(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The 29-year-old four-time champion came home seven seconds ahead of three-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel clinched his second win this season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, to jump back into the lead for the title. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton in second and pole-sitter Valterri Bottas in third. In a 57-lap thrilling race filled with mixed emotions of tension and excitement, only 14 cars managed crossing the finish line, with six retirements.
At the start Vettel jumped into second place, with Hamilton slipping down to a third. From there it was all strategy, waiting for the two Mercedes cars ahead of him to pit and take the lead from there. He was briefly running third after his second pitstop and got back into lead and carried on to the chequered flag.
A pitlane incident and a bad strategy cost Mercedes their win, and almost compromised their second podium. A safety car, brought out following a crash involving Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz, threatened to nullify Vettel's threat but Mercedes were forced to pit their two drivers at the same time.
In an effort to avoid waiting for too long, Hamilton slowed ahead of the pit entry and blocked Daniel Ricciardo, for which he was subsequently handed a five-second penalty. Despite pitting later to serve his penalty and switching to a fresh set of soft tyres, it only helped him get back his second place but not take the win.
Amidst the chaos, Mercedes made Hamilton swap places with Valterri who was ahead of him in the beginning to let him hunt Vettel, however the unsuccessful attempt led to Valterri losing a position more than once to Hamilton. Bottas lost a place due to team strategy in the beginning and later in the closing laps of the race, because Lewis had more pace due to fresher tyres.
The Finn had to let the Briton pass in the end, and these swaps have highlighted Mercedes' new 'rules of engagement' which resonate the phrase 'team orders'. The Finn almost lost his third place too had the race been two laps longer, as Kimi Raikkonen had closed the gap to one second by the end. Finishing fourth in the chaos, was Ferrari's Finn Raikkonen, who was another target to team strategy. A fourth-place finish helps the team get two points ahead of the Mercedes but an early pitstop could have aided the senior Finn to the podium, a strategy perhaps Ferrari didn't prioritise on and similar to the last weekend in China.
The current results place Sebastian at the top with a total of 68 points, seven clear off Lewis who trails in second place in the Drivers' standings with a total of 61 points. Bothers is in third place with a total of 38 points , trailed by Kimi with a total of 34 points. In the Constructors championship Ferrari leads with a total of 104 points followed by Mercedes with a total of 102 points.
MENAFN2704201700490000ID1095424674
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.