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Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix. -------------------------------------------- 18:00: Degradation is going to be key here. Making these super-softs last could determine the outcome of the race. Bottas lines back up on the grid. It's nearly time for lights out! 17:59: For the first time in his F1 career, Bottas leads the field away on a formation lap. --- 17:58: Everyone except Ericsson, in 19th, on the super-soft tyre. Ericsson has picked the soft tyre. --- 17:57: Vettel's swipes his visor down. It's nearly time for the formation lap. --- 17:55: The run down to Turn 1 is going to be very interesting, especially if there's a red car sat first or second once they get through the opening sequence. --- 17:45: Vandoorne's car has been towed back into the McLaren garage, next to a lot of chairs set up for the mechanics to watch the race. That will put him onto his fourth power unit for the Russian GP - the fourth race of the year. --- 17:42: McLaren confirms Vandoorne will not be starting this race due to the engine issues he's been suffering all weekend, which Honda traced to the MGU-H. --- 17:40: Hulkenberg was one of the stars of qualifying and he will start this race seventh after a lap he likened to the one which saw him take a shock pole in Brazil during his rookie year. --- 17:36: Don't discount Red Bull either. Ricciardo did a great job to snatch fourth from Raikkonen yesterday, so let's see if their strategy can throw them into contention this evening. --- 17:35: The Mercedes front row lockout might look like deja vu from previous years, but Ferrari's race pace in practice looked very promising so they will be hoping they can take the fight to the world champions in the grand prix. Might be a worrying omen for the season if they can't... --- 17:32: Polesitter Valtteri Bottas heads out from the pit lane. A great job from him to beat Hamilton to the front of the grid - it was a very close fight, but he prevailed by 0.023s. --- 17:30: The pit lane is open - lights out is half an hour away! |
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Lap 1 |
Bottas makes a great start and leads into Turn 1, Vettel jumps Hamilton into the first corner and takes second from the Mercedes man! Verstappen has a great start and passes Raikkonen and teammate Ricciardo for fourth. Kvyat runs across the kerbs. Vettel right behind Bottas coming through Turn 9. Palmer swings one way and then the other to fling his Renault past Ocon, lovely move up to Turn 10. Kvyat runs wide again at the top of the hill and nearly runs into his teammate. |
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Lap 2 |
Bottas crosses the line 0.4s up on Vettel. This is going to be a chase to the flag at this race. Hamilton happy to sit back and watch it unfold early on. Perez jumped five places on that opening lap, he's up in 13th. Massa has climbed to sixth, ahead of Raikkonen. |
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Lap 3 |
Bottas' lead now 0.6s. Verstappen does a fastest lap, he's inside a second of Hamilton's car in front. Great to see the gaps at the front staying close together. Vettel is all over the back of Bottas' Mercedes as they come down the back straight. Bottas is able to pull out the gap in the final sector, meaning Vettel's boost of DRS isn't enough to get close enough for a pass at Turn 1. |
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Lap 4 |
Raikkonen is already five seconds down in the other Ferrari. Eleven seconds covering the top ten! |
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Lap 5 |
Raikkonen runs very, very wide at the final corner and that's undone his good work on that lap, where he appeared to have closed the gap to Massa. Bottas responds to Vettel's pressure with a fastestlap of 1:36.463, but Vettel is still inside a second. Hamilton right behind Vettel as well, he's within DRS range of the four-time world champion. Replays of the start show Bottas make a lightning start from pole. Hamilton and Vettel seemed to make similr getaways but Vettel's second phase was a lot better, once he'd got alongside Hamilton on the outside of Turn 1 it looked like P2 was his. |
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Lap 6 |
The Red Bulls are keeping pace with the front runners at the moment. Ricciardo, in fifth, is three seconds behind Bottas. They'll be happy to watch the battle unfold in front of them. Bottas being told he's having a bit of overheating at the moment. |
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Lap 7 |
Bottas is bringing Vettel and Hamilton into play here. There's 0.9s covering the top three now. Great battle forming between these three! Verstappen will be watching this with great relish - if he looks after his tyres behind this battle, he'll be in a great position to pounce when the pit window opens. |
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Lap 8 |
