Vettel wins Bahrain thriller

It was a close fight from start to finish but Vettel took the chequered flag for the second time this season.

Sebastian Vettel made it two from two in 2018. With a brilliantly judged drive to fend off Valtteri Bottas, the German won a tense and closely fought grand prix from Bottas with Lewis Hamilton recovering to finish third from his gearbox penalty.

Well if you weren’t entertained a week ago this was the remedy, a race that had a bit of everything. The race got underway with Bottas claiming second from Kimi Raikkonen into the first corner, while teammate Hamilton had a great getaway but was quickly swamped in the midfield and left to fend off Max Verstappen. Brendon Hartley tagged Sergio Perez and was given a 10-second penalty for the incident.

Verstappen was all over the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes, a move down the inside into turn one and the job seemed done for the Red Bull driver. But he ran into Hamilton on the exit and received a puncture for his troubles. Red Bull’s woes were about to get worse when Daniel Ricciardo peeled off the track with a loss of power. A long limp back to the pits was for nought as the Dutchman was forced to retire a few laps later and completed a miserable Sunday.

The Mercedes driver was quick to deal with the traffic between himself and the leaders, a brilliant triple overtake into turn one on Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon set the tone for the evening with Hamilton carving his way past Magnussen and Gasly just a few laps later.

Mercedes’ pace was strong in the initial phase of the race and it forced Ferrari to cover off an undercut, first bringing in Vettel and then Raikkonen. Mercedes seized the initiative and converted Bottas’ strategy to a one-stop on mediums with Ferrari seemingly committed to a two-stop.

Meanwhile Pierre Gasly was having a very strong race in fifth position in the Toro Rosso Honda, unchallenged from behind. Haas’ drivers almost came to blows, Grosjean almost cutting across Kevin Magnussen which had the Dane furious with the team asking, colourfully so, if they could move his teammate out of the way, the team eventually obliging.

Ferrari opted to pit Raikkonen to prompt a Mercedes move but a wince-inducing moment left a Ferrari mechanic with a fractured leg after being hit by the exiting Ferrari, the Finn given the green light whilst mechanics were still changing his rear left tyre. The incident left Raikkonen out and prompted Ferrari to change tactics and convert Vettel onto a one-stop strategy on the soft tyres.

The race for the win was well and truly on and Mercedes knew it, telling Hamilton it was down to outright pace now to catch up the 18 second gap Vettel had over him and overtake. Radio miscommunication, misunderstanding and slow progression through traffic slowed Hamilton’s progress massively.

Bottas began to reel Vettel in with 7 laps to go, Vettel losing more and more rear end grip on very old tyres, the Mercedes driver still with reasonable grip left. With 2 laps left, the Finn finally got within DRS range of the Ferrari making for a tense final few laps. Bottas had a chance on the final lap but it wasn’t close enough and Vettel crossed the line to maintain his lead in the drivers’ championship.