRS to pass Alonso on the straight and then passed both Ocon and Hulkenberg who were squabbling on the approach to Turn 1.
The reigning world champion then passed Gasly for fourth, leaving him 14 seconds off the lead.
Vettel was the first to blink on lap 18, pitting for softs and rejoining fourth. Raikkonen followed the next lap, mirroring his team mate’s strategy. Bottas came in a lap later, but Mercedes mixed it up by fitting his car with the medium tyres.
Hamilton stayed out a further seven laps before surrendering the lead, pitting for the mediums and re-joining in fourth.
At this stage, Mercedes looked set to go to the end, with Ferrari potentially needing to pit again. The latter turned out to be the case for Raikkonen on lap 36.
But disaster struck as Raikkonen’s car was dropped from the jack before the left-rear wheel had been changed. The Finn pulled away, hitting one of the mechanics.
As the mechanic – later confirmed to have a broken leg – was tended to, Raikkonen was instructed to stop the car just metres from his pit box, after what was his second unsafe release of the weekend, following on from the one in practice.
Up front, Vettel built a lead of 7.5s over Bottas, with Hamilton a further 9.1s back in third. The reigning world champion was then told by Mercedes that they thought Vettel would try to go to the end.
With that in mind, Bottas was told to start closing Vettel down while radio problems made communication between Hamilton and his team difficult, with the Briton growing frustrated by a lack of information regarding the strategy.
Bottas cut the gap to 5.9s with nine laps to go, with Vettel complaining on team radio that he was not getting assistance from blue flags as he tries to battled through traffic.
He kept cutting the deficit, getting to within a second – and therefore DRS overtaking range – with two laps to go to set up a dramatic finish.
As they headed into the first corner on the final lap, Bottas had a half-hearted attack but he was just not close enough. The chance of victory disappeared and Vettel held on to clinch victory.
Hamilton crossed the line third, with Gasly finishing a sensational fourth to give Honda their best result since returning to F1 and give Toro Rosso only their 10th top-five finish.
Magnussen took an impressive fifth for Haas, ahead of Hulkenberg with McLaren scoring a double points finish for the second successive race with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne eighth and ninth respectively.
Ocon was rewarded for his relentless attack of Sainz, snatching 10th and the final point.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel admitted he feared Mercedes had pulled “checkmate” move to win the Bahrain Grand Prix regarding tyre strategy. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Sebastian Vettel feared Mercedes had pulled a ‘checkmate’ move to win the Bahrain Grand Prix when it committed to a one-stop strategy early in the race.
The German led the early stages in Bahrain but was focused on a two-stopper when he moved to the soft compounds at the first round of tyre changes.
Behind him, Mercedes chose to put Valtteri Bottas on to the medium compounds with the aim of going for a one-stop.
With Vettel not opening out enough of an advantage over his rival, the German thought that the race was lost at that time – before his team elected to gamble on him not stopping again.
In the end, he held off a late charge from Bottas to win by just 0.6 seconds.
“I think I came on the radio with 10 laps to go and said I had everything under control – and that was a lie,” explained Vettel.
“There was nothing under control. When they told me the pace of Valtteri at that time. I said no way I can do that. I did the maths in the car and thought he was going to catch me.
“I tried to keep it as clean as possible. Both Mercedes at the end of the stint were very strong, especially the first one, and by going onto the prime they saw what we did.
“Going onto the medium tyre I thought that was checkmate as we had to come in again.
“That was the original plan but we diverted again and tried to make them last and nurse them as much as I could. And it worked but only just.
“There wasn’t much – Valtteri had a bit of a sniff but fortunately he ran out of laps so I am really happy.”
Although Raikkonen stuck to a two-stop plan, before a botched pitstop put him out of the race, Vettel said that he had nothing to lose by trying to hold on to his tyres until the end.
“It put us under a lot of stress and pressure, but we had nothing to lose trying at that point to stay out and try to win or finish third.
“I am really pleased, if you manage to get the win under these conditions it tastes even better.”
Although Bottas had a brief look to pass Vettel under braking at Turn 1 on the final lap, the Finn admitted that he simply ran out of time to beat his rival.