Salman says: "If there ever has been a low point in the mclaren fan's life then this got to be it. one car not starting due to engine failure and the other on the brink of retiring even before starting.. Don't even want to see the race now." Raikkonen flips open the DRS and gets alongside Massa into Turn 1 to reclaim sixth position from the Williams man. Replays show him baring down on the Brazilian from quite a way back and really it was all pretty easy. The top five cars all in the same shot on the FOM feed coming down the backstraight, which is a refreshing change to what we've been used to in previous seasons. |
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Lap 9 |
Verstappen starting to come under pressure from the impatient Verstappen behind him. Those two Red Bulls will be wary that Raikkonen now has clear air behind. Stroll pits for soft tyres. "We are quicker than them but I got stuck!" Verstappen tells Red Bull. This is excellent - all these guys look like contenders at the moment. Magnussen's Haas has pulled off the race track, which ends a pretty miserable weekend for him. Looks like he just lost power. He's pulled off near enough to the escape road, so that won't need a safety car. |
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Lap 10 |
If this is a snippet of what we can expect later in the season, we're going to have a wonderful season. Still 3.1s splitting the top five drivers. "I'm struggling with the rears more and more," Bottas tells Mercedes. We heard Hamilton struggling with his tyres while leading in Australia, now it's Bottas - the common denominator? Pressure from the Ferrari of Vettel behind. |
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Lap 11 |
Hello there... Vettel pits from second. This is an aggressive call from Ferrari - how do Mercedes and Red Bull respond to this one? Vettel emerges ahead of Palmer in 12th. Now it's time to get his foot down. All eyes will be on Vettel's lap times compaed to Bottas and Hamilton now. Under-cut is the key word to remember. If you're Hamilton, now it's time to push like mad to ensure you get back in front of Vettel when everything is levelled out. "I think we need to do something too, like Ferrari..." Verstappen tells Red Bull. |
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Lap 12 |
Verstappen also pits - as Vettel does a purple middle sector on his new super-soft tyres. What do you do now if you're Mercedes? Verstappen has crashed! Verstappen has gone straight on at Turn 4! Looks like he locked his right front, slid off the circuit and through the gravel. "Brakes failed... ARGH!" Verstappen says. |
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Lap 13 |
Raikkonen pits. Still yellows. Slow stop for Kimi! Hamilton is right behind Bottas as they come through the double-waved yellow section. Verstappen furious as he gets out of the car. He looked brilliantly placed at that point. Vettel is flying! He's three seconds a lap quicker than Mercedes. Stroll is out! He's stopped at Turn 1 on the inside. The Canadian reports he got hit from the side and Sainz is also out, so those two men must have come to blows. |
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Lap 14 |
Vettel leads the race! Ricciardo has got out ahead of Hamilton. Replays showing Stroll turning across the apex into the path of Sainz as the Spaniard left the pit-lane. Stroll was a long way into the corner, however, so harsh to expect he could have seen him coming from that far down. One thing I didn't notice was that Ricciardo AND Hamilton took soft tyres. |
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Lap 15 |
Lots of aggressive weaving going on down the back straight. Replays of Ricciardo's pit entry shows what the stewards have already noted - Hamilton slowing pretty heavily as he moved across the circuit into the pit lane. |
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Lap 16 |
So, Ricciardo and Hamilton will be hoping to go to the end on these tyres. Vettel and Bottas will need to pit again for softs. Hamilton might be getting a penalty (I reckon it will just be a time penalty, but a penalty nonetheless). This is shaping up to be another thriller in the desert. Safety Car due in this lap. Let's see how the pace of Vettel is on these new super-softs - they're three laps older than Bottas'. |
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Lap 17 |
Vettel holds the field up and then bolts through the final corner. Hamilton right on the tail of Ricciardo and swings to the outside of him as they cross the line, nice move, he passes the Red Bull. Bottas all over the back of Vettel and they go wheel-to-wheel at Turn 4 and Vettel holds firm! Bottas had to back off as he ran out of track on the kerbs. Massa now gets ahead of Ricciardo, he's up into fourth! Ricciardo now fending off the attentions of Ricciardo and he blocks him coming through Turn 10, but the Ferrari driver swings by on the inside and makes easy work of him. Ricciardo just going backwards on those soft tyres. Perez passes Hulkenberg! This is thrilling stuff. |
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Lap 18 |
Vettel has pulled out a 1s lead over Bottas after that early scare at the restart. Hamilton in a really good position at the moment as the guys in front have to pit again. Hamilton may well have to, but he doesn't need to as he's used super-soft and soft tyres already. Great onboard replay of Hamilton passing Ricciardo, swinging across to the right of the track very aggressively, and then watching Bottas and Vettel going wheel-to-wheel -- sparks and all -- into Turn 1. Great action. Grosjean complaining about a lack of power, he's in ninth, behind Hulkenberg. |
