F1 GP Bahrain: Vettel gives another victory to Ferrari

The Prince of the Desert a Sakhir è Sebastian Vettel, who went on to win for the third time in Bahrain. The pilot of Ferrari he crossed the finish line ahead of Lewis Hamilton, also penalized 5 seconds, e Valtteri Bottas; Red's fourth Kimi Raikkonen, who this time performed equally well, despite a less than perfect start. Right at the start, however, the excellent starting point was crucial Hag, then supported by an impeccable strategy and by a single-seater that now has all it takes to keep up, and even more, with the Silver Arrows! Ricciardo, Massa, Perez, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Ocon complete the top ten.

News –  Lower temperatures than the rest of the weekend, 25°C in the air, 30°C in the asphalt, but winds of 20 km/h on the track in Sakhir. Vandoorne's McLaren raises the white flag on the reconnaissance lap due to PU problems, with the Belgian forced to abandon the race before the start. The top 10 all start on used supersoft rubber. From Kvyat to the end of the grid, however, everyone is on the new supersoft, except Ericsson with the softs. The traffic lights go out: Bottas starts well and keeps Hamilton behind, who is however overtaken by Vettel. Verstappen, Ricciardo and Massa leave behind Raikkonen and Hulkenberg, who slipped to seventh and eighth place. Kvyat slips from 11th to 18th after a near contact with Sainz. On lap 2, Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Massa, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Ocon. Perez overtakes Palmer and takes 12th place, Raikkonen overtakes Massa in sixth place. On lap 9 Stroll is the first to pit, fitting the soft compound. On the next lap comes the second retirement: it's Magnussen with the Haas. On lap 10, Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Massa, Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Ocon.

Pit stop for Vettel on lap 11, the German mounts new supersofts and returns 12th. Verstappen also stops, but upon returning to the track the Dutchman immediately ends up in the gravel, abandoned by the brakes! Raikkonen arrives in the pits, mounting used supersofts, and then rejoining in tenth. On lap 13 there was contact between Stroll and Sainz, with the track filling up with debris and the safety car coming onto the track to regroup the group. Bottas immediately pits, followed by Hamilton. However, the Brit will slow down too much when entering the pit lane, with Ricciardo behind him: he will therefore receive a 5 second penalty for going dangerously too slow. On lap 15, behind the safety car: Vettel, Bottas, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Ericsson, Perez and Grosjean. New supersoft compound for Vettel, Bottas, Perez, used for Kimi and Grosjean, soft for all the others.

On lap 17 the safety car returned. Hamilton immediately passes Ricciardo, then Bottas also tries on Vettel, but the German doesn't give up the lead. Raikkonen further back takes the position on Ricciardo. Alonso and Palmer are fighting for 12th place. Perez takes seventh place from Hulkenberg. On lap 19, Vettel, Bottas, Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Perez, Hulkenberg Grosjean and Ocon. Alonso, 11th, defends himself from Ericsson's Sauber, then overtaken by Palmer and Kvyat. Vettel is warned that Hamilton and Bottas will swap positions, to allow the Briton to gain ground, given that he will then have to serve the 5 second penalty.

Raikkonen takes fourth position from Massa and immediately afterwards the two Mercedes exchange places. Ricciardo also overtakes Massa, while Vettel travels 6 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Alonso takes advantage of a wheel-to-wheel between Palmer and Kvyat and takes 12th place. On lap 31 Bottas stops and uses the new soft compound to get to the finish line, returning seventh between Perez and Hulkenberg. On lap 33, pit stop for Vettel and new soft tyre; the German returns third behind Hamilton and Raikkonen. On lap 35, Grosjean takes 13th position from Wehrlein. Hamilton is leader followed by Raikkonen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Bottas, Massa, Perez, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Kvyat. Vettel takes second position over Kimi. Bottas takes fourth place from Ricciardo. Pit stop for Perez who uses the new soft compound and returns from seventh to ninth. Raikkonen and Massa stop on lap 38: the Finn mounts the new soft and returns fifth, the same tire for the Brazilian, sixth. Supersoft tire for Ricciardo, who returns fifth behind Raikkonen. On lap 41 Hamilton also stopped and mounted the used soft, returning to third behind Bottas. Vettel returns to the race leader.

Hamilton begins his hunt for Bottas first, and then for Vettel, given that from the pits they told him he had the pace to win. On lap 47 Hamilton overtakes Bottas: shortly afterwards Mercedes confirms that they have given a team order. Vettel has several laps ahead of him but Hamilton will not be able to get close enough to fight for the top step of the podium with the German. On lap 52 Ericsson's Sauber retires, and 4 laps later it's Alonso's turn, called back to the pits due to engine problems.
The last lap is all for Sebastian Vettel, who goes on to win the Bahrain GP ahead of Hamilton and Bottas!

F1 GP Bahrain – Times, results and laps Race 
1 05 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari + 0″000 57
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 0″000 + 6″660 57
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes + 0″000 + 20″397 57
4 07 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari + 0″000 + 22″475 57
5 03 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull + 0"000 + 39"346 57
6 19 Felipe Massa Williams + 0″000 + 54″326 57
7 11 Sergio Perez Force India + 0"000 + 62"606 57
8 08 Romain Grosjean Haas + 0″000 + 74″865 57
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault + 0″000 + 80″188 57
10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India + 0″000 + 95″711 57
11 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber + 0″000 + 1 lap 56
12 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso + 0″000 + 1 lap 56
13 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault + 0″000 + 1 lap 56
14 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren + 0″000 DNF
15 09 Marcus Ericsson Sauber + 0″000 DNF
16 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso + 0″000 DNF
17 18 Lance Stroll Williams + 0″000 DNF
18 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0″000 DNF
19 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas + 0″000 DNF
20 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren + 0″000 DNF