BIC, Al Sakhir: Sebastian Vettel celebrated his 200th Grand Prix start by winning a nail-biting FORMULA 1 2018 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX, brilliantly managing a fast-degrading set of soft tyres, chased hard by Valtteri Bottas who had to leave it to the last lap to try to overtake the Ferrari driver.
But the Finn had to settle for second, ahead of world champion Lewis Hamilton, who mounted the podium for the 119th time, a remarkable race as he had to fight his way through from 9th place. Vettel was truly magnificent has he managed tyres, a fast- closing chaser, the track conditions and the huge stress that comes with the job of winning a race, his second after only two races of the 2018 season.
In this he was helped by both Red Bulls not making it past the first laps, as Max Verstappen tangled with Hamilton in the first lap and ended up worse off, with a punctured tyre and a damaged differential. The Dutchman was still sore when interviewed a little later, explaining that he was hit under braking, and felt it was not his fault. His team mate Daniel Ricciardo had a total electric failure and finished the race ignominiously on the back of a scooter: “It’s a harsh reality, especially after you’ve had all day to prepare for this evening race. We genuinely felt we had a good car today.”
Driver of the Day went to Pierre Gasly, as the 22-year-old Frenchman in his first full F1 season, finished in a stunning 4th place, causing the Toro Rosso pit crew to end the race hugging and kissing football-style to celebrate an unlikely but well-deserved result as if this was a win. Which in the light of the resources and budget available to Red Bull’s Racing ‘junior’ team, it most certainly was. “It is amazing. I cannot even realise what has happened. We knew the car was fast, but I don’t really know to say. It was a massive experience. An amazing day. Super happy for the team.”
The start saw Bottas overtake Kimi Raikkonen, who had to start on the ‘dirty’ side of the circuit and could not control his fellow Finn’s surge to second place. But his race was doomed too as a tyre pit top went terribly wrong and not only did the team effect a possible unsafe release, but one of the mechanics was injured in the confusion.
Behind them Hamilton was intent on scoring all the points he could take and in one stunning move managed to overtake three cars, getting into 6th place, and soon after into 5th.
Once the first pit stop tango started both Ferrari came in to record very fast stops, followed by Bottas, who despite a slightly slower pit, rejoined in 3rd positioned behind Vettel and now race leader Hamilton. Racing on medium tyres, the Mercedes puts pressure on the Ferrari drivers who would have planned to be stopping one more time. So on lap 25 Vettel’s pit wall warned him he was now on Plan B, a one-stopper. Tough call as the softs were not designed to last until the end. Vettel had his work cut out.
As the race evolved, Hamilton was having car radio to pit problems, as the team was trying to give him instructions, what pace and what mode to have the car to have a chance to catch the leading Ferrari and his team mate Bottas. With five laps to go the Finn is closing in on Vettel and his deteriorating soft tyres. His pit wall is advising him there were no more cars to lap, and that he could chase down the remaining Ferrari driver.
Three laps to go and the gap is 1.1s and Vettel seems to be struggling, while Hamilton is racing in 3rd. Two laps to go and Bottas is trying his all to catch the race leader. The Finn aims for the final DRS on the back straight. But Vettel holds him off and takes the chequered flag waved by former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger.
“These tyres were done for in the last ten laps’, shouts Vettel to his team over the radio once he passes the finish line and scores his first back-to-back victory since 2013.
Despite poor qualifying results on Saturday, both McLaren drivers finished in the points, Fernando Alonso in 7th and Stoffel Vandoorne in 8th, propelling the Woking team to an unlikely 3rd place in the overall championship standings.
The second race of the FIA Formula 2 Championship also took place on Sunday. Artem Markelov, the Renault F1 works team development driver, won the Sprint Race. The young Russian, who drives for the Russian Time team, took victory as he managed his tyres effectively to stand on the top step on the winner’s podium, ahead of BWT Arden’s Maximilian Günther and Sergio Sette Camara of Carlin.
The weekend’s Grand Prix in Bahrain was full of colour and emotion. The Sakhir circuit hosted events on and off track, as international music stars Carlos Santana, Disclosure e Benjamin Booker entertained the 95,000 spectators who watched the racing and the entertainment over the three days. The numbers were up 2,000 from last year, confirmation of the enduring success and interest in Formula 1 from both Bahrainis and international visitors.