“I knew because we were on the harder compound that there was a chance they would struggle in the end, and he was starting to struggle,” said the Mercedes driver.
“I was trying to get every lap and every corner perfect to catch him, but it was not enough. Being second with such close margin in the end is extremely disappointing.”
Ferrari has confirmed that the mechanic who was hit by Kimi Raikkonen in the botched pitstop at the Bahrain Grand Prix has suffered a broken leg.
The pitcrew member was tasked with fitting a new left rear tyre to Raikkonen’s car but, following a problem with the removal of the wheel already on it, he was still in position and had not moved when Raikkonen was released.
The mechanic was thrown to the ground by the Ferrari wheel, and was immediately attended to by paramedics before being taken to the track’s medical centre.
A tweet from Ferrari later said that the mechanic has suffered two fractured bones.
Speaking after the race, Raikkonen said he was unaware there had been a problem at the stop until he was told over the radio to bring his car to a halt.
“I go when the light is green and I don’t see what happens behind,” said Raikkonen.
“Unfortunately he got hurt. But you know my job is to go when the light changes – more [than] that, I don’t know really. Hopefully he’s okay.”
Source: Motorsport.com
This was another points scoring finish for McLaren and Fernando Alonso commented that he was flattered by “coincidence” Bahrain result. Motorsport.com has the details.
Fernando Alonso says his seventh place in the Bahrain Grand Prix was a “bit of a coincidence” and admits his McLaren F1 team must improve in the upcoming races.
The Woking-based team was left “astonished” on Saturday after struggling in qualifying, where Alonso finished 13th and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne was one place behind.
But both drivers recovered to finish in the points on Sunday, with Alonso in seventh and Vandoorne in eighth.
It is the first time McLaren has scored points in consecutive races with both cars since the 2014 season.
But despite the progress in the race, Alonso admitted the weekend had been particularly tough for McLaren and conceded the result flattered the car’s performance.
“We fixed it [qualifying] on the opening lap, didn’t we?” joked Alonso.
“When I looked in the mirrors and I saw [Lewis] Hamilton behind I thought ‘I don’t know what position I’m in but it can’t be too bad if Hamilton is behind’.
“We were still lacking a bit of pace in the race to be with [Nico] Hulkenberg and to attack the Haas.
“A pretty difficult weekend saved by the bell at the last moment with two cars in the points and with good points for the team, but we know we have to improve because today was a bit of a coincidence.”
Today’s result, aided by the retirement of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and the two Red Bulls, helped Alonso move into fourth place in the standings.
The two-time champion said he was “very happy” with the points haul so far despite McLaren’s lack of pace.
“The race is not just about car performance. It’s about saving fuel, the tyres, the start, the first corner, the first lap… there’s a lot more factors and we are usually better on Sundays than on Saturday.
“We know it’s been a particularly strange weekend for us. Very hard, too slow, especially in qualifying and we need to improve in the upcoming races because starting from so far back it’s complicated.
“But anyway, fifth in Australia, seventh here, 10 points there, six here. We would have taken 16 points before starting the championship in Barcelona, so I’m very happy about that.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was left unimpressed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen aggressive driving. The defending world champion commented that Verstappen’s move was “silly” and “unnecessary”. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Lewis Hamilton says Max Verstappen’s move that resulted in them colliding in the Bahrain Grand Prix was “silly” and disrespectful.
Verstappen suffered a puncture and differential damage that forced him to retire from the race when he and Hamilton made slight contact on the exit of the first corner early in the race.
The Red Bull driver was on the inside in the middle of the turn, and ran to the outside to squeeze Hamilton, whose front wing then clipped his left-rear wheel.
When watching the incident back behind the podium Hamilton referred to Verstappen as “a dickhead”, and speaking to the media after the race he said he felt the incident was “unnecessary”.
“Ultimately, I had a coming together with Max and it was an unnecessary collision,” said Hamilton.
“There needs to be a certain respect between drivers. I need to watch it again, but it didn’t feel like a respectful move.