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Lap 19 |
That restart was pretty spectacular. Vettel already 2s clear of Bottas now. Another tricky situation for Mercedes to deal with coming up if Vettel continues to pull out the gap. Alonso holding firm on Ericsson with a very high line at the top of the hill. Alonso driving like a man possessed in that underpowered McLaren - he's down in 11th but there's no denying his fight at the moment. |
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Lap 20 |
Race control confirms a five-second penalty for Hamilton for that earlier infringement - he will either serve that if he pits again, or it will be added to his race time at the end. If I'm Merc now, I release Hamilton past Bottas, pit Hamilton again and give him super-softs for the final stint when Vettel has to take on these soft tyres, which are hard to warm up. |
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Lap 21 |
Vettel posts a fastest lap, a 1:34.502. Stroll-Sainz incident to be investigated after the race. |
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Lap 22 |
Vettel's lead is stilll around the two-second mark. Vettel gets told Mercedes are about to swap Bottas and Hamilton - but they haven't done that yet. Bottas has picked his pace up a bit, though. "If I can't catch him, I'll let him back" Hamilton tells Mercedes, referring to Vettel. This is a head-scratcher for Mercedes. Hamilton suggesting he'll have a go at cutting the gap to Vettel if Bottas moved over, and give the place back if he can't. |
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Lap 23 |
Mercedes wouldn't be in this situation if Bottas was able to match Vettel's lap times, however. You'd think with the tyre advantage he would be able to. Still 2s the gap in front. |
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Lap 24 |
Raikkonen closing in on MAssa again. He flicks open the DRS and once again it's enough to make a move stick. NIce move. Another fastest lap from Vettel, but the gap in front isn't coming down much. Palmer pushing Kvyat wide at Turn 4 across the sand. Alonso watching this fight unfold in front of him. |
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Lap 25 |
"How the hell can they overtake me from 300m back? I've never raced with so little power!" Alonso complains. It hasn't stopped him from battling with Kvyat and he gets fiesty through the next few corners, but Kvyat holds firm. |
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Lap 26 |
DRS disabled because there is some debris at Turn 1. Hamilton is now right behind Bottas once again. They are five seconds behind race leader Vettel. Conundrum for Mercedes is pretty simple - Bottas, on identical strategy to Vettel, very unlikely to win the race. Hamilton in a much better position but with a penalty to come. Replays show Palmer losing a chunk of his front wing as he tried to swing underneath Kvyat's car under braking at Turn 1. |
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Lap 27 |
Hamilton passes Bottas at Turn 1 - that looked very synchronized. They had to do that for any chance of winning this race. Vettel will be pitting and taking on fresh rubber for the final stint of this race so Hamilton will need to have a gap to him at the end. Vettel will have to get within five seconds of Hamilton at the end, assuming the Mercedes driver doesn't pit again. Mercedes asked Bottas to move over, radio confirms. |
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Lap 28 |
Bottas tells Mercedes the soft tyres are definitely the best option for the final stint. Hamilton, having been released, takes four tenths off Vettel's lead. Suddenly the race seems to be coming back to Hamilton and the pressure starts to turn towards the Ferrari pit wall. I don't know about you, but I'm loving this. |
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Lap 29 |
How costly is that five-second penalty going to be for Hamilton now? That hangs over everything in the race for the win. "Keep your head down, this is an important phase of the race, stay focused," Ferrari tells Vettel. Crucial laps ahead for the four-time world champion. Ricciardo overtakes Massa to take fifth. His soft tyres finally seem to be coming into playbut it took him a long time. |
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Lap 30 |
Kvyat brakes very, very late and passes Palmer on the inside of Turn 1. The lurking Alonso fancies a bit of Palmer as well. He undercuts Palmer under braking at Turn 4 and that's a lovely move. |
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Lap 31 |
Bottas pits for soft tyres. He re-joins in seventh and with a nice bit of clear track in front of him. Vettel will surely be coming in very shortly. |
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Lap 32 |
Hamilton continues to chomp away at the gap to Vettel in front. Remember, Vettel doesn't necessarily need to pass Hamilton to win this race - if he finishes inside five seconds, the win is his. |
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Lap 33 |
