F1 results: Sebastian Vettel wins Bahrain Grand Prix, plus full finishing order

Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari won the Bahrain Grand Prix, going from third on the grid in qualifying to first place in the early laps of the race. He held off a late charge from Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, and he outraced Valtteri Bottas from beginning to end to take the race.

Hamilton found himself finishing in second, with Bottas, the pole-sitter for the race, taking the third podium spot. There was some pit stop incongruity between the top finishers, but ultimately Vettel ran a quick race and was stuck to the back of Bottas before any pits were taken.

The Ferrari garage took the first big chance of the race when Vettel went in for an early pit on Lap 11. Vettel, to that point, had stuck his car right behind Bottas and wasn’t letting him create any separation. Vettel came out in 12th place, and on the next lap, Verstappen of Red Bull came over the radio and said that his team needed to do something, so they pitted him.

Unfortunately, Verstappen came out of the pit and immediately suffered a brake failure around Turn 4, going off and into the wall, ending his promising race. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari suffered through a slow pit stop and came out in 10th place. At this point, Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were still out on the track.

The first safety car of the race came out when Lance Stroll’s race ended. The Williams rookie was looking good, but he was hit from the side by Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso, who was coming out of the pits. That ended the race for both drivers.

At this point, both Mercedes drivers pit alongside Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo forced Bottas to stay in the box for longer than he’d planned and that ended up delaying Hamilton, who had stacked up behind. When they came out, Bottas was behind Vettel in second, Ricciardo was in third, and Hamilton was in fourth.

Hamilton was investigated by the stewards for potentially slowing down Ricciardo in the pit lane entry. Hamilton knew he’d be stacked up, and he went slowly ahead of Ricciardo and definitely impeded him. He was eventually given a five-second penalty for the transgression.

Hamilton did manage to take Ricciardo right as the race got started again, and Felipe Massa of Williams also took the Red Bull. It’s possible the soft compound tires of Ricciardo weren’t sufficiently heated up by that point. Then it was Raikkonen who made it past Ricciardo.

Not long after that, there was some talk that Mercedes would let Hamilton get past Bottas despite being on the slower tire since he was in a higher engine mode and attacking. At that point, Vettel was two seconds clear of Bottas and looking good. Hamilton eventually took second place on Lap 27, and at that point, Vettel was six seconds clear in first.

Ricciardo started to improve and made it past Massa on Lap 29. Raikkonen’s team radio came on and told him that Bottas was slow in front of him. Bottas came into the pits at Lap 31, his final stop of the race, and he ended up coming out in seventh place. Vettel came into pit on Lap 34, and Vettel came back onto the track in third place.

Hamilton was then in first, presumably attempting a one-stop race which seems risky, but the broadcast was then informed that Mercedes team radio was talking as though there was no consideration of a one-stop.

And on Lap 42, Hamilton came in to put on a set of new soft tires, and he came back out in third behind Bottas and Vettel. Around that time, Pascal Wehrlein of Sauber was passed by Nico Hulkenberg of Renault, and not long after by Esteban Ocon of Force India, putting both of those cars into the points and Wehrlein, in his first race of the season, out of them.

Bottas eventually led Hamilton past on Lap 49, with little time to chase Vettel. Hamilton was around 10 seconds behind at this point, and Hamilton was lapping more than a second faster than Vettel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time for him to make up the gap.

The woes for McLaren continued when Stoffel Vandoorne’s car was unable to run in the race. The first actual retirement for the race came on Lap 10, when Kevin Magnussen of Haas had to pull off with car troubles. The others came much more quickly, when Verstappen, Stroll, and Sainz all came out within the first 13 laps.

Marcus Ericsson was the next to retire, all the way down to Lap 52 before his gearbox quit on him. To make things even worse for McLaren, Fernando Alonso suffered engine problems on Lap 56, slowing down and ending up in last place.

Below is the full finishing order for Sunday’s race: