Red Bull Motorsports
F1
What happened at the Bahrain Grand Prix?
Sebastian Vettel prevails in a late-race thriller, but it was a dark night under night skies for Red Bull – here's 10 things you need to know about what went down at Sakhir.
1. The build-up
Ferrari may have ridden its luck with a fortuitously-timed safety car and a Mercedes strategy stuff-up to win in Melbourne, but Australian Grand Prix victor Sebastian Vettel owed his 51st pole position to a fast car and a heavy right foot, the German leading a Prancing Horse front-row lock-out as he headed teammate Kimi Raikkonen by 0.143secs in qualifying. The red cars were the class of the field throughout practice, and their march to pole was made even easier when Mercedes revealed Lewis Hamilton needed a new gearbox for the race, triggering a five-place grid penalty. As it was, Hamilton could qualify only fourth, behind teammate Valtteri Bottas, and while he was set to start the race on the more durable soft-compound Pirelli tyre in an attempt to run a longer first stint than his rivals, Mercedes were already talking of "damage limitation" as qualifying concluded. Daniel Ricciardo inherited Hamilton's fourth place on the grid and was moderately pleased with being just four-tenths of a second off Vettel's pole time, while teammate Max Verstappen was the biggest casualty of qualifying, the Dutchman throwing his Red Bull at the Turn 2 fence in Q1 after what the team called a sudden burst of extra horsepower he clearly could have done without. Further back, Pierre Gasly turned heads when he wrestled his Honda-powered Toro Rosso to sixth, leaving ex-Honda customer McLaren "astonished" when Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne could qualify just 13th and 14th respectively.
2. The race in exactly 69 words*
Vettel hung on for his 49th win
© Ferrari Media
Vettel led comfortably early, but Mercedes forced the Ferrari into a one-stop strategy to attack the German on fading tyres, and nearly stole it – Vettel was just 0.6secs clear at the flag from Bottas. A strong start propelled Hamilton into the fight, and he inherited third when Raikkonen retired after a calamitous pit stop where he hit a mechanic. Both Red Bulls? Out with mechanical failures after five laps.
(* 2018 is the 69th season of Formula One)
3. What the result means
Bottas didn't take his one chance
© Daimler AG
While Australia was a race Ferrari controlled, Bahrain was one where they were on the defensive after Vettel switched to Plan B after pitting for soft tyres 18 laps in. Eking out 39 laps on soft rubber at Sakhir was no mean feat, and the German said his tyres "were done for the last 10 laps", meaning his second victory of the season was one won by guile as much as grunt. Bottas had a solid weekend, but when you start seven places ahead of your teammate, finish less than six seconds in front and make a fairly tame attempt at a pass for the win at the first corner on the final lap, Bahrain wasn't your finest hour. Would Hamilton, let alone either Red Bull, have been more audacious with the big prize on offer in the same situation? Regardless, while Mercedes looked the faster car throughout pre-season testing, it's Ferrari leading 2-0 on two very different circuits to kick off 2018.
4. Ricciardo recap
Ricciardo's race was over before it began
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Not a lot to say here for the Australian, whose wretched run at Bahrain continued – he's still never made the podium at Sakhir, and was out after just two laps with a gearbox failure that shut down the car completely. "It was as if I just switched the car off, I had nothing," he bemoaned afterwards. "Being out so early in a race is the worst feeling, especially when it's a night race. You're up all day waiting for those two hours, and after two minutes it's over." It was Ricciardo's first DNF in Bahrain, but means that seven races at Sakhir have yielded zero pieces of silverware.
5. For historical purposes ...
Hamilton's third place saw his points-scoring streak extend to 27 straight races, equalling Raikkonen's all-time record. The last time he didn't finish inside the top 10? Malaysia 2016, when an engine blow-up arguably cost him that year's championship.
6. The number to know
200: Vettel joined Hamilton (Belgium 2017), Nico Rosberg (Singapore 2016), Michael Schumacher (Europe 2004) and Jenson Button (Hungary 2011) as drivers to win on their 200th F1 start.
7. A tweet we didn't like
We'll leave this one here ...
8. Under-the-radar winner(s)
Gasly was all smiles after a superb showing
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Behind the big three teams (which became a big two after Verstappen's retirement on lap five following a Turn 1 clash with Hamilton and subsequent puncture on lap two), Gasly was the star of the show at Sakhir, finishing fourth for Toro Rosso in just his seventh F1 race, while engine supplier Honda had its best result in the V6 turbo hybrid era, which would have elicited some thoughts further down the pit lane at McLaren … Kudos also to Sauber and Marcus Ericsson, the Swede finishing ninth for his first points in 50 races, and the team's first points since Azerbaijan last year, when Pascal Wehrlein finished 10th.
9. The naughty corner
Verstappen has just eight points from two races
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Raikkonen squandered a podium at one of his strongest circuits with his pit stop dramas, while Force India's Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley both finished well behind their teammates while spending most of the race squabbling, Hartley penalised 10 seconds at his first pit stop for turning the Mexican around at Turn 4 on the opening lap, and Perez then pipping the Kiwi at the chequered flag – for 12th. But really, this space is reserved for Red Bull – at a circuit where a podium was on the cards, having both cars out so early was gutting.
10. What's next?
There's no rest for the teams and drivers, with the first of five 2018 back-to-back Grands Prix happening in China next Sunday. Shanghai has been Mercedes territory in recent years; the Silver Arrows have won five of the past six races in China, and no other team has won the Chinese GP since the advent of the V6 turbo hybrid era in 2014. Put your hard-earned on Hamilton, then …