"Check what happened into Turn 4! " Raikkonen asks. Ferrari tells him they're looking into it and the Finn replies "Come on it's really disturbing!" Bottas eases past Perez for sixth. Hamilton's pace looks very good at the moment. Vettel needs to be shaking the Mercedes driver much better than this, you feel. I wonder how much Hamilton has left himself in the tyres for the final 20 laps. |
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Lap 34 |
Vettel pits! We just heard a radio saying he was starting to struggle with his tyres and Ferrari doesn't hang about. Nice tidy stop and he emerges behind Raikkonen and, crucially, in front of Ricciardo -- in fourth -- and Bottas. Vettel is 18 seconds behind Hamilton. He needs to find 13 seconds in this final stint to have a shot. What does Mercedes do with Hamilton now? It will all depend on how he feels with those soft tyres on his car. His tyres look very good at the moment. If you're Mercedes, do you pit again and stick on super-soft tyres for a late charge? |
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Lap 35 |
Vettel closing in on Raikkonen's car. "We need to look after these tyres," Ferrari tells Vettel. "Hamilton will go long and come back at the end." So they expect the Mercedes driver to take some super-soft tyres for a late charge. |
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Lap 36 |
Vettel eases past Raikkonen to take P2. This is lovely and tense. Vettel now the man taking chunks out of the lead in front. Bottas easing up on the back of Ricciardo's Red Bull, he's around 1.5s quicker per lap than the Red Bull, who has really struggled since taking on those soft tyres under the Safety Car. He and Verstappen had looked perfectly placed earlier. |
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Lap 37 |
Vettel sets a fastest lap. The gap is now 13.6s. "Is there nothing I can do with the issue!?" a frustrated Raikkonen asks Ferrari. He's getting angrier and angrier as this season progresses. |
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Lap 38 |
Vettel can now see Hamilton in the distance as he comes through the final corner, albeit all the way down in Turn 1. Raikkonen pits - he takes on some new soft tyres to take him to the end of the race. Massa also pits for Williams. |
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Lap 39 |
Vettel now 12.5s down (7.5 when Hamilton's penalty is considered). Grosjean lunges down the inside of Kvyat's Toro Rosso at Turn 1. Alonso swearing about how far back people are passing him. McLaren suggests Plan B. "Do whatever you want, mate!" "It's important to close the gap to Vettel, Hamilton has a penalty but is yet to stop," Bottas is told, so it seems like Hamilton will be stopping again. |
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Lap 40 |
Seems like Hamilton will be piutting soon. Vettel now 10 seconds down on the three-time world champion. Some lovely wheel-to-wheel racing between Ocon and Wehrlein in the battle for 11th. |
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Lap 41 |
Mercedes tells Hamilton he is pitting, so he will serve the five second penalty after making tyre changes. HammerTime x 1,000. He is told he'll need to pass Bottas on track, so this one looks like Vettel's to lose. |
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Lap 42 |
Hamilton pits from the lead, so Vettel moves into P1. They stand still for five seconds and then make a rapid stop for new soft tyres. That must have seemed like an absolute age for Hamilton. He's emerged behind Bottas - the Mercedes drivers are 9 seconds behind Vettel. Surprised to see Hamilton on softs and not super-softs... But let's see how this final portion of the race unfolds now because Vettel's pace still looks very good. |
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Lap 43 |
Hamilton has to make up 20 seconds if he wants to have a chance at going wheel-to-wheel with Vettel in this one. Hamilton has asked why the soft tyre has gone on, but Mercedes says the data suggests its the better tyre. Bottas struggled a lot on the super-softs earlier and said the softs would work better... but Hamilton has a huge gap to make up here. |
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Lap 44 |
Hamilton needs to make up around 18 seconds in 13 laps. If he gets close to Bottas, Mercedes will surely ask the Finn to pull over. His laps 11 laps younger and you can see the benefit of that - he's going to catch him in a few laps at this rate. This is where Vettel now needs to start thinking about how much performance he has left in his tyres. Fastest lap frmo Hamilton, a 1:32.962. |
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Lap 45 |
Hamilton now 5.7s down on Bottas, with the gap coming down at a quick rate. Surely he's not going to have enough to catch Vettel, though, as he's 10 seconds down the road. Mercedes is going to have to make sure Bottas doesn't hold Hamilton up here because the race victory depends on it. As I finish typing that, the gap is down to 4.4s, showing you how fast it's coming down! |
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Lap 46 |
Hamilton getting closer and closer with another fastest lap. |
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Lap 47 |