“It was a silly move for him because he didn’t finish the race and obviously he’s tending to make quite a few mistakes recently.
“It was just unnecessary for him to do that. I can’t really remember what point of the race it was or why we were in that position, but I don’t really care to be honest.”
Verstappen believes that if the roles were reversed, Hamilton would not have been happy in his position.
“I had a good run out of the last corner and went for the inside,” he said. “Lewis was trying to go around the outside and at one point I was ahead.
“I think there was still enough space on the left but I got a touch on the left rear and it destroyed my diff.”
When asked if it was a racing incident, Verstappen said he was “fine” with the stewards taking no action, then he added: “I don’t know. I think if it was the other way around he would have said something.”
Sebastian Vettel has launched a strong defence of Formula 1 rival Lewis Hamilton over comments the Mercedes driver made about Max Verstappen straight after the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton was heard calling Verstappen “a dickhead” in the drivers’ room before the podium ceremony, prompting questions about it in the post-race press conference.
But when Hamilton was asked about what he said, race winner Vettel interjected and expressed sympathy for his rival.
“Can I answer that?” Vettel said. “It’s not fair – I don’t know what Lewis did, we’ve all been in that situation.
“We fight someone and sometimes we go wheel-to-wheel, and it’s close, and we have a lot of adrenaline going.
“Do you think, if you compare it to football, if you have a microphone on a footballer’s mouth that everything he says is something nice, and it’s a nice message when the guy tackles him and sometimes he fouls him?
“I don’t think it’s justified to give us this kind of shit question and making up a story out of nothing.”
Vettel said it was normal for a driver to react emotionally in high-pressure situations.
“We are just racing, we are full of adrenaline and we say these things,” he added. “If I hit you in your face, you are not going to tell me, ‘Sebastian, that wasn’t nice’.
“It’s a human reaction, and sometimes I feel it’s all a bit blown up and artificial if we have these questions trying to make something out of nothing.”
Hamilton, who told TV crews “emotion is always firing when you get out of the car”, said he couldn’t “really remember” making the comment, before referencing that he recalled it being in the podium room.
“I realised I had to back out, but he continued to come across, and that didn’t leave me any room, so we ended up touching,” he said.
“I was just really grateful that my car wasn’t broken and I could continue.
“That would have really been difficult. My thoughts are on the world championship, and I’ve lost two races now.
“I am 17 points down already after just two races. Hopefully when we go to the next race we will have a better fight with the Ferraris.”
Source: Motorsport.com
The star of the Bahrain Grand Prix was Pierre Gasly. Red Bull motorsport boss commented that Gasly’s drive “made a man out of him”. Motorsport.com has the details.
Pierre Gasly’s drive to fourth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix “made a man out of him”, according to Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko.
The French, in only his seventh Formula 1 race, gave the Toro Rosso-Honda package its first points of the season with a sensational drive to fourth.
It was the best result for the Honda engine since it returned to the sport in 2015.
Gasly had started from fifth on the grid following Toro Rosso’s “huge step forward” from Melbourne, but Marko admitted today’s result came as a surprise.
“That made a man out of him,” said Marko. “His reward is the fourth place. All our drivers have a very good bonus system. This will more than please him.
“I didn’t expect a fourth place that early – but it’s a positive development. It was the target to challenge the midfield with this engine. Not here, but in the first half of the season.”
Team boss Franz Tost hailed Gasly’s drive as flawless.
“Pierre has done an incredibly good job, I must say,” said Tost. “Also yesterday in qualifying he got everything together.
“And today a good start. Fantastic how he fought at the beginning against Magnussen, defending very, very hard and he brought it home without any mistakes, nothing. Very good job.”
Asked if he expected such a performance from a rookie, Tost said: “Otherwise he would not be a Red Bull Junior driver and he would not be at Toro Rosso. I expected it.”
Gasly, who made his grand prix debut last year in Malaysia, admitted it had been an “emotional” race.
“It was just an amazing feeling just trying to realise, because you put so much focus, so much energy,” he said. “It’s mentally tiring, you have to take care of all the things: the tyres, the fuel, the battery, the gap behind.