Vettel's lead now 11.3 - Hamilton within two seconds of teammate Bottas in second. Vettel must have kept enough in his tyres to finish this one in P1... surely. "You've got the pace to win this, Lewis. Come on mate!" Peter Bonnington in no doubt what Hamilton can do. He's 0.7s down on Bottas now and the Mercedes new-boy is surely going to move out the way. Hamilton swings by on the inside of Turn 13, that looked unnecessarily tight! |
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Lap 48 |
Bottas unfortunate that his strategy took him out of contention but Mercedes had to move him out the way there. The win of the race is on the table. The gap still a rather considerable 12s so Hamilton will need to do something pretty special. Hamilton being told Vettel is coming up behind lapped traffic and it's still up for grabs... Replays showing Hamilton passing Bottas at Turn 13, he needed very quick reactions as the Finn slowed very suddenly - but he did come off the throttle considerably. |
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Lap 49 |
Hamilton was one second quicker last lap. Vettel approaching lapped traffic, but Hamilton will have to clear those same cars as well. Hamilton can start to see Vettel's Ferrari as he joins the backstraight. He's a long way in the distance however, it's around 10.7s. Vettel getting held up behind Palmer quite considerably. |
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Lap 50 |
Palmer finally lifts to let Vettel by, but that cost Vettel a bit of time. I still can't see it happening despite Hamilton's superior pace - last time out he was 1.8s quicker! This could be a grandstand last couple of laps. "This is all going to happen at the end," Bonnington tells him. "Keep this up mate!" |
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Lap 51 |
Let's not forget, Hamilton's penalty earlier key here - he made an obvious mistake and that punishment meant he had to pit. Without it he may still have been passed by Vettel, but he crucially would have had track position. Hamilton's charge has withered a bit, he's 8.9s down with sevenlaps to go. Hamilton asking to be kept in the loop about the lapped traffic ahead. If nothing else, this is superb tension for the end of a grand prix. |
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Lap 52 |
Hamilton is going to just run out of laps here. Expect to hear some complaints about blue flags any minute now because he's got Palmer right in front of him - but Ericsson has broken down! So Hamilton has one less car to clear. Ericsson coasting along the side of the circuit. He reports a broken gearbox. Is this enough to warrant a Safety Car? He's stopped right at the top of Turn 4. |
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Lap 53 |
Vettel's lead currently 7.8s. Double-waved yellows only to clear that Sauber, so this one is going to go to the flag. Great to see two drivers pushing to the finish in a race for the lead! Vettel now has a train of three cars in front of him. |
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Lap 54 |
Blue lights flashing for these backmarkers as Vettel comes down the pit straight but neither men in front of him move over. The man in front is Alonso! He's in no mood to let a Ferrari through, but he does eventually at Turn 4. Hamilton now 6.1s behind. He's not going to do this... That's game over, surely, as Vettel has put three backmarkers between himself and the Mercedes driver. Hamilton is going to rue that five-second penalty! That's going to be the gap at the end of this race. |
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Lap 55 |
Alonso dives out of the way of Hamilton's car. If only this race was a few laps longer we might get a proper wheel-to-wheel scrap to the end. The gap is back up to six seconds, so this is Vettel's race. Alonso complaining about an engine problem. He's coasting back to the pit lane. Hard not to feel sorry for him at the moment... |
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Lap 56 |
Has Hamilton cooled his charge? It seems so, he's coming up behind those two cars in front. Raikkonen has closed to within three seconds of Bottas, who has been really struggling this evening. Hamilton clears those two cars but he's got a lot of track to make up if he wants to get close to Vettel in a lap and a half! |
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Lap 57 |
Hamilton has eased off the pace, which is clear to see from his on-board. He'll rue that penalty, it was very avoidable, but the story of this race needs to include Ferrari once again nailing their strategy. Sebastian Vettel wins the Bahrain Grand Prix! Bottas holds on to third position. |
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Another tense race we've been treated to there, but once again Ferrari showing it's not afraid of making aggressive calls on strategy. It won them a race in Australia and it's done so again here. Hamilton looking disappointed before going onto the podium, didn't see much interaction between himself and Bottas. |
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Safety Car! Mercedes is double stacking its drivers. This Safety Car could have saved Mercedes' race here. Hamilton having to wait as Ricciardo enters the Red Bull box in front of him - he's dropped behind the Australian.