“Just trying to take care of anything and put some really good laps. And you just completely release everything and the emotions come.
“I’m quite emotional in these sort of situations, so I was just super happy.”
Ferrari has been fined 50,000 Euros for the botched pitstop that ended with one of its mechanics suffering a broken leg at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen had come into the pits for his second stop of the race when there was a problem at the left rear of the car.
Despite the wheel not having been removed, Raikkonen was instructed that the stop had been completed and he left the pit box.
As he accelerated away, he hit the mechanic who had been standing there with the replacement wheel – running over the crew member’s leg and breaking it.
The FIA summoned Ferrari to hear its explanation for what had gone wrong, and in the end handed down a hefty 50,000 Euro sanction.
In a statement issued by the stewards, the FIA said: “The Stewards determined that the car was released unsafely in breach of Art. 28.13 a). The team released the car in a manner endangering team personnel and causing injury.”
Source: Motorsport.com
Force India’s Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley have fallen foul of the Bahrain stewards – for an overtake that happened before the race had even started!
Perez, 12th on the grid, was handed a 30-second post-race time penalty for overtaking Hartley, 11th, during the formation lap and making “no noticeable effort to allow car 28 to regain his position”.
In turn, Hartley received an identical punishment, plus two penalty points on his Super License, for failing to repass Perez before the safety car line and then not pitting as required by the rules.
Ironically, the pair then tangled on the opening lap (main image above), with their contact tipping Perez into a spin, which according to the Mexican “pretty much ruined” his race. Hartley, whose car was also damaged, was handed an in-race, 10-second stop-and-go penalty for causing the incident.
Seemingly inseparable, however, they went on take the chequered flag in 12th and 13th, with Perez just 0.027s ahead of the New Zealander. But with penalties applied they drop to the bottom of the race results in 16th and 17th.
“It was a massive opportunity today to score some big points and I knew the first lap was about not getting into an incident,” said Perez. “But there was nothing I could do – Brendon just lost control of his car.
“Although I had massive damage on the rear floor, I recovered and nearly made it into the points but I’m just a bit sorry that we lost such a big opportunity today.”
While Perez was left to watch team mate Esteban Ocon take Force India’s first point of the season in tenth, Hartley witnessed Toro Rosso partner Pierre Gasly come home an amazing fourth to secure his maiden F1 points.
“An amazing day for Toro Rosso but a disappointing day for me,” said Hartley. “I had a good start and first couple of corners but had a small contact with Perez in Turn 4.
“This not only damaged my front wing for the remainder of the race but I was also given a 10 second time penalty. We had the pace to be comfortably in the points without the penalty so it was a bit frustrating.”
Source: Formula1.com
Injured Ferrari mechanic undergoes successful surgery, which is good news after that horrifying pit-stop involving Kimi Raikkonen. Motorsport.com has the details.
The Ferrari mechanic who suffered a broken leg during Kimi Raikkonen’s race-ending pitstop in the Bahrain Grand Prix has successfully undergone surgery.
Francesco Cigarini was preparing to fit a new left-rear tyre during Raikkonen’s second stop when the Finn was mistakenly told to leave the pit box.
Raikkonen ran over Cigarini’s left leg as he pulled away, which Ferrari said broke its crew member’s shinbone and fibula.
Cigarini was transferred to Bahrain’s BDF Hospital and took to social media in the early hours of Monday morning to confirm his surgery was a success.
“The operation went well,” he wrote on Instagram. “I want to thank all the people who asked about me and worried. Only a big thank you. Hugs.”
Raikkonen, new to Instagram in December last year, wrote back: “Get well soon mate!”
After the race Ferrari began investigating why its automated system told Raikkonen the pitstop was finished and he could leave.
The system triggers a green light when the car has four wheels re-fitted, but Raikkonen’s left rear had not been removed and when he pulled away he still had the old tyre on.
It is against the regulations for a car to have a mismatched set of tyres, which is why Raikkonen was instructed to stop in the pitlane.
Ferrari was fined €50,000 for the unsafe release, while an answer on the investigation is expected on Monday.